Several practices led to an excellent presentation made by the young women of this community. It was back at New Year's, January 1st, when at the tail end of a Prabhupada Festival, I mentioned to one of our Ukrainian girls: "It would be nice if we could develop a garbha dance team a type of folk dance: Gujarati, spiritual." From that remark, voiced before Sasha and her husband, Yura, a seed was planted.
Sasha had some experience already, in her home country, dancing in kirtan with a group of other women. In stylish and tasteful looking attire, she danced and the public adored it. So Sasha and Yura went to India. They bought some colourful clothes. Regular classes were held back in Toronto and thanks to Anand from Regina, an expert djembe player, he worked with the girls, providing the music.
This morning at 11:00 a.m., when the chariot procession was to begin, Anand was poised to play on his djembe, affixed to a wagon of sorts. The dancers began with decorative striking-sticks in their hands. I took the lead in chanting. Our starting point was at a fallen white feather on the pavement: a clear, although accidental, marker.
I can't say that our team upstaged the deity Jagannatha, but it sure was darned attractive. We couldn't keep the cameras away.
Now this was my walk, a tough one. It was austere for the bunch of us going down Yonge Street at 11:00a.m., into the noon hour, and complete with the dance, song and drum at 2:00 p.m. It was an exercise in stamina and love for the Lord. https://www.instagram.com/p/Bz4Wh7SA0DN/?igshid=hw83gl3bak6
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