I Could Have Danced All Night

Any self respecting potluck has entertainment and this community potluck was no exception. But it wasn't just any entertainment, this was a unique opportunity to see all four dance groups from Barrow on stage together. My understanding is that the four groups have not come together before like this. The potluck was held to welcome back the teachers to the district, so this gesture of unity was pretty special.

 

This was the first time I had seen or heard Iñupiaq Eskimo dancers/drummers. Be sure to watch more than 30 seconds of this video, that's when the action really starts to happen. This is a motion dance with designated gestures. Mostly the women and men dance in separate groups. Only men get to play the drums, which leaves me out (damn! it looks like tons of fun!).

 

The men's dances also have a definitely different theme to them. I can't tell what the lyrics mean (doh!) but the men always seem to be portraying a hunt; either going on the hunt, actually getting the animal, and/or bringing it back to the family. This dance was created by the dancer. He is the bird being hunted. If you listen closely you can hear the bird calling.

This was not entertainment that the audience gets to sit back and watch entirely. In fact, for the first half of the dancing, audience members were invited to dance.  The dance groups called up different groups to dance...elementary teachers, secondary teachers, Iñupiaq language teachers, etc. I got to dance with several women from my office. I rated the song a 95. It had a good beat and was easy to dance to. Was it fun? Just look at our faces. The best part was the moves were pretty easy to follow, so anyone could do it. This was the first time in a long time that I was one of the last ones out of the hall that night.