The following blog has elements from my Guardian column on February 24th as well as some new material!
My last day in Vancouver was amazing. I had watched Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir take over the lead in the Ice Dance after a near flawless performance in the Original Dance the night before. I waited with great anticipation to see them confirm their greatness in the final program.
Classified entertaining the crowd
My friend Jay MacDonald, who has been generously putting me up for the past 12 days, saw the Free Dance live described their performance as “Effortless power and beauty, genuine without pretension”. When Tessa and Scott won Gold it was time to celebrate! I headed down to Atlantic Canada House where I the pleasure of attending receptions and entertainment by invitation from the Honourable Keith Ashfield, Minister of National Revenue and Minister of Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA). It proved to be another excellent cross section of Atlantic Canadian performers. The first set of entertainment took place on the Granville Island stage. Once all the invited guests had taken their places the doors were opened to the public and insanity arrived. While there is always a very long line for the shows at Atlantic Canada House, many of these fans had waited more than 4 hours to see the Nova Scotia Hip Hop group, Classified. The diversity of the artists and the fans was enormous, but the show went well none the less. Folk Singer Jessica Raye was fantastic and even the Hip Hop crowd was appreciative. Classified, next on stage, was seriously entertaining and an education unto themselves, as were the many enthusiastic fans who formed a pseudo mosh pit in front of the stage. After a short intermission and exit of the wild ones (Classified fans), Chuck & Albert and the Irish Descendents worked their own brand of magic which in the case of the later, included more dancing. Following this show we hit the Backstage Lounge next door for more fun with Matt Anderson and Rawlins Cross.
Allann, Shaun Majumder and Kara at Atlantic Canada House preparing to cheer on Heather and Kaillie the next day
It was a fantastic night of fun with lots of great characters from the staff at Atlantic Canada House who were practically like family now, several old friends, and lots of new friends including Walter Moyse and his fiancé Allanna who are in town to cheer on Walter’s sister Heather in the Bobsled. A self proclaimed member of Heather’s fan club, I headed to Whistler the next morning to catch the first 2 heats of Women’s Bobsled.
Tags: 2010 Olympics, 2010 Winter Olympics, Atlantic Canada House, The Guardian
