Fête de la Saint Jean-Baptiste
Fête nationale du québec
Celebrate French Heritage in Minnesota!
Join us on June 24 from 3 to 8 pm for Fete de la Saint Jean-Baptiste at the Sibley Historic Site to celebrate the National Day of Québec!
French Canadian and French fur traders, the dependable and hard-working men of the Fur Trade who moved furs and goods across North America, set little time aside for themselves. Although, there were two exceptions. A rendezvous was a time of great celebration, but even the most boisterous rendezvous would not come close to the pomp and celebration of Fete de la Saint Jean-Baptiste. Traditionally celebrated on June 24th it would include large bonfires, food, alcohol, trade, dancing, and singing. Today, Fete de la Saint Jean-Baptiste is still celebrated in Québec and is called La Fete Nationale du Québec, or the National Day of Québec in English.
Even though the time of the Voyageur is long past, there are still French-Canadians present in Minnesota and in the United States. The Fete de la Saint Jean-Baptiste at the Sibley Historic Site on June 24th from 3 to 8 pm, created by the Dakota County Historical Society in partnership with the Quebec Government Office in Chicago/Délégation du Québec à Chicago, Alliance Française MSP, and the French American Heritage Foundation, will bring to life Fete de la Saint Jean-Baptiste by taking elements of past and present traditions to create a unique and new celebration that will honor French Canadian, Canadian, and French culture!
Entertainment à Notre Fête
3:00-3:30
Live music and dance performance with Bob Walser (guitar and accordion) and Danielle Enblom (fiddle and dance)
3:30-4:00
Learn to jig (Quebecois step dance) with Bob Walser and Danielle Enblom
4:00-4:30
French Canadian and Voyageur Sing Along with Les Canadiens Errants
4:30-5:00
A Minnesota History: Bdote, the Fur Post, and the Faribault Family - Interactive History, Music, and Dance with Jane Peck
5:00-5:30
Quebecois and Métis Music and Dance performance with Patrick Harison (accordion) and Danielle Enblom (fiddle and dance)
5:30-6:00
Fur Trade History and Culture with La Compagnie
6:00-6:30
Social/group dance led by Jane Peck with live music from Patrick and Danielle
6:30-7:00
French Canadian and Voyageur Sing Along with Les Canadiens Errants
LIVE MUSIC!
Patrick Harison is a young American button accordionist adept in a wide variety of settings and genres. He currently resides in Minneapolis, MN performing in a diverse array of projects including Patty and the Buttons, Eisner's Klezmorin, Rogue Tango, and many others. Patrick is also active as an orchestral soloist playing both classical and pops programs with top orchestras across the United states under the baton of luminaries such as Doc Severinsen and Sarah Hicks. When not performing, he is an in demand composer, session musician, educator and arranger. http://patrickharison.blogspot.com/
Musician, scholar and educator Bob Walser’s musical career spans decades and continents. In the early 1980s he made his living as a shantyman (!) at Mystic Seaport, one of the largest maritime museums in the USA. Since then he has presented Folklore In Action folk music and dance programs as an artist-in-residence in schools across the USA, and performed as a singer, dance leader and dance musician from Maine to California and overseas.
As a scholar, Bob earned his Ph.D. in ethnomusicology at the University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies. His research in Folk Music and Music Education has been published in the Folk Song Journal (UK) and publications by World Music Press. https://bobwalser.com/
Jane Skinner Peck, Minneapolis, Minnesota, has researched, choreographed, and performed dance across the U.S., Canada, and France for twenty years. She finds that dance history enables her to combine her love of history with her love of dance. Jane feels that period movement conveys past cultures in a most immediate and authentic way. She has performed with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra at the Ordway Center, MN, and with the international faculty orchestra of the Madison Early Music Festival, WI. Her work is seen regularly at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minnesota History Center, and museums, colleges, schools of Midwest America. Jane has choreographed for numerous dance, theater, and music ensembles, working with famed Shelley Gruskin, Grant Herreid (Piffaro), Catherine Turocy (N.Y. Baroque Dance Company), Jean Paul Cloutier (Canada), and Sybille Dahms (Austria) among others. Jane studied French-Canadian dance with Pierre Chartrand of Montreal and Jean-Paul Cloutier of St. Boniface, Manitoba , and Metis dance with Sandy Poitra of the Turtle Mt. Ojibwe Reservation in North Dakota. http://janepeck.com/
Danielle Enblom's dancing has been described as "the most wild, refined, and joyful dancing I've ever seen" by Deirdre Cronin from Irish Music Magazine and "nothing short of spectacular" by Irish music legend Mick Moloney. Danelle is a step dancer, sean-nós dancer, fiddler, and researcher specializing in the old dancing master traditions in Ireland. Her Irish foundation is infused with influences from her own Métis and Quebecois heritage. The deapth, breadth, and passion in her practice makes for unique, musical, and engaging collaborations with musicians across genres. www.danielleenblom.com
