Alpine Club Dancers @ So You Think You Can Tanz, Oktoberfest, Kitchener-Berlin 2022-10-12

These are the Alpine Club dancers performing at their home club. At So You Think You Can Tanz, hosted at the Alpine Club, a number of mostly local German clubs present their folk dance groups, which have a variety of costumes and styles from various regions of Europe. Four dance groups took part in 2022 - the Concordia Club's Enzian Schuhplattler Verein, the Alpine Club Dancers, the Transylvania Club Dancers and the Schwaben Club Dancers, with the Alpine Club Dancers winning the competition. This is one of the more traditional events at Kitchener (formerly Berlin) Oktoberfest. This is the largest Oktoberfest outside of Germany.
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Oktoberfest in Germany
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The Alpine Club was founded by ethnic German immigrants from Gottschee, which is a traditionally a German part of southern Slovenia. Before WW1 it was part of the Austrian Empire. It was established as a German enclave during the 1300s. Due to the mistaken policies of a number of governments during and after WW2 most of the ethnic German population was forced to emigrate.
Alpine Club
464 Maple Avenue
Kitchener, Ontario
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gottschee.org/
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The settlement around Kitchener was founded by German Mennonite pioneers from Pennsylvania in 1803. The city was called Berlin up to WW1, when it was renamed due to prejudices at the time. There is still an interest to restore its original name, since Herbert Kitchener was responsible for some very serious human rights abuses during the Anglo-Boer war against the civilian population. Berlin, Germany having been divided during the Cold War and then re-united has become a symbol of reconciliation and perseverance through difficult times.
There was a time when Toronto and the province of Ontario had German-speaking majorities - many were ethnic German immigrants from the USA. Some were German soldiers who served in the British army who settled in the province.