ARVIAT - The Wildfire Dance Theatre left Arviat residents wanting more after its visit to the community this past month.

The troupe is a non-profit group of youthful performers between the ages of 17 and 23 from Canada, Portugal, Bermuda, Mexico, the U.S.A., Russia and Ireland who use dance routines to address social issues such as drugs, domestic violence and racism.

The group is based in Canada and also dances for fun and holds youth workshops in communities it visits.

Lisa-Jo van den Scott co-ordinated the group's three-week visit to Arviat.

Van den Scott said the members all have an assigned role within the group and are the most vibrant and energetic youth anyone could ever hope to meet.

She said their sole purpose is to ignite hearts and inspire change.

"I was part of a committee that organized Wildfire's visit to Newfoundland," said van den Scott.

"When I came to Arviat I realized people here needed access to them because they deal so effectively with issues people everywhere face these days, not just here.

"Issues often seem heightened in isolated areas, so the benefit of this kind of group is that it makes people talk about these types of things and shows the youth that they're not alone.

"Youth around the world are coming together to talk to each other about these issues."

Van den Scott said there is no cost associated with booking Wildfire in the south, other than to billet and feed them while they're in town.

She said the problem she faced in bringing them to Arviat was that they couldn't just hop in their van and drive to the community.

"We needed a significant amount of funding to fly them, their baggage and equipment to Arviat.

"Of course, complicating matters is that you have to get the funding and scheduling to work out.

"The Department of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth really stepped up to provide the funding to make this happen for Arviat.

"But it still took almost three years to work things out and get them here."

Got involved

The Wildfire members took advantage of the prolonged stay in Arviat to spend a great deal of time with local youth and conduct numerous workshops.

They taught Arviat youth how to African step dance and held a special performance for the elders in addition to their public shows.

Van den Scott said Arviat youth loved the group.

She said the members were so popular that getting around the hamlet was often a challenge due to the number of youth who constantly vied for their attention.

"Normally you see the kids here shuffling along with their heads down and their shoulders hunched.

"But now you often see them break into step-dancing and start laughing.

"For a while people were dancing and laughing everywhere you went."

Van den Scott's husband, Jeff, teaches in Arviat and she said Wildfire's visit gave students a chance to come to him with issues they face.

She said one student approached him because some friends were doing drugs and they weren't sure if they should still hang out with them.

"Kids opening up and talking about these issues is what you want to see.

"The social significance of what the group does really made an impact on many of the youth here.

"Their visit was a perfect opportunity for teachers to bring up these topics in the classroom and get students to open up and talk about them.

"What would be ideal right now, is if we could strike while the iron is hot and get some activities going in the community to take advantage of how the kids have just had their hearts opened."

Arviat youth made a significant impression on the Wildfire members, as well.

Van den Scott organized student committees from Arviat's three schools to help plan cultural activities for the group members.

She said the students learned a lot by helping and were immensely proud of their culture when they saw how it affected the performers.

"It was a beautiful experience to see the pride in these kids when they realized they were using their culture to introduce something new to the Wildfire members.

"They were so touched during their visit that they named the bus they travel with in the south, qamutik.

"I keep in touch with some of them by e-mail and they can't stop talking about their trip to Nunavut, so we won over their hearts as well."