Politicians are often accused of orchestrating some fancy footwork, but in Kevin Chief’s case it’s a compliment.
Manitoba’s minister of children and youth opportunities joined his popular square-dance troupe for a performance in Flin Flon last week.
“I’m a square dancer, Manitoba’s jigging politician,” said Chief, a bundle of energy and enthusiasm.
The Norman Chief Memorial Dancers, named after the cabinet minister’s late father, entertained an audience of 40-plus people at the Friendship Centre hall last Friday, Aug. 15.
Backed by a live band, Chief and his fellow dancers brought a dress-twirling, floor-stomping, sweat-dabbing fusion of traditional and contemporary styles.
Collectively the troupe represents decades of square dancing experience and merges a mixture of backgrounds.
“I love the fact of how diverse our team is,” said Chief. “We actually have a grandmother who dances with her granddaughters. We have the only traditional Métis square dancer who happens to be Fili-pino, Rob Cueto. So we’re showing the diversity of our province.”
Though it didn’t show at the performance, Chief came into square dancing much later than some of his peers.
It started more than a decade ago when an established dancer suggested a square dancing team be formed in memory of Chief’s singer-songwriter dad.
Chief, an athletic type who had spent five years on the University of Winnipeg basketball team, learned the physically demanding art form by attending practices with the upstart troupe.
Flin Flon was one of a few stops on the troupe’s recent northern and central Manitoba tour, allowing Chief to visit youth centres and job programs in his ministerial capacity.
He stressed the importance of face-to-face meetings with program workers and of investments that help youth can gain valuable summer jobs and work experience.
Though Chief was born and raised in Winnipeg, he is no stranger to northern Manitoba, having conducted work around suicide prevention and cultural and recreational programs in the region before being elected to the legislature in 2011.
“I’ve always had this love for rural and northern Manitoba,” he said.
