Abstract
In this paper, I examine the preparation and execution of spectacle, often facilitated by cultural religious traditions, as a vehicle for nurturing and evolving a collective hyphenated identity among Canadian-Serbs, by compiling an oral history archive of interviews with sponsors, administrators, and artists involved in theatrical Serbian-Canadian folk-dance organizations in Ontario. Together with the continued practice of the Christian Orthodox religion, the theatrical folk-dance continues to be a shared extracurricular activity, as well as a key component in the upbringing of second and third generations of Serbian immigrants dating back to the post-war out-migrations of Serbs from Yugoslavia. While the folk-dance form was realized in its theatrical form in 1948 and brought to Canada with the post-war migrations, I argue that the collective effort put into the creation and performance of spectacle was a key factor in the expression and nurturing of a Serbian-Canadian collective identity. Through the incorporation of personal memories via oral histories and archival materials, this paper surveys the ways in which Canadian social, economic and cultural frameworks, together with Serbian-Canadian dance organizations, have served as a vehicle for the integration of Serbian immigrants, not only into Canadian society but also into Canadian dance cultures.