Clyde River (Jan 10/05) - Students in Clyde River dramatized the clash between past and present on stage over the holidays.

At Quluaq school's Christmas concert, Grade 11 and 12 students performed White and Brown for an appreciative audience of nearly 400 people.

"There was a lot of laughter and clapping," said principal Jupeetuk Hainnu.

The students came up with the concept and wrote the play themselves to portray the friction between traditional and modern ways.

Clark Kalluk, Archie Aipellee and Nubiya Enuaraq were part of the group that brainstormed the script.

"Our main aim was to keep the people of the community smiling," said Kalluk.

Kalluk and Aipellee enjoy putting together skits for the school and the community. Last year Kalluk played George Bush to Aipellee's Saddam Hussein in a comedy bit for the holiday concert.

White and Brown was Enuaraq's first play and it was a fun experience that she is eager to repeat.

"It was something fresh and new," she said.

The students divided themselves into two groups, one dressed in traditional clothing, the other in hipster gear: baggy pants, bandannas and chains.

It's a testimony to the diversity of Nunavut today that the teenagers had no problem finding clothes for either set of costumes. Most simply looked into their own closets or borrowed items like amautis and kamiks from others in the community.

Hainnu said that in the play, the two groups do not get along at first.

"They didn't understand each other," she said. "They talked to the audience, saying things like 'Look at these people, they have no blood in them,' or 'Look at these people, they look like dogs.'"

The traditional group sang an ayaya song and the other performed a rap, but eventually the two groups began to understand each other and find common ground. At the end, they all did a dance together.

The play sprang from only two or three days of rehearsal, but "it was excellent," said Hainnu. One of the school's teachers videotaped the performance so the students could enjoy it again.

This week the students plan to put on another show, this time to raise money for the survivors of the tsunami disaster in Southeast Asia.