Links: Alutiiq Anguyiit Dancers

Several links here to information about the Alutiiq Anguyiit Dancers, a group of young people whose heritage is (mostly) from Kodiak but who now live around Anchorage (the largest Native village in Alaska) and Mat-Su borough. Posted to the blog because I "lost" the last one and couldn't find in in Google with the spelling I was using.

"Quyana: The Gift of Dance." A story in The Anchorage Daily News about Quyana Alaska, a dance exhibition held in conjunction with the annual Alaska Federation of Natives conventions. Good background from June Purdue, founder of the Alutiiq Anguyiit Dancers, who told the ADN:

She was among the artisans contracted to sew skins for Aleut and Alutiiq kayaks as part of the Alaska Native Heritage Center's "Qayaqs and Canoes" project in 2000.

"That project was a pivotal point in my life," she wrote. "I was inspired to start a dance group shortly after. It had been my vision and dream for my grandchildren and other youth to learn about their culture and traditions by gathering in homes where we older people passed on to them things about our values." She recruited drummer Loren Anderson, whose parents came from Port Lions on Kodiak and, about three years ago, the group began in earnest. Since then they have performed in Seattle and California and as far east as North Carolina, as well as in several Alaska towns. They have also produced a CD.

The story, by assistant features editor Mike Dunham, also has good thumbnail sketches of several other Native dance troupes that performed during the AFN convention in October.

"Spreading the Culture." A May 9, 2005, story in The Kodiak Daily Mirror on the Alutiiq Anguyiit Dance group. Staff writer Drew Herman quoted Purdue as saying the group’s name means “warrior,” because, “We fight not against things seen but against things unseen.” Herman continues:

Originally from Kaguyak and Old Harbor on Kodiak Island, Pardue started Alutiiq Anguyiit Dance in late 2003 to help pass a healthy lifestyle on to a younger generation and encourage abstinance from alcohol and drugs. Now the group includes about 20 members who gather regularly in their Wasilla-area homes, to share potlucks and practice Alutiiq culture.

“It’s not just the dancing — it’s a good gathering of fellowship,” Pardue said.

The atmosphere at these gatherings recaptures the some of the feelings of community familiar from village gatherings. Pardue believes that social setting is crucial for maintaining culture, and this is espcially important to keep up when the previously rural people move to big cities among other cultures.

Preserving the culture means more than learning old songs and dances, and the group also adds new material in the traditional style.

“Culture is not just stagnant,” Pardue said. “It doesn’t stand still.”

A good sum-up. Probably the best in print so far.

Allutiq Anguyiit Dancers-Albums. This page (note spelling of "Alutiiq") gives information on the group's CD, including a list of songs and links to a couple of 30-second sample sound files. The CD was cut in October 2005 at the Gospel Music Ministries studio in Wasilla.