Point Lay Nalukatak: Motion dances and finale (part 10b of 10)

Willard Neakok motion dances.

Lloyd and Bertha Tazruk motion dancing, # 1.

Lloyd and Bertha Tazruk motion dancing, # 2.

Lloyd and Bertha Tazruk motion dancing, # 3.

Lloyd and Bertha Tazruk motion dancing, # 4.

At three years of age, little Elmo is already one of the most popular dancers on the Slope.

The young women perform.

Chester Upicksoun,

John Stalker, Willard Neakok and Elmo.

Drums are raised to signal the final dance. In just a few more beats, Point Lay's historic Nalukatak will be over.

Point Lay Nalukatak: Fun and lively dance brings the celebration to an end (part 10a of 10)

Not long before midnight, the blanket was brought into the high school gym for the dance. They had thought about doing it outside, but the wind was very cold and the dancers wanted the Elders to be comfortable and enjoy themselves.

Julius Rexford was the first to step onto the blanket and then the Atkaan crew followed. The dance had begun.

The Atkaan crew.

Then came Thomas and the Nukapigak crew.

The Nukapigak crew. The fun dancing would continue for awhile, and then there would be motion dancing - which will be the subject of my next post, which ought to be up within half-an-hour after this one.

The drummers.

During the dance, I was called up and given a high award - because it came from the heart of my good friends in Point Lay. Julius presented and as he did, Thomas grabbed my camera with the wide angle lens and photographed me.

I was not going to toot my own horn here, but Mary Sage of Barrow put a message on Facebook last night and told me I had better post this picture. So here it is. Mary received such an award herself, as did several others who had contributed to the success of Point Lay's first Nalukatak in 72 years.

Point Lay Nalukatak: Candy flies at the blanket toss, harpooner misses the blanket (part 9b of 10)

Christina Lane, daughter of Captain Julius and Marie, distributes candy to the crowd in rather exciting manner.

Christina on her way down.

Christina hits the blanket in perfect form.

It is so much fun to toss people high into the air.

Brenton, who harpooned the Atkaan whale, shows some style.

Things go wrong for Brenton. He's going down - and he has passed over the edge of the blanket. Now the pullers become spotters. It is their job to break his fall. If they fail... well, there is an ambulance standing by.

The spotters succeed. Brenton does not need an ambulance. He gets up undamaged. No one will leave the Point Lay Nalukatak in an ambulance.

Up she goes.

Martha waves to the crowd.

There is one more event - the traditional dance. It had been my plan to post it tonight as well, but I think this is enough for now. I will post the dance, probably in two sections, tomorrow.

Point Lay Nalukatak: blanket toss (part 9a of 10)

Jamie gets some air during the blanket toss, or, in Iñupiaq, "nalukatak."

Jamie takes a dive. She comes out of it okay.

Making plans for a fantastic jump.

Sometimes, plans go awry.

A new vantage point from which to study Point Lay.

Boy. It's a long way down.

Now  that he has participated in a successful whale hunt and graduated from high school, Lloyd is moving up over the world.

There were times when the children had the blanket all to themselves. They enjoyed it.

Need to try to get a few hours sleep - hope to find time to post some Point Lay Nalukatak photos Sunday (part 4 of 10)

I just grabbed this photo without even trying to take a look at my take - a take that is, in fact, still downloading and has quite a ways to go. It is Nita, Uavauq, Kuoiqsik, who have just been served "mikigaq" from the Atkaan whale. Mikigaq is fermented whale meat and maktak. Maktak is skin with blubber still attached.

When I got today's first taste, I thought that I had gone to heaven. It was exquisite - so good. Perhaps because I haven't had any for awhile, but I have always loved mikigaq since I first tried it nearly three decades ago  but I don't ever remember it tasting better than it did today.

Remember when, just before noon, I headed toward the Nalukatak grounds and estimated that I would be working out there for the next 12 to 14 hours? Right now, it has been 13 hours and 53 minutes - and I just got back from the shoot.

I must catch a morning Frontier Flying Service flight which will take me almost directly over Wainwright and into Barrow. Once I get to Barrow, I must almost immediately get back on another Frontier flight so that I can fly back to Wainwright. When there was competition among air carriers here, it wasn't like that. You could get on a plane in Point Lay and get off in Wainwright - and that is the fare that you would pay, Wainwright to Point Lay.

Now they make you pay Point Lay to Barrow, then pay the full Barrow to Wainwright fare.

And those fares are much more than they used to be.

It is very aggravating.

I need to get my own airplane again.

That was the best yet.

My hope is that Sunday I can find some time to do pull out some representative images from the Nalukatak that I just covered and post them.

So please come back.