Folk Dancing @ Gare Centrale, Montreal

I am really enjoying looking at the various details in the Art Deco friezes by Charles Comfort at Montreal's Gare Central.

The other day I posted some of the sports that are represented among the scenes of Canadian life.

Today I have zoomed in on some folk dancers and the accompanying fiddler. The way the woman's hair has been stylised into a horizontal wave is a common deco technique but it one of which I never tire. I love the severe straight line Confort has used for the top of her hair.

This portion of the frieze also shows some of the other symbols and motifs that are included in the overall confusion of the scenes.

Above the dancers there is a dove carrying a branch which could symbolise peace or Noah's deliverance from the flood or both.

There is also a shamrock above the fiddler and a fleur de lis between the dancers. These and other symbols elsewhere in the friezes represent the peoples who have emigrated to Canada.

Below this panel some of the words of the Canadian National Anthem can be seen. In this case they are in French. At the other end of the ticketing hall the National Anthem is in English.

I like these scenes so much, I've isolated the detail and created some designs on Zazzle. I think they look great.