Kivgiq, 2011, part 4, day 1c: the Barrow groups perform dances of welcome

Please note: The slide show contains 20 additional images not included in the post. Plus, depending on the size of the reader's screen, the images appear substantial larger in the slide show.

In the afternoon of the first day, after Point Lay had been honored to open the dancing, the four Barrow dance groups each took their turn to dance a welcome to all the visitors who had come to their town. For the most part, they performed "fun dances," where everyone is invited to join in and dance just for the enjoyment of it.

The Barrow Dancers did open with some motion dancing, in which stories are told through hand, foot and body motions.

Here, a group of dancers, led by Joe Sage, tell the story of a successful whale hunt. Here, Joe has spotted a bowhead whale. Soon that whale will be harpooned and a prayer will be offered for it.

Unless you came here yesterday and at first found a post with no pictures or working links to the slide show, please feel free to skip the italicized paragraphs altogether. Please just move right on to the remaining dance photos.

For any readers who may have come here yesterday and found a post with no pictures, but only a long, inexplicable column of words explaining images that could not be seen, I must apologize.

Here is what happened:

After spending a good many hours editing, processing, placing and writing, I did in fact create a complete blog post. All the pictures were there. I then took a rolling coffee break in my Ford Escape. It was my intent to come home from that break and promptly put up the previous post focused on Point Lay winning the race, lighting the lamp and conducting the first dance.

However, there is a Squarespace ap in my iPhone that allows me to work on my blog right on the phone (although the feature does not work in Barrow or anywhere on the Slope). I had just upgraded that ap Monday evening. A feature in it had changed and so I had contacted Squarespace support and they had informed me how to deal with that change.

It is tedious ap to work with and for the most part I avoid it, but, after I picked up my coffee, a comment came in. I pulled into the Carr's parking lot to approve it. 

That comment let me know that I had made a mistake in my text. To correct it, I needed to replace one word with another and that is all. So I did, using the Squarespace ap on my iPhone.

I then wandered about, sipping my coffee, studying the scenery and observing ravens. I had forgot to bring my camera, so I could not take any pictures.

After I returned home, I found some Facebook messages from readers informing me that they were not seeing any pictures on my post, and that the links I had placed to the slide show did not work.

So I returned to my page, which was still up on my computer. It looked fine. I clicked the links to the slide show. They worked perfectly. So I thought something must be awry with my readers' browzers.

Then I started getting emails making the same complaint.

It then occurred to me that the page complete with photographs that I was looking at had not been refreshed since before I took my coffee break. So I refreshed it. All the photos disappeared. All the links vanished. Only words were left.

So I contacted Squarespace support. Oh, they casually informed me, there is a bug in the new ap and if you use the ap to do anything with text, it will remove all your photos and break all your links.

SQUARESPACE!!!!!!!

If there new ap upgrade destroys posts, one would think they would inform those who have upgraded not to use it - especially since I had got their help on another matter just the day before.

I suppose it would take a little and effort for someone on their staff to inform their customers that the new ap could wipe out their work and they do not consider that time and effort to be worth it. They would rather waste the time and effort of their customers.

So I had to rebuild that post all over again. This meant that my post was up for at least two hours with no pictures and all links broken.

Afterward, I was so exasperated and exhausted (I have yet to get rested up after the big push to cover Kivgiq) that I did not post the race/lamp/first dance until just after midnight.

The Barrow Dancers perform.

Judge Michael Jeffries first came to Barrow approximately 30 years ago, as a young attorney working, if I recall correctly, for Alaska Legal Services. He was a vegetarian at the time, but he had to eat and he also found that in a place such as Barrow, it is hard to do anything in the outdoors and still stay warm if one sticks to a vegetarian.

So he began Iñupiaq food, including whale. And then he began to dance, and the Barrow dancers took him in. He learned to motion dance. Long ago, he became a popular dancer and remains so today.

Herman Ahsoak, a popular dancer, took a break from Kivgiq for awhile, but now he is back. It was good to see Herman dance again.

The Barrow Dancers!

In my post yesterday morning, I included a picture from the grand entry that showed two of the granddaughters of Warren Matumeak, Karmen and her cousin Allana Nageak, leading Suurimaaŋitchuat onto the dance floor. Now two of his granddaughters dance beside that photo as Suurimaaŋitchuat hosts a fun dance.

In the photo, Warren dances with his niece, Mae Ahgeak, who he saw as a daughter and who saw him as a father, and with his daughter Darlene Matumeak-Kagak.

Karmen is the older of the two cousins - by 24 hours!

Suurimaaŋitchuat fun dance. 

The dance ends in hugs.

Nuvugmiut Dancers perform a motion dance.

Fannie Akpik of Nuvugmiut. The members of this dance group all come from families that once lived at Nuvug, or Point Barrow, where many still keep cabins and spend time duck hunting and fishing.

Nuvugmiut drummers.

Georgia Fischer of Nuvugmiut. Georgia is the daughter of Bun Bun Fischer and Mabel Kaleak.

The last dance group to perform in the afternoon of the first day was Taġiuġmiut. They invited members of the King Island Dancers to come onto the floor and do a fun dance.

Taġiuġmiut dance leaders Vernon and Isabelle Elavgak join in the fun dance.

Young Taġiuġmiut drummers.

Taġiuġmiut.

Jo Jo Brower dances with husband Arnold Jr. in a fun dance.

Next would be the feast of Kivgiq, followed by the Wednesday night Singspiration perfomance of Gospel music. It is now 7:15 PM. I will take a little break, eat, do whatever, and see if I can post the feast and Singspiration by midnight, or shortly thereafter.

To see these, plus 20 more images from Wednesday afternoon, as a slide show, please click here.

Comments

[June Okakok]

You have amazing pictures, as always; but I just have to do a quick post and say I love the one of Judge Jeffrey!! As long as I can remember, he was always a part of the group. Then again, I'm a youngin'! *he he* (at least I like to think I am! LOL!)