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ARVIAT
A pair of successful, seasoned professionals shared their expertise with students and cultural performers in Arviat this past week.

Visiting performance coaches Guillaume Saladin and Aaju Peter share a laugh with Arviat Qaggiqtiit manager Lois SulukLocke, middle, in Arviat this past week. - photo courtesy of Mike Robbins

Guillaume Saladin and Aaju Peter were in Arviat to help with the professional development of Arviat's Qaggiqtiit Cultural Performers, said Mike Robbins of The Tourism Company, who is helping implement the Arviat Community Ecotourism (ACE) initiative.

Saladin is well-known for his work in Iglulik, creating the world's only Inuit circus.

"He's developed a real expertise in putting on performances and presenting to audiences and tourists," said Robbins.

"This is the fourth time we've had Guillaume come to work with the cultural performers.

"Lois Suluk-Locke, the leader of Qaggiqtiit, will periodically ask to bring him back for another series of training workshops when she feels the group is ready, and, if the budget allows, we have him come and spend a week.

"He also works with others in the community who deal with tourists, including those involved with the caribou-skin-tent program and our community hosts."

Robbins said Saladin helps professionalize the cultural performance. He said Suluk-Locke and the performers actually create the performance, but Saladin helps "polish it" for presentation.

"They're becoming increasingly professional in how the whole performance is put together and how they present themselves.

"Aaju (Peter) is a well-known Inuk from Greenland, now living in Iqaluit, who has done a lot of work with the cruise-ship company Adventure Canada.

"She spends a lot of time with tourists and tour groups in her work, and the members of the cultural group were quite excited to have her come to Arviat.

"She first watched them practise and perform, and then provided constructive input to help improve their performance."

Robbins said Peter - named to the Order of Canada in December for her work promoting and preserving Inuit culture - is impressive in how she presents Inuit culture.

He said Saladin and Peter have been more like coaches for the Arviat performers than instructors.

"Our group knows how to perform and put on a really good show.

"But they're coaching them to be more professional in front of tour groups in different situations.

"They react very favourably toward the coaching, and they have great respect for Saladin's input and really love working with him.

"And they're all aware of Aaju, having seen her on TV and in the news."

Robbins said both Peter and Saladin spent their mornings working with classes at the high school.

He said Peter's tattoos were popular among the Arviat students.

"Many students saw the documentary on traditional tattoos, so it ties into what they're learning at school when she talks to them from her perspective, shows them her tattoos, and explains why she has them and what they mean.

"They also talked to the kids about future economic opportunities in tourism.

"John Arnalukjuak High School students are the future of ACE, as well as any other tourism initiative that gets started here."

The ACE initiative began in 2009.

Arviat tourism co-ordinator Olivia Tagalik said members of the performance group are very accepting, and willing to learn new techniques and ways to perform better for tourists.

She said the group is quite receptive to coaching that will help them become more professional.

"That's really what they're here to do, coach the performers and help them

improve," said Tagalik.

"People really enjoy it when they come here, and our group was very excited before last week's performance to be able to show everyone the new scenes that were put together.

"Because we've had Guillaume here a number of times, the performers are already used to him.

"He makes friends quite easily with the elders in the group, and that's always quite nice to see."

Tagalik said the group was also excited to have Peter in town for the first time.

She said you could tell right away there was a mutual respect between her and the local performers.

"It was really interesting to see because both sides were so willing to learn from each other.

"With the overall progress of the initiative and where we are right now, we've come a long way in the short period of time we've had.

"We're right where we should be, as far as having visitor packages developed and being seen as a new product.

"Everybody likes to see their community succeed and be noticed, and it's an honour to help the world see what a great town Arviat is."

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