In Grade 12, I lived two provinces away from the Romanian Dance Ensemble I had performed with as a child. But the Romanian music continued to play in my heart.

And when asked to submit an art assignment with the topic of my choice, I chose to paint the Senior dancers from the Eminescu Romanian Dance Ensemble. I sketched the figures from a photo taken in Regina, Saskatchewan, in the 1970s.

The dance is called Oaș after a region in the northern part of Romania.

I didn’t get the faces right. People are notoriously hard to draw, at least for me! But I spent a lot of time on the fabric, trying to capture the movement.

And in the silence of the room, the music played in my heart while I sketched and painted.