My Ending

I have had a great experience working with my object that I have chosen, the Yupiit Dance Headdress. I have learned so many new things that I for a fact would never know if I had never chosen it, let alone taken this class. Working with my object, I have made a strong connection with it because I also wear headdresses while dancing. Although my dance is Tahitian dancing, they do have many similarities that I have shared on my bloggs.

I highly enjoyed this experience, and although I am not Alaska Native I can see how much culture means to them. I have great respect for all the cultures, and I hope that it continues on to younger generations forever! This is now my last blog; I hope everyone enjoyed reading all of them. Thank you!

Modern Tahitian Dancing

Kcocadiz. Jan. 21 2009. Tahitian Dancing ote'a.Retrieved Nov. 18 2009. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QahgraRrYs.

As you can see this is a Tahitian dance performance. Simliar to the Yupik Dancing, the rhythm is fast, exciting, and they move to the beat of a dance. Headdress are worn at all times, along with shells around the neck, and raffia around the hips. Ote'a means "the opening" which is always done first obviously because you are opening up the performance or show. If you have ever been to a luau, you would notice they tend to do tahitian first. As you can see, there are many similaries between cultures.

Modern Yupik Dance

Angalga. April 20, 2008. New Yupik Dance. Retrieved November 18, 2009. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKHNFxZEwPo.

This is a video of Yupik dancing. What is nice about this video is that it shows a younger generation continuing the culture. From my guesstimate, I think they modernized it because I noticed dance moves from American moves like the "Young Joc move". Nevertheless, they still keep the tradition by hearing headdresses and using other such objects. The rhythm is very fast, exciting, and they dance to the beat of a drum. I personally have never seen a performance by Yupik dancers but I think I would really enjoy it.

One More Yup'ik Headdress

Alaska Native Collections Sharing the Knowledge. (2002). Retrieved 17 November 2009. Smithsonian Institution. http://alaska.si.edu/record.asp?id=220.

This website basically shows a nasqurrun from the Yup'ik culture. This type of headdress was worn by men who were the song leaders during kevgik (Messenger Feast). It goes further in depth to explain what it is made out of and then there are comments on the bottom of people guessing what kind of material and animal goes with what part of the headdress. This nasqurrun is now displayed at the National Musuem of Natural History.

The Passion

Speaking for all cultures who dance, I believe that everyone has a passion behind the movements. I don't think someone can truly go through dancing without having a special feeling within, connecting with the story one dances. Like the Yupiit dancers, they really have a connection with the animal spirits. By dancing, they show great appreciation to the animals because they really believe that by doing so, it will bring them good luck. This is PASSION. During the competition period I have every year, it gets very stressful, yet in the end its not about winning, its about showing "aloha". By this I mean showing our love, and passion toward the people or things we dance about, and it usually gets a little emotional. Dancing is so much more than movements, beats, and objects. There is a strong meaning all around, and only a true dancer can feel and understand that.

Compare and Contrast

As I talked earlier about Yup'ik dancing and how they tell their stories through their motions, and garment; That brings me to compare and contrast their dance with Hawaiian Dance, something that I have been doing for over 10 years. First off, they both tell stories through their motions and garment. For example, as you can see in this picture of me, I am talking about Maui, one of Hawaii's islands. One will know this information because I am wearing pink, the color that represents Maui. Another example is if I were talking about a flower, pua, I would have extended my arm, palm up, and have my fingers come together to make it look like a flower. In this picture of me I am thinking about something, obviously because my finger is pointing at my head.

Just like in Yup'ik dancing, hula dancing talks about several different subjects including: royality, gods, and relationships. In Yup'ik culture, they tend to give much respect to animals, and with this, they dance about them. In Hawaiian culture, we give our respect to our past kings and queens, but even to our Gods. One commonly known goddess is Pele, the goddess of fire! She represents a valcano and is known for being a creator and destroyer. I have danced about her a couple of times, and when I dance about her I wear black and red with my hair long, curly, and volumized just like Pele. It is very intense dancing about Pele, because she is so powerful! The link below is when I competed last year at a Hula competition. My group and I dance about Pele in this hula number.

PELE DANCE

Alaska Native Heritage Center Museum

Generation- Clik (2008). Alaska Native Heritage Center Yup'ik & Cup'ik. Novemeber 14, 2009. http://www.alaskanative.net/en/main_nav/exhibits_collection/yup-ik/.

This website shows a Yup'ik headdress displayed at the Alaska Native Heritage Center where valuable tools and such objects are showcased. Although the headdress has an unknown creator, it is very detailed, consisting of seal skin, wolerine, muskrat, fabric, beads, thread, and two metal pins. The description paragraph states more information on what it is made out of and who wears this specific headdress.