Ahhh....finally! I got to see firsthand some traditional Eskimo dancing, drumming and singing. Thank you, Stebbins folks, for inviting us (the teachers at the inservice) down to the Community Center to watch you practice for an upcoming potlatch. I was quite impressed. There were seven drummers/singers and several dancers with one main "leader/teacher" (an Elder woman). Each dance would bring out a different group of dancers varying in age and gender. Mesmerizing, to say the least!
I called Dan on the phone and just held it out for a couple of the songs so he could hear and appreciate what I was hearing. I tried to reach Jess but, darn it, I didn't get through.
I wish I could have understood the language and the meaning of the dances and arm movements. Sometimes the dancers held "fans" made of wooden bases and feathers. Hopefully, I might be able to purchase a couple tomorrow as one of the cooks here in the school said she had some for sale.
On a related thought, last week, one of our bilingual teachers in Shishmaref, Bessie, visited with the ECE students. She brought down a drum used in Eskimo dancing. She explained that the drum surface would traditionally be made of stretched animal skin around a large wooden ring. The drum surface is not struck during the drumming but rather the wooden rim with a stick. I'm now curious about that tonight because the drummers I saw were using a thinner reed-like stick and they were hitting the surface of the drum. Anyway, Bessie explained that even the striking of the rim is different depending on where the people live. For example, the St. Lawrence Island folks (Siberian Yupik) in Gambell or Savoonga strike the upper side rim. The drummers from Shishmaref (Inupiat Eskimo) strike the under side of the rim.
The more I see....the more questions I have!
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