Performance groups highlight township’s diverse population
CRANBERRY TWP — Dancers with Pittsburgh Xiaobo LaPresta Waist Drum Dance Group twirled ribbons and spun in all different directions on stage, while dancers with the Bell School of Irish Dance kept their torsos locked in place as their feet did all the work.
All of the dancing and performances at Cranberry Township’s annual Cranfest had different trademarks that exemplify the culture they come from. And it all happened in one place Saturday, April 11 — the Cranberry Township Municipal Center.
Kiran Cherlakola, a member of the township’s Inclusion, Diversity, Equity Advisory team, said Cranfest is an opportunity not only for cultural performance groups to show off their work, but for people in the area to learn about their arts. She explained that the event began more than 10 years ago, and it has continued to welcome new and returning performers that showcase a variety of culture all in one place.
“Cranberry has a lot to offer to different people,” Cherlakola said. “We are a diverse group of people and expanding our horizons is what we want to show.”
While the performances in the municipal center’s gymnasium were a visual showcase of cultural arts, the booths surrounding the court offered a taste of cultures, from India and China to Jamaican and Haitian cuisine.
Cranfest is normally a big opportunity for many of the groups that perform there — Xiaobo LaPresta, who heads up the waist drum dance group, said she has performed at the event for nine years, and it has helped bring new members to the fold.
“We include audience participation,” she said after inviting people from the gym to join her on stage during the ribbon dance. “We add history to the presentation and we go big scale.”
The Bell School of Irish Dance, which has a studio in Marshall Township, Allegheny County, has also performed at Cranfest for years. The performance was a fast-paced stomp that included multiple girls per song, whom smiled as their legs extended sideways and high into the air, all in rhythm to the song.
Melissa Barnes, one of the teachers at the Bell School, said the trademarks of Irish dance include the high kicks and quick stepping, but the upper body is meant to be still.
“The goal is for the upper body to not move at all,” Barnes said. “It’s kind of like you see in river dance, you move your feet a lot and we don’t move our arms.”
Cherlakola said she learns something every year she has been at Cranfest, and this year was no exception, with the step dancers giving her a little lesson in dance and Irish terminology.
“I didn’t know what soft shoe or hard shoe was, now I know,” Cherlakola said.
Attendees of the event also got a taste for an interpretive-style dance from the K-Pop Dance Club from Carnegie Mellon University. The dance was to K-pop music, and involved spinning, synchronized hand movements and prop work with fans.
Kevin Dong, one of the group’s members, commented that the team choreographs a dance over the course of about one semester, and performs it at different events throughout the region. And the dancers who performed at the Cranfest were just a small sample of the whole group, which he said has gained popularity through recent cultural exposure to Korean music.
“There has been a growing interest — we had 40 to 50 members before COVID, and since then it doubled,” Dong said. “The entire group has about 80 people in it now.”
Cherlakola said traffic to the event was consistent since it began at 11 a.m. Saturday. She would like to get more food vendors at future Cranfests, however, to give people an even wider sample of what restaurants and recipes are within Cranberry Township.
An immigrant to the U.S. herself, Cherlakola said being a part of organizing Cranfest has been one of the most rewarding experiences she has had in her 23 years in the nation, because she is helping share other cultures with people in the area. She said community can start small, but it can grow to encompass more and more people, just like the way Cranfest has expanded since it first began.
“This is how I give back, I give a sense of belonging to people who are sharing with us,” Cherlakola said. “I love being a part of this.”
