Hans Christian Andersen wrote some pretty famous children’s stories: The Little Match Girl, The Little Mermaid, The Ugly Duckling, Thumbelina, The Princess and the Pea, The Emperor’s New Clothes, The Red Shoes and The Snow Queen… I was in his hometown of Odense, Denmark on a hunt to find out more about him. It...
A heat wave was rippling through Denmark and I was dressed in a hooded parka in the capital city of Copenhagen. I had just arrived after my long flights to Copenhagen from Vancouver and then Amsterdam. A fishy dinner at Fiskebaren (Fish Bar) in the meatpacking district – complete with a surprisingly large jellyfish...
I’ve seen Bollywood films, I’ve listened to Bollywood songs, I’ve watched Bollywood videos, but I hadn’t tried Bollywood dance. Until last week. Bollywood Dance During the Alianait Arts Festival, Kuljit Sodhi, from the Ottawa-based Indian music group Galitcha, put on a workshop to teach visitors and Inuit locals to dance. A group of about...
I’m told there is only one place in Nunavut where trees grow. Except, now I forget and all the information I have found states otherwise. The land is treeless tundra that covers endless ground over mountains and around communities, only taking a break to give way to lakes and the ocean. Life is just...
I first saw hip hop dancing in the arctic when I was in Clyde River, Nunavut. Not only did the youth who were dancing have fun, but hip hop gave them something to do when the days were dark and cold. Hip hop dance expressed their creativity by choreographing dances and sharing new moves...
I stood looking out across the Sylvia Grinnell River in the park of the same name. I was about one kilometre from Iqaluit, Nunavut on my last night in the arctic. The tide was high at 7:30 pm, the sun shining just as brightly as it did at noon, and the mountain ranges still...
Dettrick Hala has been drum dancing since he was 15 years old. Now in his early 20s, he performs with a group of Inuit drum dancers from Kugluktuk in western Nunavut. Alianait Arts Festival, Iqaluit Dettrick travelled solo to Iqaluit to take part in the Alianait Arts Festival, where I watched him perform and...
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