After a successful first round of reaching jigging in St. Laurent, Eva Kerbrat has done anything but slow down.
The locally raised dancer is fresh off nine weeks of jigging classes, having taught more than 13 locals how to improve on or start their jigging. Eva said the classes went well, and everyone improved considerably from the first class to the last one. She taught children under 15 in one class, and right after, she taught adults.
Having danced since she was five, Eva is no stranger to busy schedules. Though her dance classes just finished, she hasn’t. Eva dances with the Asham Stompers, a well-known jigging group of about a dozen dancers, give or take. Her younger sister, Vanessa Kerbrat, recently developed an interest in jigging, and having learned from one of the best, she too started dancing more often and more seriously, eventually joining the Asham Stompers as well.
The traditional Red River Metis jigging group was invited to perform for 40 minutes by the King’s representative in Manitoba, Lt.-Gov. Anita Neville, on the grounds of Government House on June 22. This was the Lieutenant Governor’s first-ever Levee on the Lawn, and the Asham Stompers adorned their new costumes for the event. The Kerbrat sisters like the bright new outfits, their dresses shining red, blue, and white as they spin.
“It was a really good show,” said Eva, adding eight of them performed that day, four women and four men dancing in pairs.
Before the Levee on the Lawn, though, the Asham Stompers made the trek to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, to partake in the country’s largest folkloric festival, The Festival Vallarta Azteca (FESTVA). The 18th annual festival featured free performances from dance groups worldwide, one of which was the Asham Stompers from Manitoba, Canada. From April 28 to May 5, they danced along the Malecon, Puerto Vallarta’s famous boardwalk, amid people, lights, food, and décor.
The shows the Asham Stompers performed in Mexico were around 30 minutes each, and they danced more than once. As the Kerbrats go to Mexico often, the culture wasn’t anything new to them, and they fully enjoyed the experience.
“It was more of learning and experiencing the different cultures,” said Vanessa.
The Kerbrats don’t know what’s next, but Eva is hoping to offer more jigging lessons to the community in the fall. She has yet to determine if they’ll be in St. Laurent, Stonewall, or both, but she knows it will happen.
“Just being with everybody, the energy the people,” she said. “It’s fun. Everybody’s smiling and clapping and us, the dancers, we’re smiling and laughing and clapping.”
