Laura Power
Northern News Services
Published Monday, December 10, 2007

GJOA HAVEN - What started out as a part of the regular curriculum at Qiqirtaq Ilihakvik school in Gjoa Haven has grown outside of school hours.

Northern studies teacher Frances Ross is new to the school this year. Earlier in the semester she began, with the help of some of the town's elders, teaching the students about traditional drum dancing and throat singing.

Charlene Oogak and Jordan Aglukkaq are two of the students involved in the drum dancing group in Gjoa Haven. - photo courtesy of Frances Ross

But the interest was too much to contain in regular teaching hours, and students began meeting after school on Wednesdays and Thursdays to get hands-on practice in both arts.

"There's a lot of students that already know how to drum dance very well...so they come to teach the students that are still learning," said Ross.

Anywhere from a handful of students to about 20 will show up when the groups get together, depending on what else is going on in town that day.

Mainly, high school students who have some experience in the arts will teach those from the junior high grades. Grade 9 student Caroline Anavilok helps out by helping students with throat singing.

"I've been doing this since I was maybe eight," she said. "I learned from my Inuktitut teacher."

She said she would hear throat singers a lot on television and she wanted to try it herself. But in the after-school group, they are learning more about traditional throat singing from Gjoa Haven, which differs from the more common types.

"I guess it's kind of different but it's better than the TV sounds," she said.

Jordan Aglukkaq is a Grade 9 student who has been attending the drum dancing get-togethers on Wednesday after school. He said he has been doing it for about two years already.

"I learned from my brother and my dad," he said.

He said the reason people like attending the group is because it's fun, but also because it's traditional.

Ross said another reason the kids show up is because it's a place where they can practice the arts with a small group of people. Some of the kids, she said, would be too shy to join in at a community event.

She said in their first week at the group, the kids are shy, but eight weeks later they are often showing someone else something they've learned.

Learning about traditional songs also encourages discussion between the students and their grandparents or other elders.

"It's providing a bit of vehicle for dialogue with different people in the community," said Ross.

But it's also simply a place for the kids to have some fun.

Ross said the groups are planning a performance at a cultural event in the new year. Until then, the drum dancers will continue to meet on Wednesdays and the throat singers will meet on Thursdays.