Abstract:

The Yupik and Iñupiat communities take pride in differentiating their traditional dancing techniques, known as 'Eskimo dance', from Western dance forms like ballroom, disco, or ballet. Ikuta conducts extensive fieldwork for two years and draws on 18 years of experience living in Alaska to investigate the role of Yupik and Iñupiaq dances in various social relationships. These relationships include interactions with the environment, interpersonal connections among humans, relationships between humans and animals, and interactions between Native and Euro-American societies. The text explores the interrelation between the essence and arrangement of dance and the cultural dynamics influenced by political, economic, and historical occurrences. There is no text provided.