Snowshoe Shufflers still tearing up the dance floor four decades on.
We put on our cleanest long johns and our prettiest skirts, and put on our snowshoes, to snowshoe into Whitehorse and show the cancan girls – show the skinny girls – how to cancan on snowshoes
You think you can dance?
Try it wearing long underwear, crinolines and snowshoes.
The famously infamous (in a totally good way) Snowshoe Shufflers are a Yukon staple in the world of Northern show business, and can be found performing for locals and tourists alike all year long. Whether it’s conventions, festivals or anniversary celebrations, these amazing volunteers are a highlight wherever they go to dance.
The origins of the group date back to the mid-’80s when it was just a two-person skit, but it has since evolved into the “epitome of the Yukon spirit and flavour.”
Today, the group of dancers is 10 women strong, with some reservists to boot. In fact, there are dancers on the ‘waitlist’ who have been there for almost a decade.
Marj Eschak, aka ‘Lake Lebarge Marj’, was one of the founders of the Snowshoe Shufflers, along with the late ‘Rat River’ Mary Fitton. Eschak said she and Fitton conceived the idea of the Snowshoe Shufflers as a skit (about dealing with cabin fever from a long, dark, cold and lonely Yukon winter) during Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous – as it was called back then – and the Queen crowning event.
“The shtick was, we were a couple of gals who had spent a long, cold winter, back at the claim, and were now in town. We put on our cleanest long johns and our prettiest skirts, and put on our snowshoes, to snowshoe into Whitehorse and show the cancan girls – show the skinny girls – how to cancan on snowshoes.”
Eschak and Fitton, found themselves doing the skit year after year.
“We went all over the place with it,” she said. “Then it just grew. We had more girls. We had more invitations and we couldn’t keep up.”
But the years of performing and the evolution of the group has only made it more special for Eschak and keeps her coming back for more.
“Oh I love it. I love it!” she said. “All the energy you pull from the crowd; it’s fun, you make people happy, you make them laugh and you can share that Yukon spirit! It’s wonderful and it keeps me going.”
The Snowshoes Shufflers have a long and impressive resume outside of the Yukon as well. Eschak said they have performed across Canada and parts of the United States and even attended the Expo 86 world’s fair in Vancouver and were featured on the CBC television series On The Road Again, with Wayne Rostad, and in numerous magazines.
Eschak pointed out that becoming a Snowshow Shuffler is all about years of volunteer experience in the Yukon (especially with Rendezvous), but an individual must also be a Yukon ambassador.
“You have to know the Yukon. You have to be able to field questions from people about whatever it is they’re interested in.” She added that all the dancers are professional women who have solid backgrounds and very strong sense of who they are in the Yukon, with a very broad knowledge base.
“We bring that with us.”
Troupe manager, choreographer and part-time dancer, Lorraine Heynen, who goes by the stage name ‘Gold Claim Lorraine’, has been with the group for 27 years. She first saw the Snowshoe Shufflers back when she was on the board of directors for the Rendezvous Festival, and was hooked on the idea of being a part of the team.
“One day I thought, ‘Why don’t I see if they need more dancers.?’” That was back in 1986. The rest, as they say, is history. She has been dancing with them ever since, although she admits the dancing side of things is more on an “as needed” basis these days.
Heynen echoes Eschak’s comments by pointing out the group is always watching for potential dancers to become part of the troupe (though no one can say when a spot will open up), based on their personality, confidence, dance skills and volunteer work.
She points out that a dancer needs to be prepared for long days when they perform, and how they handle the workload (in the past, the group might perform 40 weekends of the year). That endurance and adaptability will be front and centre as Rendezvous gets underway and dancers can expect to be performing almost every day of the three-week festival. Heynen said.
But despite the long days and sometimes gruelling schedule, Heynen said there are many things that keep her going with the Snowshoe Shufflers.
“It’s the girls. It’s Marj. And it’s sharing what we call Northern Spirit with others, whether they’re tourists or locals. I would say that’s why I do it.” She added it’s especially satisfying to experience the reactions of people who “really have no clue about what they’re about to see,” at things like conventions.
“That look on their faces, and getting them to let their hair down,” Heynen said.
It’s also the sisterhood between the dancers that keeps the desire to stick with the yearly schedules and the regular practices, she added.
The moral of the story? “Talk to each other. Be friendly to each other, you know? Let your hair down and have a good time.” And just having a chance to help people have fun and relax is where the magic really comes out during the Snowshoe Shufflers’ shows.
