150 PARTY RIDING RAILS
World champion hoop dancer Dallas Arcand performs at the kickoff for the Canada 150 Train on Tuesday at CP headquarters in Calgary. Arcand will be among the performers on board as the train crosses the country to honour Canada’s sesquicentennial.
He makes the most eye-popping feats look easy, his internationally renowned moves these days backed up by a catchy hip-hop beat of his own creation.
No matter how many times you’ve seen Dallas Arcand perform, it’s always an exciting, memorable experience. Like any artist, though, there is a lot more at work when the world’s best hoop dancer gets on stage.
“At the end of it, it’s about bringing those two worlds together,” says the charismatic Arcand, who identifies as Metis. “It’s bringing each other together — to bring peace and harmony into the world.”
It’s this message that Arcand hopes to deliver as he travels across the country as one of the featured entertainers on Canadian Pacific’s Canada 150 Train. The tour will deliver a Canada 150 “block party” to 13 cities, starting in Port Moody, B.C., on Friday and ending Aug. 20 in Ottawa.
On Tuesday morning under a clear blue sky, Arcand joins country band the Railroad Ramblers to help launch the event that is Canadian Pacific’s contribution to the 150th anniversary of Confederation.
Along with the entertainers who will spend just over three weeks making their way across the country (the Calgary stop is scheduled for 3 to 6 p.m. on Sunday at the Anderson CTrain parking lot), the launch event includes the usual gathering of corporate and political representatives: Kent Hehr, federal minister of veterans affairs and MP for Calgary Centre, Alberta finance minister Joe Ceci and CP president and CEO Keith Creel all get their moment at the podium, while Tsuut’ina elder Gerald Meguinis blesses the train and offers prayers for a safe journey.
Creel describes the launch as “a historic day for Canada, a historic day for this company,” while Hehr notes that thanks to the cross-Canada track built by the company in the late 1800s, “my great-grandfather settled in Medicine Hat.”
As they speak, more than 200 CP employees look on, along with a group of kids waiting for their chance to be the first to decorate the “Spirit of Tomorrow” rail car with handwritten cards that outline their dreams for the future.
The Canada 150 Train isn’t the first time the 136-year-old company has undertaken this kind of community outreach event. One was launched in fall of 2008 to generate excitement for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics; last year, the CP Holiday Train wrapped up its 18th year with a tally of $1.2 million raised and 250,000 pounds of food collected for charity.
Still, not everyone is enamoured by the “cross-Canada” journeys: the 2016 tour was criticized for not going farther east than Montreal. That, though, is an unfortunate fact of life, since Canadian Pacific doesn’t own track in the Maritimes.
As well, noisy demonstrators protesting the Games’ effect on the environment, the homeless and Aboriginal rights caused a ruckus when the 2008 train launched in B.C.
So, it’ll be as “Canada-wide” as circumstances allow, with big names such as country star Dean Brody and, in Winnipeg and Edmonton, music group Eagle and Hawk (for a full listing of performers and schedules, go to cpr.ca). At each stop, those entertainers will put on a threehour show, free of charge; guests will also be offered a variety of family-friendly activities.
For Arcand, it’s a magical experience for both those who come to greet the train and those who travel across the country. “I got to see the country on one of these,” he says of his experience riding the Spirit train before the Vancouver Olympics. “Who gets to do that these days?”
More importantly, Arcand sees it as a powerful way to do his part for reconciliation in his own distinct way.
“I’m reconciling with my own past and my own mistakes,” he says of his role as an artistic messenger, which in his case is using his talent at the art form of hoop dancing — which he calls a sacred healing dance — to bring Canadians of all backgrounds together.
“I’m living my life and sharing my experiences for others to see.”