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Celebrate the chicken dance at the world championships in Alberta...we're talkintravel
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photo courtesy travel alberta tourism
This just in from the tourism folks in Alberta, Canada. If you love to do the chiecken dance at weddings and other festive events, then you'll want to read this:
Travelers Can Celebrate the World Chicken Dance Championship
in Alberta, Canada (June 20-21)
Global Indigenous Communities To Be Showcased at Blackfoot Crossing Historical Park
Blackfoot Crossing, Alberta – This summer travelers seeking a cultural escape they won’t soon forget should head to Alberta, Canada’s Blackfoot Crossing Historical Park (an hour south of Calgary), where they can experience the second annual World Chicken Dance Championship (June 20-21); a rare showcase of unique indigenous performances.
The World Chicken Dance Championship, hosted by the Siksika Nation, one of the largest indigenous communities in all of Canada, brings together aboriginal communities from around the globe to celebrate their native and ritual dance with spiritual performances, all carried out to the beat of a drum.
In addition to experiencing first-hand the owl dance, team dance, round dance, old-style chicken dance, rabbit dance, snake dance and crowhop dance, travelers will be able to visit the Blackfoot Crossing Interpretive Center and can even spend the night under the stars in a tipi at the Blackfoot Crossing tipi village (packages begin at $245/night and include authentic buffalo robes, fire wood, sleeping bags and more!)
All indigenous dancers at the Championships perform in full authentic, colorful costume, and each dance tells a story related to their history and spiritual beliefs. One of the most famous performances is the old style chicken dance—an original dance to the people of Blackfoot—with dancers imitating the movement of a chicken and donning headgear made of a porcupine roach with two feathers symbolizing a chicken’s comb. Another dance, the crowhop, illustrates the arrival of the Europeans, the horse and the gun.
Hundreds of spectators turned out for the first World Chicken Dance Championship at Blackfoot Crossing last year, and greater numbers are expected for 2009, where five categories of dance will take place. Categories include seniors (45+), teens (13-17), juniors (7-12), and tiny tots (6-under). Dancers in each category (with exception to tiny tots), will be judged using an Olympic-style scoring system in which competitors will see their scores immediately after their performance.
For more information on the World Chicken Dance Championship please visit www.travelalberta.com or www.blackfootcrossing.ca.
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