Calgarians celebrate Heritage Day with diverse cultural performances

Calgary’s Olympic plaza was transformed into a diverse display of cultures celebrating Heritage Day Monday.

“Everybody is proud of their uniqueness and their heritage,” said Alexander Kalesnikoff, president of the Calgary Folk Arts Council.

Groups representing 26 different cultures took to the stage, sharing dances and songs with the community.

“Everybody wants to not show off, but they wanna bring their culture and that’s exactly what we do here,” said one Calgarian in the celebration.

Calgary is Canada’s third most diverse major city and Calgarians of all backgrounds came together to celebrate their cultural identity in the city they call home.

This is Kalesnikoff’s 22nd year with the event and says there’s nothing he loves more than people coming together with a beautiful and bright display of pride.

“We have over 190 languages here in the city. Yes, some of them might be very minor or minute, but still, there are different languages here,” he said.

Dancers from el Salvador, Romania, Mexico, and Ukraine, amongst others, participated in the event.

Joseph Tysowski and Kale Atton were some of the performers taking the stage to showcase a Ukrainian dance created during the Second World War.

“This is a Verski dance. Verski is the preeminent Ukrainian dance ensemble in the world, based in Kyiv Ukraine,” said Tysowski

“It was like a form of exercise and entertainment and as the decades progressed, it turned into this dance which Verski still performs to this day.”

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A crowd favourite, the dancers say it was amazing to share the stage with so many cultures, while celebrating their own.

“Even from being nowhere near Ukraine, like half across the world, you’re still connecting with your culture,” said Atton.

Each onlooker was encouraged to say hello to people sitting next to them, to learn something new, all with the goal of inclusion and bringing people together.