Students and staff at Kingsdale Academy elementary school in Pierrefonds, Que., took a break from regular classes Tuesday morning to take part in a Black History Month activity that temporarily turned the school’s gym into a party zone.
The school brought in a group of African drummers and dancers to perform, just the latest in a series of events the school has organized to celebrate Black cultures and history for the month of February.
“I think it’s really cool,” Grade 5 student Ella Ksiezopolski said, grinning. “We haven’t done something like this at Kingsdale in a long time.”
The idea, according to principal Kathryn Byrne, is to recognize and celebrate diversity.
“We take February as a month in particular to raise that up, to celebrate, to acknowledge and to really weave that celebration throughout the curriculum,” she told Global News.
The performers are part of Préville, a charity dedicated to arts education. The team from the organization who performed at the school were dancers and drummers from Burkina Faso and Mali, who believe that they are cultural ambassadors for their home countries.
“We bring our culture with us,” explained Kenzo Ouedraogo, one of the group. “The deal is to make people travel without taking the plane.”
Ouedraogo pointed out that performing during Black History Month takes on a special meaning because they feel especially appreciated given the attention being paid to Black cultures.
“We wish it was Black History Month every month,” he laughed.
Kindergarten teacher Desirée Lafayette-Gayle says she was certainly grateful to see aspects of Black culture recognized so openly.
“It makes people of colour feel like they belong,” she pointed out. “We get to share it with all our white friends. It’s important.”
Despite the merrymaking, the importance of sharing cultures wasn’t lost on some of the students like 8 year-old Grade 2 student, Timothy Spielman.
“Because there used to be the days when white people were rude to the Black people,” he noted, “and that wasn’t really nice.”
He believes things aren’t as they used to be and observed that people are living more equally now, which he said makes him happy.
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