Indian arts and culture took over the National Arts Centre from Oct. 14 to Oct. 19 in a festival showcasing an array of dances, workshops, concerts, visual arts, henna and yoga.
ArohaFest takes place during a different Indian celebration every year. This year’s activities highlighted Diwali, the festival of lights.
Aroha Fine Arts, a non-profit organization focused on Indian arts and culture, founded ArohaFest in 2017 to commemorate Canada’s 150th birthday. This year, ArohaFest marked its five-year anniversary at the NAC, highlighting the event’s growth from its original venue at the smaller Shenkman Arts Centre.
The festival was created “as a means of creating a platform for the South Asian community [in Ottawa] to be able to expand their reach, to be able to collaborate and to be able to allow the performing arts to grow locally,” said Geoffrey Dollar, assistant producer of ArohaFest.
Dollar said the festival has grown in many ways since its first year, particularly in the increasing number of artists. This year, ArohaFest welcomed more than 100 artists, with at least 100 spectators at each performance.
The diversity of artists and performers also expanded this year, Dollar said, with more “pockets of Indian culture and Indian communities” invited than ever before. Some of these performances included the Dhwani Ottawa choir on Oct. 14, the Garba dance on Oct. 18 and the Bhangra dance on Oct. 19.
Trupti Ajit Junagade, a visitor from Maharashtra, India, said she enjoyed seeing many styles of Indian dances. She attended ArohaFest to see her daughter perform the Kathak dance, but stayed to watch other dances she was less familiar with, like the Bhangra.
“It was a lovely experience for me,” Junagade said.
“When you’re in India, the traditions, the music, the culture, the flavours, it’s all around you,” Patil said. “You walk out on a street, for example, during Diwali, you’ll step out and you will hear the music, you will see the preparations. Here, we don’t have that.”
That risk of disconnection makes events like ArohaFest even more important, she said.
“We have to take the efforts and plan and really make a vested effort to bring people together and to celebrate,” Patil said.
She said she sees a determination to strengthen cultural ties in her daughter, who performed with Aroha Fine Arts, and her daughter’s family, who now live in Canada.
“They are striving hard to protect their culture,” she said.
Preserving Indian culture while living in Canada has led to a blended culture for Indians in Canada, Junagade said.
“In my daughter’s house, I see she enjoys the Canadian festivals the same as she enjoys a Hindu [festival.]”
Even so, events like ArohaFest help to maintain positive cultural bonds for Indians in Canada, Junagade said.
“All were happy, excited and it reminded us of our motherland.”
Featured Image by Marissa Meilleur/The Charlatan.
