The Dance Class, one of many local dance schools, is the site of a unique showcase for this year’s Milton Culture Days.
This year’s theme is World Dance and three schools are coming together to present one of the major events. World Dance: A Cultural Dance Collaboration brings together The Dance Class, Bollywood West and Deep inDance studios to create a cross-cultural performance that seeks to educate as well as entertain.
One of their rehearsal days was just this past Sunday (Sept. 15) where teachers and students from the three schools worked in concert through motion, grace and timing.
“This is the first year that we're doing this specific event,” founder and CEO of, and teacher at Bollywood West Vandana Majithia told MiltonToday.
“We see through the pieces that they all sort of have the same seeds. They have some of some similar movements, some similar qualities of dance as well,” The Dance School teacher Elizabeth Kmiec said in explaining the commonalities between the different styles.
“The theme is that there is one common music that we are all dancing to, how music connects different styles and different artists. It was amazing to see not just the teachers, but even the kids found that similarity,” added Deep inDance teacher Deepti Penkar.
Overseen by Arts Milton, Milton Culture Days runs from Sept. 20 to Oct. 13 as part of the nation-wide celebration, with a host of programming plans in town and across Halton.
It officially begins this Friday (Sept. 20) and World Dance is one of the first events to take place this Saturday, Sept. 21 at 11 a.m. at the FirstOntario Arts Centre.
Musical events feature heavily in this year’s event lineup. There are the Parkside Serenades and Porch Fest Milton, where live bands entertain music lovers outdoors. Meanwhile, the Rythms of Africa: Drumming Session provide a deep dive into music from that continent.
There are more contemplative gatherings like a talk by author Waubgeshig Rice about his book, Moon of the Crusted Snow.
World Dance will be accompanied by a gallery opening and art exhibition sharing the similar names. The World Dance Art Exhibit will be opened to the public at 10 a.m. on Sept. 21, which will be followed by the World Dance Gallery Opening, a sort of reception, at noon the same day.
“In Milton we have such a wonderful blend of cultures and we want to celebrate all of that,” said Diksha Pal Narayan, Arts Milton Program Coordinator and organizers of Culture Days.
“Art has no language, and neither does dance or movement. These are some things that instantly connect one person to whichever art form it is,” said Pal Narayan.
The dance collaboration – scheduled for 11 a.m. on Sept. 21 – will feature various styles of dance like Indian styles like bhangra, garba, bharatanatyam and western styles like ballet and modern.
“I think we will continue to grow this, especially if we feel that this is beneficial for our community. We would love to add disciplines that we don’t even know that are out there,” Majithia said.
She invites interested parties who “think this is something that they would want to contribute to, definitely reach out.”
Pal Narayan and other Culture Days organizers are hoping to outdo their success from the previous year where local art activities placed fourth nationally for their programming. They also placed sixth for the sheer number of experiences they provided.
Anyone who wants to sample Arts Milton’s offerings up close and personal can visit Culture Days’ events page for a complete list of events and programs.
With last year's World Beats theme, Milton's Culture Days overall programming placed fourth among mid-size communities nationwide. Neighbouring Oakville and Halton Hills placed first and second respectively.