What started out as a celebration in honour of National Indigenous Peoples Day has turned into an internet sensation.
Martina Desjarlais was at a powwow in Camrose last Thursday when her two-year-old son, Albert Apsassin, stole the show.
Dressed in what Desjarlais described as a red and white chicken dance outfit, the toddler jumped up and started dancing with two men. It wasn’t long until he stole the spotlight in front of a crowd of about 3,000 people.
“We were asked by a family friend to come out and dance I asked if Albert could tag along,” Desjarlais said.
“Everybody was amazed and they all thought he was pretty cute and they were all like, ‘Awe, he’s so cute.’ Just heart-warmed and everybody’s day was made.”
But that wasn’t the only attention Apsassin garnered. Desjarlais posted a video of her son’s dance on Facebook and as of Wednesday afternoon, the video had been viewed more than one million times.
“I was pretty amazed. I didn’t expect it to get that big in such a short amount of time,” she said.
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“It’s just been amazing… it’s all just been good vibes. A lot of people said their day has been made just by watching it and that they’re hopeful for our future generations and stuff like that. Really awesome.”
The young boy loves to dance and will follow the beat to any genre of music, his mother said; he took up powwow just this year. He follows in the footsteps of his mother and other family members who also dance.
“We have a lot of people in our family and family friends and close relatives that sing and also dance and they have taught me and they continue to teach my son too,” Desjarlais said.
“He’s an awesome kid. He steals the show everywhere.”