Métis across the Homeland love dancing and having a good time. Kitchen parties and “half breed balls” filled with music, food, and dancing are an important part of Métis culture—historically and today.
These legendary parties were often reported by non-Métis visitors to communities. In 1846, for example, William Cullen Bryant, an American poet and long-time editor of the New York Evening Post, visited Sault Ste. Marie.
He wrote about the lively Métis parties and love of dancing all winter long:
“In a further conversation with the half-breed, he spoke of the Sault as a delightful abode, and expatiated on the pleasures of the place. ‘It is the greatest place in the world for fun,’ said he; ‘we dance all winter; our women are all good dancers; our little girls can dance single and double jigs as good as anybody in the States. That little girl there,’ pointing to a long-haired girl at the door, ‘will dance as good as any body.’”
Lively dances, soirees, and ‘half-breed’ balls remain a cornerstone of many Métis communities’ holiday celebrations to this day.