Sharon Gashgarian’s 2025 Culture Days event, titled “A World of Dance: a tapestry of movement celebrating the power of connection” will be taking place at the Doug Snooks Eagle Place Community Centre on Sunday, September 28, 2025.
The free event is being presented by the Brantford Station Neighbourhood Association and the Eagle Place Community Association, in partnership with Shellard Neighbourhood Association and the City of Brantford. The four-hour showcase will feature five sets of performances throughout the afternoon, highlighting a selection of both professional and community dancers who will share their personal experiences through storytelling and movement.
Gashgarian, who put on two other Culture Days events back in 2023, said this year’s programming was inspired by the Brantford International Villages Festival.
“When I came up with the idea of A World of Dance, it was sort of jumping off of the success that Brantford has had with the International Villages,” said Gashgarian. “The thought of, ‘what if I could get a bunch of dancers together to do their cultural dances for an afternoon’ kind of popped into my head, and I sort of just went from there and began reaching out to people.”
The long-time fabric artist went on to say that while she initially didn’t know how many people would be willing to get involved, she was pleasantly surprised with how many dancers responded to her call.
“I couldn’t believe how many people were happy to get in on it,” said Gashgarian. “It likely could have been a full day event, but eventually I had to start staying, ‘I’m sorry but I just don’t have any more space’ because, as much as four hours seems like a lot of time, any sort of hiccup could throw it off.”
In order to keep everything moving smoothly, the organizer has broken the day into 15 minute segments with short breaks in between.
The event will kick off with an introduction at 1 p.m., followed by the first set featuring Jefferson Jacobs and Stephanie LaForme of the Gihekdagye-BRISC Friendship Centre. The two will be doing a Haudenosaunee traditional dance and the audience will also have the chance to participate.
After a short ten minute break, four young dancers from a local youth group will perform two different dance styles from India including Bhangra, a type of traditional folk dance that originated from the Punjab region, and Kathak, a story-telling-based classical dance form from North India.
Marsha Skrypuch, a local Ukrainian-Canadian Children author, will kick off the third set of the day with a short five-minute talk, and dancers from Brantford’s Village Ukraina will follow it up with two different performances.
Afterwards, a 30 minute intermission will take place where guests can chat with local artisans and grab refreshments.
The second half of the event resumes at 3:05 p.m. with a group of local Highland dancers from the Angus Academy of Highland Dance, and will end with Sumedha Mongia’s Odissi performance, a classical Indian dance form from Odisha, east India. Mongia’s set will also include a chance for audience participation.
Gashgarian said to help set the tone of the event, Chad Martin, chair of the Brantford Station Neighbourhood Association, is lending her a selection of flags to decorate the venue, and that the audience members will be set up in a semi-circle for optimal viewing purposes.
Overall, Gashgarian said she’s looking forward to the event and hopes that people will be able to walk away with a feeling of shared belonging and an appreciation for the different cultures being represented.
“I hope people walk away feeling like anyone can do this, and that if you have something to share with the community, you can find a way to have it happen,” she said. “I want them to understand that they have great ideas, and that the reason why those ideas are popping into their head is that they need to be out there, and they just need to find the people who are either willing to put the idea into reality or work together as a community to make those kinds of things happen.”
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
