Welcome to Dancing with the Spirit!
Dancing with the Spirit is a project to connect youth and elders through music. The Rev. Dr. Trimble Gilbert from Arctic Village says “in the old days, we fought tribal wars with arrowheads. It’s a different type of war now – against drugs and alcohol. I believe we can win with music.” Music can bring joy, hope, and love to villages struggling with alcoholism, drugs, and suicide. Music builds confidence, self-esteem, and the closeness of family. Students can spend hours and hours playing guitars and fiddles, singing and dancing. Alaska’s first visitors – explorers, the Hudson Bay Company, missionaries, and whalers – brought fiddles, guitars, banjos, and mandolins. The Native community has taken this music and developed their own style. In almost every village, elders play and sing and would like to pass on through music–their culture, their respect for the land and its animals, and their values.
This project is modeled on a 4H Bluegrass and Old-time Music and Dance Camp where students sing, dance and learn to play fiddle and guitar that has been held in Cordova, Alaska for the past 28 summers. Over the past seventeen years, we’ve traveled to 56 villages, most of them numerous times. As the pandemic eased, we have been able to offer 40 weeks of music programs in the villages in 2022 and 2023. Program funding comes from schools, tribal councils, RurALCAP Foundation, Tanana Chiefs Conference, Doyon, individuals, the St. Matthews Foundation, and the Episcopal Diocese of Alaska. With your help and prayers, Dancing with the Spirit can spread worldwide!
In August 2022 Dancing With The Spirit organized and led a Gwich’in Youth and Elders Trip to the Midway Lake Music Festival in Teetl’it Zheh (Fort McPherson), Canada, with 11 Gwich’in youth in grades 6-10, 6 Gwich’in elders, Native speakers and musicians from the Yukon Flats of Alaska. The Midway Lake Music Festival is a large regional gathering celebrating Gwich’in traditions including music, dance, storytelling and traditional food within a safe and sober environment. The youth performed on stage three times, assisted with the instruction during the youth music camp, made new friends and life-long connections in the Gwich’in community, and practiced speaking and singing in Gwich’in. We are grateful to the village tribal councils, St Matthew’s Episcopal Church Endowment Board, Southcentral Deanery, and many generous individuals for their support.
March 18, 2024
Courtesy of KTVF NewsCenter Fairbanks
Mickelson has brought her intergenerational traveling music camp to 56 remote Alaskan villages, as well as Hawaii, the Navajo Indian Reservation, Canada’s Northwest Territories and Ontario’s Six Nations Reserve.
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