In the Ballroom:
Children’s Dances and their Origins
Dive into the lively practice of traditional québécois dances!
Join us for five exciting events celebrating québécois dance and music traditions, some of which are rooted in English-speaking communities that have long helped shape our province’s cultural landscape. If you are curious, love living heritage activities, or simply want to move and have fun, come experience the energy of traditional dances and the stories behind them with our Ès TRAD guests!
On March 8, young and old are invited to discover traditional dances and their origins to wrap up spring break with a bang with Hélène Fournier (call), Miriam Blair (violin), and Maxence Croteau (guitar).
| Program:
-Dance workshop for all ages
This activity is offered bilingually, in both French and English. Please bring comfortable shoes with with good support and non-adherent soles, as well as a water bottle. |
Guests
Singer, caller, artisan, and cultural animator with no equal, Hélène Fournier is without a doubt an accomplished bearer of heritage, as highlighted by the prize she received from Ville de Québec in 2019. With education in Popular art and traditions (Ethnology) and in Education sciences from Université Laval, she specializes in connecting with a young public through her experiences at the Centre d’initiation au patrimoine–La Grande Ferme de Saint-Joachim, as well as through her punctual projects, notably the CD-book Le bal des animaux, Dansons sous les flocons and her call classes.
To learn more about Hélène Fournier, listen to the Ès TRAD podcast “Porter la tradition.”
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Miriam Blair is a passionate artist. She loves playing the violin and put her talents to use for the benefit of Québécois traditional music. She has a wide enough repertoire to waltz easily between Celtic and Québécois styles (both ancient and modern).
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Credit: Carbo Photo
Maxence Croteau was exposed to traditional music from a very young age, as he accompanied his parents to festivals such as Mémoires et Racines and Chants de Vielles, participated in evenings at the Domaine Maizerets and the Poulailler d’Inverness, and attended shows at the Maison Chevalier or the honey farm in St-Agapit, his birth village. As a teen, he started learning to play the guitar, his main instrument, but it took many years before trying his hand at accompanying reels, jigs, and waltz. It’s in 2014, at the Souches à Oreilles camp, that he was initiated into this art by Paul Marchand and met, at the same time, the “great trad family.” The following yeas were marked by jam sessions, shows, dances, and many other gatherings. Maxence mainly plays the guitar, but also some violin, concertina, banjo, piano, and harmonica. Today, he works as a contract musician, hosts trad shows on CKRL 89,1, and dedicates himself to various initiatives aiming to preserve trad culture and support those that make it live.
In the Ballroom—Traditional Music and Dance of a Community is presented in collaboration with the Centre de valorisation du patrimoine vivant Ès TRAD and made possible thanks to financial support from the Gouvernement du Québec and Ville de Québec through their cultural development agreement.