Dance Workshop with Vent du Nord

photo courtesy of Vent du Nord Once, at a party after the Folk Festival, I watched as Benoit Bourque, leader of internationally- known Quebecois traditional band LE VENT DU NORD, was put through his paces as he ran the Goat with some local dancers. I guess you could say that this dance workshop was a reciprocal event. We gathered at the CEI Hall on Hamilton Ave. one night in May to see how they do it in Quebec. The dances we were taught that night were not performed at the combat-dance speed that characterizes the Goat and most other Newfoundland set dances. This made it much easier to catch on to the figures of the Quebec dances. Of course it also helped that Benoit is an experienced and well-known dance instructor in his native province. His instructions were clear and easy to follow, and brought a new dimension to some familiar moves. The whole experience was enhanced by the music of LE VENT DU NORD, which absolutely called dancers to their feet.

The traditional dance form of Quebec is a sort of line-dance, rather than the square sets that are common in Newfoundland – I think it’s a type of contra-dance. Men and women face each other in lines: we were told that a line of six couples is common but not obligatory, as long as all groups finish at the same time. Within the line format, regular set dancers recognized many of the moves or figures, although they are known by different names in Quebec. Benoit pointed out to us that the dances he was teaching us have a strong resemblance to songs. There are the verses – the individual figures that appear once in a dance – and then there is the chorus – the figure that is repeated in between the individual figures. I thought that this pattern of verse-chorus was particularly apparent in the Quebec dances, but I have to say that it had never occurred to me to describe dancing in this way – I’ll pay much closer attention to our Newfoundland dances to see their choruses.

About sixty people benefited from Benoit's skilled instruction and the spirited accompaniment of LE VENT DU NORD. Many thanks to the SJFAC for giving us the opportunity to experience a different take on traditional dance.

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	Mademoiselle, Voulez-vous danser? A dance workshop with Vent du Nord by Mary Ellen Wright The Broadside Vol 10. No. 2 October 2006

	Once, at a party after the Folk Festival, I watched as Benoit Bourque, leader of internationally- known Quebecois traditional band LE VENT DU NORD, was put through his paces as he ran the Goat with some local dancers. I guess you could say that this dance workshop was a reciprocal event. We gathered at the CEI Hall on Hamilton Ave. one night in May to see how they do it in Quebec. The dances we were taught that night were not performed at the combat-dance speed that characterizes the Goat and most other Newfoundland set dances. This made it much easier to catch on to the figures of the Quebec dances. Of course it also helped that Benoit is an experienced and well-known dance instructor in his native province. His instructions were clear and easy to follow, and brought a new dimension to some familiar moves. The whole experience was enhanced by the music of LE VENT DU NORD, which absolutely called dancers to their feet. The traditional dance form of Quebec is a sort of line-dance, rather than the square sets that are common in Newfoundland – I think it’s a type of contra-dance. Men and women face each other in lines: we were told that a line of six couples is common but not obligatory, as long as all groups finish at the same time. Within the line format, regular set dancers recognized many of the moves or figures, although they are known by different names in Quebec. Benoit pointed out to us that the dances he was teaching us have a strong resemblance to songs. There are the verses – the individual figures that appear once in a dance – and then there is the chorus – the figure that is repeated in between the individual figures. I thought that this pattern of verse-chorus was particularly apparent in the Quebec dances, but I have to say that it had never occurred to me to describe dancing in this way – I’ll pay much closer attention to our Newfoundland dances to see their choruses. About sixty people benefited from Benoit's skilled instruction and the spirited accompaniment of LE VENT DU NORD. Many thanks to the SJFAC for giving us the opportunity to experience a different take on traditional dance. (back to table of contents)