Dancers at Mosaic's Chinese pavilion say art allows them to transcend words

CBC

05-06-2025

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This story is part of a series from CBC Saskatchewan featuring four stories from the 15 pavilions that are part of Mosaic 2025. For more, visit our Mosaic home page.
Jenny Xie says dancing was always the "most stunning, shining" part of her life growing up, allowing her to communicate in ways other than words.
When the now-50-year-old dance instructor was an infant in China, she fell sick.
"I got the bad medicine when I was about eight months," she said.
After that illness, she lost some of her hearing. Sounds and language became harder to distinguish.
After coming to Canada in 2001, she found an additional challenge trying to communicate clearly in English.
"I'm not able to do that, but I can dance and then people can feel what I want to say," she said.
"Dancing is another body language [and I] can express myself very accurately."
Xie is the dance instructor at the Regina Chinese Canadian Association's Red Leaves dance group, which will once again see its children and adult groups demonstrate their dancing skills at Regina's Mosaic festival.
Under Xie's choreography, the women bend and twirl with gracefulness.
Dongyan Blatchford, 66, has taken part in this dancing for a decade. For her, embracing dance for the first time gave her a chance to break out of the busy cycle of work. The fusion of tai chi and dance at Red Leaves has allowed her to slow down and embrace the art.
"My first dancing, I was just mimicking [the moves]. There wasn't any beauty," she said.
"Then I realized dance is a way to express yourself in your body … and also a great way to show the Chinese culture."
The dance movements are constructed in circles, encompassing the heavens, Earth and wholeness, Blatchford said.
For fellow participant Fang Bian, joining the dance group was a way of understanding her own identity and finding balance in herself. The longer she lives in Canada, the more she wants to understand her own roots, she said.
"It's like walking with two legs, together, and both are equally important."
Xie said she hopes those who take the time to stop, watch and feel Red Leaves' performances at Mosaic walk away understanding the message she wants to impart about her Chinese culture in a way words couldn't.