On March 11, 2015, Prairie Waters Elementary school hosted a Culture Fair showcasing many different cultures. The purpose of the Culture Fair was to celebrate all the cultures and countries around the world that are represented at Prairie Waters Elementary School. The day was started with an assembly where many students were dressed in clothing representative of where they and their families are from.
The assembly was full of performances from various cultures in and around our community in hopes of bringing appreciation and acceptance of all cultures. Some of the performers at the Culture Fair were:
The performance featured music and dance from West Africa. Drummers Trudy, Lloyd and Raul each play many different styles of music. They come together in their love of traditional West African rhythms. They played on djembe and dunun drums from Guinea, West Africa. Masani specializes in West African dance from Guinea as well as the Caribbean. They are all independent artists who teach and perform across (Western) Canada. At the Culture Fair, they shared rhythms and dances from Guinea, which are played at times of community gatherings and celebrations. They tell the story of fishing, accompany a mask dancer, honour a famous dancer, and celebrate a successful harvest.
A Polish Dancing Group (Polanie) performed Traditional Dances, Chestermere based – Abstract Dance Academy also performed and Bhangra Dance (Traditional Punjabi dance) from two of our students (Alexis & Manroop-Grade 4). There was also a performance of Irish Dance- Another student performance (Zoey-Grade 5), 4 students in Grade 4 shared information about the Golden Temple in India and Ms. Mrak (Grade 2 teacher at our school) & Taryn (Grade 5 student) taught a hip-hop routine as the finale.
Following the assembly, the students were then turned loose to enjoy the displays set up from different countries around the world. A teacher and 10 students from Chestermere High School were at the Fair and oversaw the display tables.
Students were captivated by the performances and in learning things about other cultures and countries that they had not previously known about. Exciting and curious questions could be heard of students wanting to know more about these places they were just starting to get acquainted with. What a great event to help students learn about those things that may seem different or strange to them. Knowledge and education is definitely a powerful tool in getting students to understand one another and to build inclusion within society.
