euskalkultura.eus

Donazaharre, Lower Navarre. Right after this year’s Gaztemundu program, on the 20^th of July, seven young dancers from the Zazpiak Bat Dance Group of San Francisco started a two-week stay in the Basque Country, coordinated by Arrechea herself.  The following are the dancers selected for the program: Montserrat San Mames, Jesse Kvarna-Aranburu, Joana Arrechea, Emma Meadows, Jessica Moulia, Mikaela Ribi, and Angelina Samattia.

Between the 21^st and the 26^th the dancers were in Barkoxe (Zuberoa) under the guidance of local dance instructor Fabienne Andere who taught them dances from that area. On the very last day of their stay in Barkoxe they performed what they learned in front of an audience. After that, the group moved to Arnegi (Lower Navarre) for the next six days in which Mirentxu Ausqui is being the instructor. The dancers will also do a performance in Arnegi, showing what they learned. In both places, the kids stay with local families “making their own connections,” as Arrechea points out.

This trip can be considered as the second phase of the program since both European Basque instructors have previously been invited to San Francisco in 2012 and 2013. That being the first phase, and this trip to the Basque Country being considered the second phase, the third phase will consist of another visit by Andere and Ausqui to San Francisco, next year.

“Everything started with a dance group we sent to Zuberoa five years ago,” recalls Arrechea. “And now it would be nice to keep this connection alive and see what we can do. As we get further away in generations in the USA we have to start to do things to strengthen bounds with the Basque Country. It is important because we need to get to know the Basque Country as it is currently, and not as it may be in the memory of our grandparents. Memories are important, we need to keep them, but we also have to look forward, not only back. And the personal experience and ties we create are important.  We have to show the next generation that there’s a reason why we are making an effort to maintain this relationship,” the president of the North American Basque Organizations says.