A special information feature

World-famous music, welcoming people, and the joy of the dance, Cape Breton ceilidhs will reel you in.

The music lives here

I
ve only been at Cape Breton Islands West Mabou Square Dance five minutes when my mother starts chatting with a regular. Do you dance all the sets? she asks. Hopefully, replies the lady. It depends on the crowd. I nod, and smile, and before we can say anymore our new friend is swept into the sea of people pounding the plywood in the centre of this little hall on the islands western shores. I sit; bobbing along to the music, in what is arguably Cape Bretons most storied square dance hall. Weve had people supposed to go back home and they stayed the whole year. They got into the dancing, says Jimmy MacInnis, who has run these dances every Saturday night for the last 21 years. This music the highoctane, highly-captivating fiddle and dance arrived here over 200 years ago brought by Gaelic-speaking Scottish Highlanders. The tradition has passed through the generations so that today this flourishing community music forms the backbone of Cape Bretons world-famous ceilidh culture. On this Saturday night, we can actually hear the dancing as we make our way in from the parking lot. Inside, a group of teens take up three tables while clusters of people from their 20s to their 80s mill about. I watch a woman put her BlackBerry in her purse when a man comes and nods in the direction of the dance floor. They join Converse-clad teens in skinny jeans and plaid shirts, grandmothers and middleaged men. On stage, fiddler Andrea Beatons fingers are flying. And everywhere I see joy. People are smiling. Chatting. Clapping. An exuberant whoop goes up from the dance floor. The music is really good, says Daniel Morreale, a 34-year-old organic farmer from Hamilton, ON whos lived in Cape Breton the past year-and-a-half. Its not something you get to hear all the time; its unique to this island. I like how theres a mix of young and old people alike. Its like a family environment, and the dancing is great. Come summer theres a ceilidh or concert every night flame-haired Mabou native an exhibit room with interacof the week here from GlenMairi Rankin is on stage in a tive fiddle and step-dancing coe Mills to Belle Cote, Cheti- kitchen-like, comfortably lessons and a chronological camp to Port Hawkesbury. casual performance room that history of how the music has Its a lot of fun, and youre holds up to 130. evolved. Popular live lunch learning about the history of Opened in 2006 with a ceilidhs run Monday-Saturday Cape Breton, says Mr. Mormandate to preserve Celtic in season. Sunday afternoon reale. music and culture, the centre ceilidhs are year-round. The dances kept the spirit is now a focal point for the Another not-to-miss venue alive through all the hard musics history. Along with is Mabous Red Shoe Pub, times. This is Celtic spirit from the performance venue, it owned by the antiquity. Thats pretty special. houses archives, a major You cant just go anywhere depository for Celtic and see this. You realize there music, and are are still places in Canada with fingers s eaton deep-rooted culdrea B n ture. ee joy. dler A Square dances ge, fid rywhere I s pping. An a . On sta nd eve were dying off when ng. Cl e floor Chatti ng. A e danc MacInnis planned h g. flyi from t smilin one as a fundraiser in oes up ple are g Peo West Mabou in 1989. hoop erant w My mother came up exub l to that dance and she u Hal Mabo said oh, it was great to West ce The hear that music. Then I a.m. e Dan e Squar ys 10 p.m.-1 pretiv became a fan of making nter I a Saturd on: $6 Music people happy. ree Celtic dmissi nder 12 are f A e Crowds have come Centr ghway 19 y an ren u Child ompanied b i n from Germany, Australia, cc 5471 H , Cape Breto when a guardian. e around the world, drawn by Judiqu 7-2708 ult or ad 8 .com the live music and the fact (902) 7 lticmusicsite ssion $7 ub its for all ages (they dont sell .ce dmi hoe P www ceilidh, a Red S 5-2996 y liquor). 4 m Sunda (902) 9 dshoepub.co The next afternoon I pop ery w.re Distill ww ra into the Celtic Music InterpreGleno 39-0491 om tive Centre, half-hour down 0-8 llery.c 1-80 disti lenora Route 19 in Judique, where www.g singing Rankin Sisters. The former old-time dry goods store now hums with a line-up of top talent, homecooking and an intimate pub atmosphere June through October. Less than 10 minutes north, in the highland hills of Glenville, the Glenora Distillery, Canadas only single malt whisky distillery, offers twice daily free ceilidhs in its pub, as well as distillery tours, accommodations and fine dining. Back at the Celtic Music Centre, musical director Allan Dewar, a popular pianist himself, says theres a lure for music that comes from the heart. Most people who do it have a passion for it. Its the type of music that gets you energized. Its one of those things you have to experience. As Mairi Rankin drives the beat, my toes are tapping, and the smile on my face says it all. Nova Scotia-based travel writer Shelley Cameron-McCarron visited Cape Breton Islands West Mabou Square Dance hall on March 27.

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