Countdown to CeltFest 2006 on Vancouver Island
NANAIMO - The world loves learning Celtic music and dance, and nowhere is that more evident than at the Pacific CeltFest on Vancouver Island.
When this year’s event welcomes a group of Irish dancers from the Mexico City area, the sixth annual international Celtic Performing Arts Summer School will have hosted students from 14 countries since its inception in 2001. Last year alone, CeltFest welcomed participants from three new countries: dancers from Finland and Sweden, and a piper from Japan.
“Celtic music, dance and art inspire an imagination and a oneness that speaks to people of all cultures. It cuts across the language barrier,” says festival co-founder Carolyn Phillips-Cusson. “One likes to think that it is the richness of the Celtic art forms is the draw, however, for the families that come to our camp, it’s just plain fun!” she adds, herself a former champion Highland dancer and teacher.
Along with her husband, well-known Pipe Major and composer, René Cusson, she cherishes many memories of the event they have organized the past five years. They have a thick file of thank-you notes from individuals and families who have attended the summer school that, like the event itself, continues to grow.
The five-day summer school and concert series begins with a new event, this year’s Kickoff Ceilidh at the Coast Bastion Hotel in Nanaimo. Classes for all levels and ages run July 9-14 at Tigh-Na-Mara Resort on the Oceanside in Parksville, with an added secondary campus this year, at nearby Riverbend Resort.
Classes in three types of bagpipes, four types of drumming, fiddle, whistle, song, cello, guitar, four types of dance, plus Celtic knotwork art, make this educational event a unique learning experience, with much sharing of musical and dance forms amongst the disciplines. This year the school offers a course in kilt making, conducted by certified Scottish kiltmaker Sadie Livingston.
Student-led performances happen nightly at the Tigh-Na-Mara on July 10-12. These are free of charge and open to the public to attend and join in on the ceilidhs afterwards.
The most well attended public performance is the Sunset & Stars Gala Concert, which showcases the school’s stellar faculty. “There’s a lot of synergy in the staff with all the jamming that goes on during the week, and it shows onstage. The electricity and spontaneity just happen!” says principal René Cusson.
“Imagine the young energy of Breabach – a dynamic young Scottish group whose Gaelic name means “kicking,” alongside decorated Highland piper Ken Eller from Ontario, add on the fiddling genius of Canada’s own Pierre Schryer. If that weren’t enough, add two male dancers from Scotland and Ireland respectively: 17-year old David Wilton, 2004 World Highland Dancing Champion and Riverdance star, Glenn Simpson, who will be showing off the form that made him Michael Flatley’s lead understudy for 10 years!”
And it doesn’t stop there. The beauty of Celtic harp and song by B.C.’s Wendy Humphreys Tebbutt, Dubliner Martin Nolan’s Uilleann Pipes, the famous sound of Eileen McGann, and more, are sure to make this year’s Gala a show not to be missed. Rarely does talent of this world class calibre share the same stage.
For more details on CeltFest 2006, call (250) 758-0208, or visit: www.CelticPerformingArts.com. Tickets for the CeltFest Gala on July 13 can be ordered directly by calling the Port Theatre Box Office in Nanaimo at: (250) 754-8550.
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