Mexico, India pavilions strut their stuff

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/02/2024 (586 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Brandon might have been wet and muddy on the outside on Friday, but the colours on stage at the Westman Multicultural Festival’s pavilions were more than bright enough to make up for it on the event’s second day.

With only half of the pavilions open on Thursday’s opening night, Friday marked the first day that all six pavilions — El Salvador, India, Ukraine, Mexico, the Philippines and Mauritius — opened their doors to share their food, dance and music.

The first to start operations on Friday was the Mexico pavilion at the Brandon Shrine Club at 1110 McTavish Ave. East.

Tables in the building’s main hall were lined up along the side so that performers could travel the length of the building as they showed off some traditional Mexican dances.

Organizer Carlos Munoz spoke with pride of having not just brought in a chef from Mexico to devise the menu for the festival, but a troupe of dancers from Cancun as well.

He estimated that around 600 people visited the pavilion on Thursday and said he was hoping even more would show up for the second and third days.

“We had a very, very overwhelming night,” Munoz said about Thursday. “We were sold out with most of the food and were at capacity for every show … I think everyone is so excited to have this event back.”

One of those dancers from Cancun was Jerry Carrillo. He said some of the members from his Rey Vels dance troupe had performed at a previous edition of the festival, but for others like himself, it was not only their first time in Canada but their first time seeing snow.

While he was interested in visiting the other pavilions, he wasn’t sure he was going to have enough time between performances.

Ahead of Rey Vels’ first performance of the night, a master of ceremonies welcomed visitors by performing both the Canadian and Mexican national anthems, assisted by one of the women from the troupe and a violinist.

Then, after toasting the audience with a shot of tequila, the woman from the troupe wearing a colourful garment bearing the images of stylized skeletons danced elegantly around the room while singing.

She was followed up by a pair of men from the troupe dressed in ponchos, wearing masks that made them look like old men and putting on an affected hunch in their backs.

They did a sort of tap dance, punctuating some moves by pantomiming their elderly joints giving way. Toward the end, one of the men grabbed a young woman from the audience and pulled her onto the stage, making her a part of the number as they stomped in time to the music.

Sitting at the back of the room enjoying a sample platter of Mexican food was Christy Unger. She said the food and the dancing gave the pavilion an authentic flavour.

Not to be outdone in the colour department was the India pavilion at the Victoria Inn’s Imperial Ballroom.

When the Sun visited the site for its first day in action on Friday, around 200 guests were present on top of 50 or so volunteers and performers. Upon opening the doors, the smell of curry spices blasted out pleasantly.

With India comprised of many religions and cultures, there was an effort to show off elements from many of them on the performance stage.

There were dancers showing off bhangra from the Indian state of Punjab and garba, from the state of Gujarat, among other forms. After the dancers were finished, a man invited a volunteer to come on stage and have a turban wrapped on their head as he explained the importance of the garment to the Sikh community.

Organizer Gautam Srivastava, a computer science professor at Brandon University, said it felt like a weight was lifted off his shoulders to have the pavilion back in action after the four-year pause since the last festival and after so much planning. Over the weekend, he said organizers are expecting 3,000 to 4,000 visitors to the pavilion.

“Everyone is raving about the food,” Srivastava said. “I think the hiatus has made them miss Indian food and we’re happy to provide whatever people want to eat. The other thing that’s nice is that we have more diverse entertainment this year.”

One of the garba dancers was Ayushi Patel, a third-year international student at BU from Kenya, though her parents come from India originally.

She said it was her understanding that at previous editions of the festival, only dances associated with Bollywood were performed and she was excited to show off a dance that is core to her culture and Hindu religion.

“It symbolizes the festival of Navaratri,” Patel said of garba. “It’s an Indian traditional folk dance where we’re celebrating the triumph of the goddess Durga over the demon Mahishasura. We celebrate for nine days because … the battle lasted for nine days and nine nights.”

Getting to dress up was the most fun part, she said, taking more than three hours to prepare.

Even though those at the pavilion are away from their home country, Patel said the festival represented an attempt to maintain their culture and their roots as well as share them with all the other people and cultures that call Canada home.

Taking up the offer to get a turban wrapped on his head was 13-year old Niko Borkent, who told the Sun he wanted to try putting one on. He said his favourite part of the evening was “watching the ladies dance.”

All pavilions will be open on Saturday for the final day of the festival.

The Filipino pavilion, which has set up at Knox United Church at 451 18th St., is open from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. A band is scheduled to play original Filipino music at the bottom of each hour.

Not too far away is the Mauritius Pavilion at Westman Immigrant Services’ multicultural centre at 403 13th St. It will be open from 1:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. on Saturday, with cultural performances scheduled to take place every hour.

At the Ukrainian National Hall at 1133 Stickney Ave., the Ukrainian Pavilion is open from 1 p.m. to 11 p.m. Performances of Ukrainian music and folk dances are scheduled.

Just down the road at the North End Community Centre at 1313 Stickney Ave., the El Salvadorian pavilion is open from 1:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. The first show starts at 1:30 p.m., with further shows taking place every hour afterwards.

The Indian pavilion is the earliest to get started on Saturday, with doors opening at 11 a.m., its first performance of the day at 11:30 a.m. The final performance is at 8 p.m., with doors closing at 11 p.m.

After opening at noon, the Mexican pavilion will be open the latest of all, hosting an after party that runs from 10:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. Performances are scheduled for 12:30 p.m., 2 p.m., 3:30 p.m., 5 p.m., 6:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.

» cslark@brandonsun.com

» X: @ColinSlark