Dance troupe to perform at Hjemkomst Center Saturday

While “Pangea — Cultivate Our Cultures” has become a mainstay in celebrating local cultural diversity over the eight years it has been held at the Hjemkomst Center, this year’s free festival will have something different — a look back at a culture that began in the Red River Valley and now survives only in small pockets of northern North Dakota and Minnesota and north to Winnipeg — the voyageur culture.

Jane Peck and the Dance Revels Moving History troupe will take to the stage at 10 a.m. Saturday to perform a 45-minute musical play that tells the story of the world of the French and Native American interaction that became known as the voyageur culture. Their performance will be preceded by a grand entry and dance demonstration by the Buffalo River Singers and Drummers, a local Native American group at 10 a.m.

Métis fiddler music will fill the room as members of the trio portray a French voyageur, “Jean-Christophe,” and his French-Ojibwe family as they paddle and dance their way through the northland once called New France. The performers showcase the customs, clothing, and dance of these two cultures blended to create a force in the development of the Red River Valley through the fur trade. The audience will have the opportunity to learn French words, sing a voyageur song, and master canoe paddle tricks. Audience volunteers will dance a historic dance game to live fiddle music.

Based in Minneapolis, Dance Revels Moving History has performed since 1990 promoting Minnesota community identity and heritage through the actual dance, theatre, and music of early North American and European life. Their mission is to portray active and inclusive stories of our ancestors, especially those left untold. They have performed at the Ordway Center, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis Institute of Art, the Southern Theater, the Festival du Voyageur in Winnipeg, Madison Early Music Festival, the Saint Paul Orchestra and Duluth’s Early Music Orchestra.

For more information, call 218-299-5511 or visit www.hc scconline.org. The Historical and Cultural Society of Clay County is located in the Hjemkomst Center at 202 First Ave. N, Moorhead, Minn.

Tags: diversions, arts