Voiceover: Keeping their Latin American cultural heritage alive here in Canada is important for many young Latin American Canadians, and that heritage is often communicated through theater, music, and dance.
Many of these young Canadians choose dance as a way to link their present lives to the places they come from, the places their parents came from. Here in Canada, Grupo America have spent several years showcasing a variety of these dance styles and traditions to thousands of kids of all ages around the country.
Erika Sanches, Grupo America Co-creator: Grupo America was formed ten years ago by my brother and myself. We formed Grupo America with the intention of promoting our Latin American culture here in Canada and abroad. At the moment we do dances from about 16 different countries of Latin America, both modern and traditional dances. And we have a troupe of about 16 dancers now.
Voiceover: Salsa has become mainstream amongst people of all ages here in Canada. It is a style that has afro-Cuban and Puerto Rican roots and is performed throughout North America.
Erika Sanches: Salsa is just something that has really come into mainstream here in all the major cities in Canada like Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, and Vancouver. Salsa has really taken off. So a lot of non-hispanic people are now dancing and being introduced to Salsa.
Voiceover: Some other Latin American dances performed in Canada and other parts of the world are the Cha Cha, Cumbia, Samba, the Andean Dance, and the Mexican Hat Dance.
Erika Sanches: Cha cha cha has its origins in Cuba; it came from a style of music called Rumba and Son. Then after Son in the 1950s came Cha Cha. It has a little bit of the African influence but also some of the Spanish.
The Andean Dance is called Cacharpari, It means 'harvest'. It's a folkloric dance, meaning that it is over a hundred years old, but the natives still perform it today. Samba is an Afro influenced dance from Brazil. Samba used to be, a long time ago, a religious ritual dance. Now it has become something more mainstream and it's kind of like the Samba music that most of us know and recognize. The Mexican Hat Dance has a Spanish influence. We see that in the Flamenco-style footwork and the conservative attire. And it's mostly a courtship dance.
Voiceover: Traditional Latin American dancing gives these young Canadians a dynamic bond to the places where their parents come from, and perhaps a sense of cultural identity that they can share with other Canadians.