PARK FALLS — For the second straight year the Micronesian community of Park Falls will bring a dance group to perform in the main tent at Flambeau-Rama from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday Aug. 3. The performance includes several dances of a diverse Micronesia that is reflected in the Park Falls community as well.
The Micronesian community is present in all areas of the Park Falls community, from the school band and sports, to the volunteer fire department, manufacturing and small businesses. Preserving their culture and celebrating it with the wider community is not new but it hasn’t been the priority.
“At first, we started just for the Flambeau-Rama,” said Penelope Barnabas, dance program coordinator with her sister Penselen Miguel. Barnabas has been here 23 years and organized a dance group of four for the 2014 Flambeau-Rama. The community was much smaller then and the group didn’t continue. Now there are many new families and kids and an opportunity to create a real dance program.
“We are a multicultural community because Micronesia consists of so many islands,” Barnabas said. “But each of the islands have their own language, and have their own culture. And so all of us here, we are kind of mixed with our culture. So I thought about it and then told them that we need to start teaching them our culture too, our own dances, so that they can learn and so that they can understand that this is our culture, where we’re from.”
Barnabas and her two adult daughters, Marsela and Manuela, teach the Pohnpeian dance. Two other directors teach Mortlockese dance and dances of the outer islands.
“It's kind of a short time and so we did this a fast way for the kids to learn,” Barnabas said. “With cultural dances it takes time for the kids to really learn it and really dance.”
Barnabas learned dance as a youth and continued with traditional dance all the way through college. While she settled in America, her daughters were still in school and stayed with her parents where they also learned dance and enjoyed performing.
“When they came here we all wanted to show that there were Micronesians in town, a different culture here, and just wanted us to be known out there,” Barnabas said.
In Micronesia the dancers perform at ceremonies or special occasions. The dancing is finding its place here in Park Falls and Flambeau-Rama was a natural fit.
“We just decided that we'll do it for this occasion that comes once a year, but in the future we want the kids to be able to show the dances all wherever they can participate in other occasions,” Barnabas said.
The kids are relatively new to dancing but they have mastered the basics and enjoy what they are doing, she said. It will take time to learn the advanced dance technique and when that happens there will be more opportunities for the group.
“I want them to know where they come from and understand how our culture is,” Barnabas said. “That's why I want them to start learning. This is how we are; this is who we are; this is our culture; this is our dance.”
Audiences can expect to see a blend of traditional dance with a little contemporary choreography and music from the youth influence, she said. That hula, which is also part of Micronesian dance, is a mixture of cultural styles that will make it more familiar to audiences.
The dancers will also be in the Flambeau-Rama parade at noon Sunday, Aug. 4. There will also be several Micronesian youth in the Chequamegon High School Marching Band at the same time.
“We'll be in the parade wearing our own cultural stuff and then I want them to perform,” Barnabas said. “I want us to be the last so they can do some performance at the end of the parade.”
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