SPOTLIGHT: The Arctic Circus of Artcirq

The Igloolik, Nunavut, collective Artcirq is a collaborative, community-based circus and multimedia company that has been creating work, engaging youth and performing around the globe since 1998. And that’s not all! The arctic circus also makes music and has released two albums recently on iTunes.

Co-founded by Isuma Productions and Guillaume Saladin,  Artcirq blends techniques of modern circus like juggling and acrobatics with aspects of Inuit culture including drum dancing and throat singing.

At first, the group formed in reponse to local tragedy. From articirq.org:

Summer 1998, Igloolik, Nunavut. Two teenagers commit suicide, once again shattering this small island community of 1500 residents. Every time a suicide occurs, feelings of despair and powerlessness resurface in this world where two cultures collide. In the Arctic, loss of sense and sorrow are real facts of life. Based on government statistics at the time, 4 to 6 young adults commit suicide every year in Igloolik, which represents a rate seven times higher than in Montreal.

Following the recurrence of such tragedies in Igloolik, some concrete actions are taken to give children and teenagers a medium to express themselves. The initiative of Isuma Productions (movie Atanarjuat, the Fast Runner) forms a group of eight young people, intended to prevent suicide in this small community. The organism Inuusiq, which means “Life” in Inuktitut, is created, and its first mission is to realize and produce, with the help of ISUMA production, a television series about the youth’s life in the Canadian Arctic of today. Guillaume Saladin was a member of this organism, “Inuusiq youth drama group”, and a co-writer and actor of the series. Furthermore, studying at the National Circus School of Montreal at that time, he implements the circus project Artcirq with six others students of the circus school, including Karine Delzors.

To read the rest of the article, listen to one of Artcirq’s songs, and watch one of their videos on RPM.fm, click here..

carlburton:

Haida Sea Bear Mask

Cee Ancheta and Rise Ashen Present: Flying Down Thunder

If there was ever a beautiful marriage of contemporary two step EDM and Indigenous music culture, this was it. Viewers of this video should be prepared to inhale both the driving, rhythmic bass line with haunting trails of Algonquin chanting and eagle songs as though they were wisps of smoke. Shot and Edited by Cee Ancheta, and produced by Cee Ancheta and Rise Ashen, this video makes incredible use of visual poetry with a dynamic soundtrack that brings you to the edge of the clearing in the woods in your imagination. A must watch, and a must have.

This track is available on iTunes by following this link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/one-nation/id464244894

“Ottawa, Canada duet Flying Down Thunder and Rise Ashen blend traditional Algonquin chanting with globetrotting dancefloor mixology. On Kijigog Nimiwan, the chant summons the listener to come together into a community. This community is all of Creation. Birds, trees, grasses, all respond to the rhythm and Flying Down Thunder is connected to them, dancing with their spirits and dialoguing with the beauty of the forest. Anishnabe people view us as keepers of the land, and these images are an expression of deep interconnectedness in our natural world, a reminder that Creation is ours to cherish and protect.”

Indigenous Language Revitalization Movement

by Christa Couture for RPM

With the recent proliferation of the Twitter hashtag #SpeakingIndigenously, the language revitalization movement continues to use technology to its advantage.

Follow #SpeakingIndigenously and you’ll find phrases, words of the day, commentary, related news stories and likely a lot of input from “language warrior”Xelsilem Rivers (also known as Dustin Rivers) of the Skwxwú7mesh and Kwakwaka’wakw nations.

Xelsilem coined for himself the term “language revitalization activist” and is one of the most vocal and visible champions of the cause here on the coast. He has organized weekly language nights, immersion gatherings, a podcast and SquamishLanguage.com.

At Revolutions per Minute (RPM), we’ve been doing our best to keep tabs on the growing movement of language revitalization. I recently wrote about Xelsilem in Technology and 10%: Language Revitalization:

“…apparently only 5.1 percent of B.C. First Nations people are fluent speakers of their language, making each language nearly extinct if not extinct already. Of Rivers’ Squamish language, he estimates there are only 4 fluent speakers left.

There is also this number: 10 percent. That’s what it takes to bring a language back to life. If 1 in 10 members of a Nation are fluent, their language can be saved from extinction.”

Further to that, from InsideVancouver, Squamish For Dummies: Cool New Squamish-English Dictionary:

To read the rest of the article on Pass It To The Left’s website, click here.

purpleskeet:

WBC Powwow Grass Dance

nativevoice:

Feel the Grip by bonvini on Flickr.

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