Catching Up Maritime Bhangra Group
Jovan recently had the opportunity to speak to Hasmeet S. Chandok from the Bhangra team from Canada, 'Maritime Bhangra Group' from the East Coast all the way in Halifax Nova Scotia!
Why did you create the team?
My brother (Kunwardeep Singh) and I with bunch of other dancers, ( mostly, students at Dalhousie University, Halifax,Nova Scotia ,Canada) were doing bhangra ( traditional dance, the one you see in our videos) on different multi-cultural gatherings and other type of events for almost 3 years in our province of Nova Scotia, Canada as a volunteer dance group.
Back in this year summer in the month of July, we thought of making a professional dance team and making short videos and putting them online was just a small part of the plan.We were concentrating more on the performances , especially the one in which we can help organizations fundraise or work with Mental health or Interfaith harmony organizations to help them to increase the reach of their message.
One of our upcoming performance is with United Nations Interfaith Harmony week, First Nations/Aborignal communities and other ones includes Big Brother Big sisters, IWK foundation and many more. It also significantly focussed on breaking down barriers and stereotypes sikh men face everyday due to their turban and style of clothing.
Back in this year summer in the month of July, we thought of making a professional dance team and making short videos and putting them online was just a small part of the plan.We were concentrating more on the performances , especially the one in which we can help organizations fundraise or work with Mental health or Interfaith harmony organizations to help them to increase the reach of their message.
One of our upcoming performance is with United Nations Interfaith Harmony week, First Nations/Aborignal communities and other ones includes Big Brother Big sisters, IWK foundation and many more. It also significantly focussed on breaking down barriers and stereotypes sikh men face everyday due to their turban and style of clothing.
What was it that drew you all together to form this team?
I think its about connecting to your cultural and linguistic roots, when you are searching for a home, away from your home. I think we all share this feeling of need to work for community and social causes like Charity and Fund-raising.
Moreover we all would like to contribute our culture as an addition to the amalgamation of culture
