Eskimo Dancing!

On our last night in Pilot Station, the village put on an Eskimo dance at the community center. It was an awesome experience. The men played the drums while the women danced. You'll see that the women are either holding fans made of reindeer hide or they have gloves on. That's because the Yup'ik people believe that your soul exits through your hands. Each song is telling a story, but I'm not sure what those stories are about. :)

Half way through the dance, the leader invited us to dance in the women's dance. Nobody seemed too eager to get down there, so guess who went down first....that's right. Later on, the elders invited the men down to dance "the man's dance." Joe was impressively good. He caught on so fast. I laugh every time I watch this video because Sean (the blonde next to Joe) doesn't have any dance fans. He looks so rediculous....just kidding Sean!

The shirts the women are wearing are called kuspuks. There are different kinds of kuspuks like berry-picking kuspuks, wedding kuspuks, and dance kuspuks. Our Yup'ik teacher is currently making one for me, so I'll post a picture once it's through.