The MacCulloch Dancers once again had the opportunity of representing Canada at a Folk Art International Festival. The festival was held in Charleroi-Marcinelle, Belgium and included performers from France, India, Kirghizie, Lithuania, Mexico, Muldavie & Belgium. The festival reached beyond the sharing of culture, dance and music as our young Canadians established friendships with people around the world. They will especially remember a young man from Mexico named Jo. He became their constant companion and spent most of his leisure time with them . Jo was brought to tears when it was time to say good bye , it was difficult to part with his new Canadian friends.

India was always ready to share their music and dance with us. We had many conversations with their leaders who invited us to come to India to participate in their festival.France on the other hand, enjoyed many good games of soccer with Canada. On another day we attended a formal luncheon and entertained the children at a recreation centre. We arrived a little early, so without further notice, a soccer ball was made available. Dressed in full Highland costume the game was in progress. My son in law Jim and I attended a formal reception hosted by Mayor Lucien Cariat who is also president of the festival in Marcinelle . Words of welcome to all countries were expressed. Mayor Cariat presented our group with many gifts and we in turn presented him with a painting of our dancers performing in front of our parliament buildings. He seemed sincerely pleased with our gift and told us it would hang in his office.As usual, our young people captured the hearts of their audience with their exuberance and spirit of the music and dance that has become such a normal part of our every day lives. "Bravo Canada" could be heard throughout their performances.

Our musicians played an integral part of our success and also did some musical selections on their own. On one such occasion and much to the delight of the audience our young fiddle players Kenton McBean and George Muggleton pulled a little prank on Clara MacLeod (Kenton's Grandma) . They were playing their rendition of the "Orange Blossom Special" which was to be played 4 times over. The boys were having such fun with it, they decided one more time would be even better. They failed to pre-warn Clara but with a quick twirl they turned to face her and shouted, "Come on Grandma, Speed it up". Clara's fingers immediately hit the keyboard and with a little giggle she did just that. However, Clara has plans to get even, probably when they least expect it.

It is nice to have a piper in the family. My son in law Jim Forbes, also accompanied the dancers and as usual, was the most photographed individual at the festival . There is something about a gentleman in a kilt that attracts the beautiful young ladies. How fortunate I am to have daughters Heather and Deborah working so diligently to keep the school up to the standards that is required to keep us so well known on the International scene. I also had the pleasure of having three granddaughters in the dance group, Meaghan Forbes, Jennifer MacCulloch and Angela Wheeler and to add to the family presence we were joined by my daughter in law Colleen. Apart from performances , the week was filled with activities such as Go Carting, cave exploring, visiting historical sites , a trip to an Irish Pub and of course shopping. On a more serious note, a visit to Flanders Field gave our young people a better understanding of the devastations of war. We also visited John McCrae's bunker where he tended the sick and wounded and wrote his famous poem. The poppies were in full bloom at the time of our visit.On other occasions each country did a workshop giving everyone a chance to learn dances from the many countries present. Canada had the opportunity of teaching both Highland dancing and Step dancing. The classes were well attended and were popular enough to bring the people back for a second lesson.I believe our last performance reached its peak of excellence and was the highlight of our journey. Not only from a performance aspect, but it was time to say goodbye to new friends, new experiences and emotions were high. The performance ended with all countries on stage singing a song especially selected for the occasion, each country proudly waved their flags, and as is always the case , there was a strong feeling of friendship among nations. The fireworks in the park completed the formal part of the evening but the party ran on into the night.

A special thank you goes out to Manu, our guide and new Belgium friend. Prior to our arrival, he requested to be the guide for the Canadians which was fortunate for us. He was absolutely the best. He had a wonderful sense of humour and guided us through our stay in Belgium with the utmost caring. In closing, I too, will say "Bravo Canada". Our young people were great ambassadors for our Province, our Country and of course Glengarry & Navan.

Rae MacCulloch