The Backwards March, a tradition brought to KlezKanada by theatre artist Jenny Romaine and folklorist Itzik Gottesman, has become the centerpiece of each summer’s retreat. Itzik brought a first-hand account from a Yiddish actor named Arye Leysh who grew up in a Romanian town called Stănișești. In the 1920-30’s all the members of the community would gather by a large body of water and walk backwards together toward town singing a melody to usher in the sabbath and to welcome the Shabes queen.
Photo by Josh Dolgin
Through the power of editing technology and a lot of extra time at home, the KlezKanada team has collected over 85 filmed performances of our beloved backwards march theme and assembled them all, resulting in a beautiful, cacophonous international, intergenerational mess… just like it is in person at Camp B’nai Brith.
The Digital Backwards March will wrap up this year’s online KlezKanada retreat and will take place on Friday, August 28th at 6:45pm. Anyone and everyone is invited and encouraged to come march, sing and play along in one of two ways:
1) by registering for free on the Eventbrite page to be part of the Zoom room, which will allow you to participate in the live broadcast: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/klezkanadas-backwards-march-tickets-116775545801
2) by viewing the Facebook Live event on KlezKanada’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/events/310517510012311/
Come join the celebration!