1 month after Vancouver tragedy, this Filipino folk dance group is channeling grief into community support
On the morning of April 26, Rachel Ambrosio and the dancers with her Filipino folk dance group were finishing up media interviews in anticipation of their performance at the Lapu-Lapu Day festival in the afternoon. Some dancers arrived at the festival early to try some of the food and take in some of the other performances.
Ambrosio, the president of PhilCAS of B.C., said the performance went great — they interacted with the audience, had some laughs and enjoyed the good weather.
When the group left the Lapu-Lapu Day festivities at about 5:15 p.m. PT, the energy was still high as the sun shone down on a day of celebration.
But later that evening, Ambrosio learned there had been an incident.
Eleven people were killed and many others injured when the driver of a black SUV slammed into a crowd as the festival was winding down, just after 8 p.m. The driver, 30-year-old Kai-Ji Adam Lo, has since been charged with eight counts of second-degree murder.
People across the world mourned with Vancouver's Filipino community in the days following what police described as the "darkest day in our city's history."
And while Ambrosio, 36, and the PhilCAS dancers were certainly mourning, they also channelled their grief into community support.
"A lot of our dancers really leaned into what's the call to action that we can do," Ambrosio said. "In tragedies, there's always an opportunity to sit back and hide, but they wanted to help."
PhilCAS members Thea Hamberger and Sophie Ianonne-LeBlanc, both 18, got teachers and students at their Richmond, B.C., high school involved, and turned an annual spring showcase for arts students into a fundraising opportunity.
The pair were slated to perform a Filipino folk dance at the showcase, but after the festival incident, Hamberger said it didn't feel right doing so without acknowledging what had happened.
They suggested turning it into a fundraiser, which garnered enthusiastic support from staff and students.
They raised more than $1,900 for United Way B.C., which has been collecting donations to provide assistance, counselling and trauma services to those affected.
"It felt nice to be able to do something and make a difference," said Hamberger, who joined PhilCAS over a decade ago. "It felt really nice to be able to say that when [the tragedy] happened, we tried our best to do something, because we really cared."
Ianonne-LeBlanc, who isn't Filipino herself but has been a dancer with PhilCAS for several years, said the tragedy taught her and the other members of PhilCAS how to support one another and the community at large.
"In the beginning, it was really hard," she said. "But as the month has gone on … I feel like it's brought the community a lot closer to each other."
On May 4, PhilCAS hosted a memorial vigil in Richmond, where the group is based. The memorial is still there, and they plan to move it to a more permanent location in the city.
Ambrosio said it's hard to believe it's been a month since the tragedy at Lapu-Lapu Day.
"The fastest month, definitely, of my life," she said.
She only just visited the memorials at the festival site in South Vancouver last week.
"I wasn't sure if I was ready to face that location," she said. But when she arrived, Ambrosio saw all the candles, the flowers and messages from the community.
"It was all about love and all about praying for you and all about giving strength to each other. I thought that was really inspiring."
The future of the Vancouver memorials remains uncertain, as city workers have started dismantling some of them.
"It doesn't matter how long that memorial will stay, the people who mourned and grieved with us gave us enough strength to carry on," Ambrosio said.
Filipino folk dancing is very traditional, Ambrosio said, and there are several styles from different regions, influenced by the different kinds of people who have landed in the Philippines over the centuries.
PhilCAS also makes sure their costumes come from the Philippines to ensure authenticity.
The group has all kinds of shows lined up for the summer, including weekly performances in June for Filipino Heritage Month, and a two-week stint in northern Spain dancing at various folk festivals.
"These are performances that bring us to the community, and we're hoping to help people heal and give people some strength and smiles throughout the whole summer," Ambrosio said.
As she dances, Hamberger said she watches people experience memories and connections through the performance.
"Dancing is a celebration," she said. "It's just a beautiful feeling when you're on stage and you see people enjoying it so much, it makes you enjoy it as well."
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