1 month after Vancouver tragedy, this Filipino folk dance group is channeling grief into community support

Courtney Dickson · CBC News

· Posted: May 26, 2025 8:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 9 hours ago

On the greeting of April 26, Rachel Ambrosio and the dancers with her Filipino people creation radical were finishing up media interviews successful anticipation of their show astatine the Lapu-Lapu Day festival successful the afternoon. Some dancers arrived astatine the festival aboriginal to effort immoderate of the nutrient and instrumentality successful immoderate of the different performances.  

Ambrosio, the president of PhilCAS of B.C., said the show went large — they interacted with the audience, had immoderate laughs and enjoyed the bully weather. 

When the radical near the Lapu-Lapu Day festivities at astir 5:15 p.m. PT, the vigor was inactive precocious arsenic the prima shone down connected a time of celebration. 

But aboriginal that evening, Ambrosio learned determination had been an incident. 

Eleven radical were killed and galore others injured erstwhile the operator of a achromatic SUV slammed into a assemblage arsenic the festival was winding down, conscionable aft 8 p.m. The driver, 30-year-old Kai-Ji Adam Lo, has since been charged with 8 counts of second-degree murder. 

People crossed the satellite mourned with Vancouver's Filipino assemblage successful the days pursuing what constabulary described arsenic the "darkest time successful our city's history."

And portion Ambrosio, 36, and the PhilCAS dancers were surely mourning, they besides channelled their grief into assemblage support. 

"A batch of our dancers truly leaned into what's the telephone to enactment that we tin do," Ambrosio said. "In tragedies, there's ever an accidental to beryllium backmost and hide, but they wanted to help."

Fundraising

PhilCAS members Thea Hamberger and Sophie Ianonne-LeBlanc, some 18, got teachers and students astatine their Richmond, B.C., precocious schoolhouse involved, and turned an yearly outpouring showcase for arts students into a fundraising opportunity. 

The brace were slated to execute a Filipino people creation astatine the showcase, but aft the festival incident, Hamberger said it didn't consciousness close doing truthful without acknowledging what had happened. 

They suggested turning it into a fundraiser, which garnered enthusiastic enactment from unit and students. 

They raised much than $1,900 for United Way B.C., which has been collecting donations to supply assistance, counselling and trauma services to those affected. 

WATCH | One-month day of Lapu-Lapu Day festival tragedy: 

"It felt bully to beryllium capable to bash thing and marque a difference," said Hamberger, who joined PhilCAS implicit a decennary ago. "It felt truly bully to beryllium capable to accidental that erstwhile [the tragedy] happened, we tried our champion to bash something, due to the fact that we truly cared."

Ianonne-LeBlanc, who isn't Filipino herself but has been a dancer with PhilCAS for respective years, said the calamity taught her and the different members of PhilCAS however to enactment 1 different and the assemblage astatine large. 

"In the beginning, it was truly hard," she said. "But arsenic the period has gone connected … I consciousness similar it's brought the assemblage a batch person to each other."

Memorial

On May 4, PhilCAS hosted a memorial vigil successful Richmond, wherever the radical is based. The memorial is inactive there, and they program to determination it to a much imperishable determination successful the city. 

Ambrosio said it's hard to judge it's been a period since the calamity astatine Lapu-Lapu Day.

"The fastest month, definitely, of my life," she said. 

She lone conscionable visited the memorials astatine the festival tract successful South Vancouver past week. 

"I wasn't definite if I was acceptable to look that location," she said. But erstwhile she arrived, Ambrosio saw each the candles, the flowers and messages from the community. 

"It was each astir emotion and each astir praying for you and each astir giving spot to each other. I thought that was truly inspiring."

The aboriginal of the Vancouver memorials remains uncertain, arsenic metropolis workers person started dismantling immoderate of them.

"It doesn't substance however agelong that memorial volition stay, the radical who mourned and grieved with america gave america capable spot to transportation on," Ambrosio said. 

Healing done dance

Filipino people dancing is precise traditional, Ambrosio said, and determination are respective styles from antithetic regions, influenced by the antithetic kinds of radical who person landed successful the Philippines implicit the centuries. 

PhilCAS besides makes definite their costumes travel from the Philippines to guarantee authenticity. 

The radical has each kinds of shows lined up for the summer, including play performances successful June for Filipino Heritage Month, and a two-week stint successful bluish Spain dancing astatine assorted people festivals. 

"These are performances that bring america to the community, and we're hoping to assistance radical heal and springiness radical immoderate spot and smiles passim the full summer," Ambrosio said. 

As she dances, Hamberger said she watches radical acquisition memories and connections done the performance. 

"Dancing is simply a celebration," she said. "It's conscionable a beauteous feeling erstwhile you're connected signifier and you spot radical enjoying it truthful much, it makes you bask it arsenic well."

WATCH | PhilCAS explains antithetic forms of Filipino people dance: