Viter goes to Peace River

A couple of weeks ago, I traveled with the Viter dancers and choir of Edmonton on a bus to Peace River.  It was the opening ceremonies for the Alberta Summer Games.  As you might expect with such and event, the journey was long, the stage was too small, the sun was way too hot and there was barely an audience to speak of.  I mean there was about 50 people there give or take.

So with everybody having such a busy schedule, you know… places to go – people to see, who has time to waste on such a rinky-dink show of no major importance?  Call me crazy but some may wonder!

Well after the show we were transported to the local IGA grocery store that had a little café.  The owner’s daughters do Ukrainian dance and wanted to treat us to dinner.  We were treated to a fantastic turkey dinner with all the trimmings as thanks for our performance.  In response, after a couple of speeches were traded, we sang Mno haya lita (many happy years) and the owners mother was moved to tears.  This of course moved others to tears and we all shared a little moment.

It occurred to me that these little moments occur from time to time between the Ukrainian dance community and others who, are perhaps less connected with their cultural heritage than they’d like to be.  Or they are awed by how passionate some can be with their culture.  It also created a bond amongst ourselves.  A choir and a dance group from Edmonton, a collection of generations, from different walks of life, brought together for one reason, to express our heritage, culture, Ukrainian-ness, Canadian-ness etc…   It was during that moment when that woman started crying and I knew the day wasn’t a waste!

I think the Viter dancers learned something too and it made me reflect on the things I learned growing up and participating in events like this.  The things we do – cannot be measured in money or time.  Certain gifts have no value.  A spontaneous sharing can be more precious than anything else in the world.