Noorvik overturns ban on Native dance: Alaska Newsreader

ALASKA'S NEWSPAPER

Help | Follow on Twitter | alaska.com

| Updated: 5:53 PM

Home | Alaska Newsreader | Obituaries | Archives

TV Listings | Movies | Music | Restaurants | Submit Event

enlarge

AP / Arctic Sounder file photo

The Kotzebue Northern Lights Dancers are teaching traditional moves to their neighbors in Noorvik in anticipation of celebrations surrounding the 2010 census.

Alaska Newsreader

ADN finds the news from all over Alaska and about Alaska from around the nation so you don't have to. Updated several times a day. (Some links may require registration.) To comment on an article, click on the headline. Compiled by Mark Dent; e-mail mdent@adn.com.

MORE ABOUT THE NEWSREADER

SEND LINKS AND SUGGESTIONS

E-MAIL NEWSLETTER | RSS FEED

Noorvik overturns ban on Native dance

Published: November 20th, 2009 11:51 AM
Last Modified: November 20th, 2009 01:51 PM

Link: Arctic Sounder Inupiaq elders and the Christian church congregation in Noorvik, near Kotzebue, have voted to overturn a century-old ban on traditional dancing in the village. Missionaries instituted the ban because they associated dancing with shamanism, and generations of villagers have grown up without learning the moves. Motivation for the vote was Noovik's selection as the first U.S. community to be counted in the 2010 census. Villagers want dancing to be part of the celebration and have brought dancers from other communities to hold classes. "It's a long story of how Eskimo dancing was taken away from our culture," said Hendy Ballot Sr., Noorvik tribal administrator. "We're a generation that is pretty much losing all our Native culture, language, lifestyle and traditions, like dancing."

Story tools

Comments (0)