We are so excited to see the premiere on June 19th of La Mitchin di Mitchif, a collaboration between Vni Dansi’s Yvonne Chartrand and Rulan Tangen of Dancing Earth (Santa Fe), and dance companies, at the Scotiabank Dance Centre in Vancouver. The piece '‘is inspired by cultural ancestral knowledge of Mitchif plant medicines’ (V’ni Dansi website) and promises to be a great night of contemporary Indigenous dance. Music is by Wayne LaVallee. We are particularly grateful to Yvonne Chartrand for being one of our first visitors this Monday, especially given she will be mid-run of this show! (photo from: V’ni Dansi website)

 Red River Jigging, Fitness Par Excellence!!

 For anyone who has jigged it is stating the obvious … jigging is a REALLY GREAT workout! I’ve always been pretty fit, a follower of Pilates, long distance walker (how does 900 km across Northern Spain sound), a cyclist, a dancer (flamenco), etc., so when I first learned to jig I thought to myself, ‘No prob, piece of cake, super easy …’. I was absolutely pooched the first time I took to the dance floor at the John Arcand Fiddle Festival to learn to jig. Well now, Dr. Heather Foulds, an assistant professor at the University of Saskatchewan’s College of Kinesiology, along with the awesome jigging instructor and champion Scott Duffee, with their research team, are studying the ‘impact of the Red River Jig […] on heart health, cardiovascular fitness and blood pressure using a series of tests in an exercise laboratory’. Preliminary findings, given by members of the team at Mawachihitotaaka, a Michif symposium, last month, demonstrate that indeed jigging is an excellent cardio-vascular workout with so many other benefits, not the least being community and fun.

I know that for us who gather on the west coast have really missed our weekly gatherings and jigging due to the Pandemic. And how we look forward to meeting again.

Here is a link to the research study announcement: https://news.usask.ca/articles/research/2019/m%C3%A9tis-jigging-a-better-cardio-workout-than-aerobics-or-a-run.php#:~:text=%E2%80%9CJigging%20is%20a%20core%20part,sense%20of%20community%20and%20culture.