Welcome to the RECAA Choir Page. Here you will find updates and information about the work and events that RECAA’s Choir is involved in. Click on the title of each post to learn more about it.
RECAA Choir
Songs That Connect Us
“Never Turning Back”
About
RECAA Choir is a non-audition community choir led by Dina Cindrić and is composed of older adults from the ethnic communities of Montreal who are members of the community organization RECAA: Respecting Elders Communities Against Abuse. The choir was formed in September 2019 out of an interest and need to expand RECAA’s artistic contributions to the community and to improve the health and wellbeing of its members. Their aim is to continue RECAA’s work of cultivating a culture of respect for the elderly – through story sharing, movement and song.
The choir meets weekly on Thursdays to sing songs that reflect the members’ diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds. Rehearsals are conducted in English with French and Spanish translations made when necessary.
They are currently working on Songs that Connect Us, a community-engaged project for collaborative and meaningful group singing using story sharing and song -- as well as exploring vocal/movement improvisation and group-led creations.
Activities
The group performs at RECAA AGMs, World Elder Abuse Awareness Day events, as well as wider community events.
In 2021, they received funding from the Canadian New Music Network's Participatory Creative Music Hub to create documentation of their Songs that Connect Us project.
In 2022, they presented highlights from their workshops exploring movement, sounding and song at Concordia University in collaboration with the Acts of Listening Lab, Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling, and Coro a la Escucha.
In 2023, they assisted in the workshop “What can a body do” at the Dis/Ability Diversity Makes Culture Thrive conference in Montreal.
Since 2021, the choir has been involved in Beating Around the Data, a participatory research project conducted by one of its members, Line Grenier (Department of Communications, Université de Montréal). The project explores how a choir can generate meaningful data about people, culture and communities, and more specifically, what can we learn about aging and communities of older adults through choral musicking.
Choir Director: Dina Cindrić
Dina Cindrić is a vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and vocal workshop leader. She currently teaches somatic-informed piano and voice, and—in addition to leading the RECAA Choir—leads the Chorale Balkanique at the Centre des Musiciens du Monde in Montreal. She was the founding director of the Monday Night Choir in Montreal which she directed for 10 years. In 2022, she led Chorale Qui Bégaie as part of a research project spearheaded by BRAMS (International Laboratory for Brain, Music and Sound) in partnership with the ABC (Association Bégaiement Communication) studying the effects of singing on those who stutter. As a vocal workshop leader, Dina specializes in a cappella folk singing and incorporates movement, listening, mindfulness and community building, creating spaces where embodied expression and music-making is possible and accessible to all.
A graduate of McGill University, Dina studied choral conducting with John Baboukis and Iwan Edwards, under whom she sang in the McGill Chamber Choir and Concerto Della Donna. Her approach to group singing is greatly influenced by Mr. Edwards and is further informed by her work in traditional folk singing, namely Balkan singing. The addition of somatic modalities and vocal improvisation in her pedagogy is informed by the work of James Jordan, Margie Gillis, Rhiannon, Laban Movement Analysis, Body Mapping, Alexander Technique, Continuum, Feldenkrais and Qi gong.
CONTACT
For more information or to inquire about joining, email:
recaachoir@gmail.com
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