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Exploring the Reemerging Alaskan Alutiiq Dance Arts
The Alutiiq or Sugpiaq people are Native Alaskans whose long history includes a complex social structure based upon the rich maritime resources of the central Gulf of Alaska. Unfortunately, it also includes exploitation by both Russians and Americans. The Alutiiq arts and culture were nearly lost over the centuries of oppression by these invading cultures that attempted to tear their culture from the Alutiiq people. Recently, however, something unique and incredible has happened among the Alutiiq people. They have begun to rediscover their rich artistic heritage and are choreographing new dances and creating new art. They have found their dance. How did this cultural reawakening begin? How has it found fertile ground among the younger generations in the face of overwhelming pressure from American popular culture? How are the traditional stories from the dramatic history of the Alutiiq people represented in the art? Will it survive? These are just a few of the questions we are asking in this important documentary film, “Finding their own Dance: Reawakening the Alaskan Alutiiq Arts.”
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This project involved on-site work in Alaska where Professors Ellen Van't Hof and Robert Prince observed key groups of Alutiiq dancers and artists creating their art. They interviewed and filmed the artists who chose traditional Alutiiq symbols or made new symbols in mask-carving, drum-making, regalia design and construction, song writing, and dance choreography.
DOWNLOAD THE TRAILER HERE
