The Heartbeat of Our Ancestors

REVITALIZATION OF INUVIALUIT DRUM DANCING

DRUM DANCING IS NO RECENT INVENTION in Inuvialuit culture, and one can only speculate how far back the tradition stretches.

Songs reflect the traditional ways of Inuvialuit, from their relationship to the land and hunting, to the legends and values that guide their spirit. It was a celebratory tradition, but outsiders didn’t see it that way at first.

Since the era of Canadian colonialism, residential school and the silencing of Indigenous cultures, many traditions were demonized and began to fall by the wayside, drum dance included.

Nellie Cournoyea recalls the desperate situation Inuvialuit were in during the 1960s.

“The elders were really busy trying to keep the visual part of drum dancing going, because they believed that through music and singing there’s a cultural importance,” said Nellie.

In 1966, the federal government provided funding to host the Northern Games for a seven-year period. The revival of drum dancing came through this programming support.

“Sometimes on the part of cultural issues, people think it can just automatically keep going, but it’s like anything else: it requires serious support and respect,” said Nellie.

The Mackenzie Delta Drummers and Dancers formed in the 1960s. This was the first ‘formal’ Inuvialuit drum dance group of the modern era. Nellie explains that communities had their own groups, but they would gather together as the Mackenzie Delta Drummers and Dancers to perform. Close ties to Alaska helped keep the drum dancing culture alive.

The group was made of Inuvialuit across the settlement region, but primarily from Inuvik, Tuktoyaktuk and Aklavik. There are too many people to remember, but the main leaders were coordinator Billy Day, Tommy and Sarah Kalinek, Tommy Goose, Kenneth and Rosie Peeloolook, Alice Simon, Raddi Kuiksak, Amos Paul, Mark Noksana and Bessie Wolki.

Other prominent members were Emmanuel Felix, Freeman Kimiksana, Cora Kimiksana, Alex Gordon, Hope Gordon, Kathleen Hansen, Jean Arey, Sarah Mangelana, Emma Feichtinger, Ralph Kimiksana, Kelly Ovayuak, David Nasogaluak, Tom Kimiksana, Sarah Tingmiak, Jimmy Memogana, Agnes Nanogak Goose, Alexandria Elias, Norman (Shepherd) Felix, Sam Anikina, Danny A. Gordon and Georgianne Gordon.

In the late 1980s, the Mackenzie Delta Drummers and Dancers split into three regional groups. This spawned the groups in Aklavik, Tuktoyaktuk and Inuvik. Ulukhaktok’s western-style group also sprang from this, with Jimmy Memogana and Agnes Nanogak Goose helping lead the way. As more people became interested in drum dancing, the communities were better able to support their own local groups rather than band together under a regional one.

Reviving Inuvialuit drum dancing became a pressing issue following the Inuvialuit Final Agreement signing in 1984.

With funding to help revitalize the culture, the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation through the Inuvialuit Social Development Program sent elders and young trainees across the communities to hold drum dancing workshops. This quickly sparked and enhanced groups in Paulatuk and Ulukhaktok.

Though performers travelled to Sachs Harbour in the 1990s and 2000s, they never managed to spark a group, leaving the small community as the only one in the settlement region not to develop a drum dance group, hence their absence in this edition of Tusaayaksat. But that is not to say people from Sachs Harbour haven’t taken part in drum dancing.

Debbie Gordon-Ruben remembers her go-to elders: Alex and Hope Gordon, Jean Arey, Martha and George Harry, Sarah Mangelana and Billy Day.

“I would sing,” remembers Debbie. “They would sing and talk to me on the phone or in person and answer every question I had.”

Billy Day was her mentor for storytelling and etiquette. He would tell her how to act as an Inuvialuit drum dancing ambassador.

“His favourite saying was, ‘Either you are all in or nothing.’ I would tell him I am all in.”

His favourite saying was, ‘Either you are all in or nothing.’ I would tell him I am all in.

For the culture to stay strong, that is exactly what it required: participants giving themselves completely to the songs of their ancestors.

A Northern Games committee booklet from 1972 notes an enlightening and monumental moment for Inuvialuit drum dance. Kenneth Peeloolook is reported to have asked Billy Day back in 1966, “What will happen to Eskimo drum dancing after the old-timers have passed away?” Billy’s answer was to pool the resources of Aklavik, Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk and organize the Mackenzie Delta Drummers and Dancers.

Nellie thinks the culture is on something of a plateau at the moment and needs further energy to grow.

“Some of the groups want to expand to more advanced, new drumming and dancing songs, so we’re going to have to wake up and give them the support we need,” she said.

Inuvialuit elders did not nurture their culture and traditions to see them meekly re-enacted today, or to see them weaken due to personal issues. The ancient drum beats continue, and it’s up to the younger generations to amplify their echo.

That is no small task, and every Inuvialuk who has held a note, raised an arm or beat a drum, even if just for a moment, has contributed to this cultural revitalization.