The first night of Quyana — a Yup’ik word meaning “thank you” — began with an acknowledgement of displaced people from Kipnuk and Kwigillingok, two of the communities Typhoon Halong’s remnants hit the hardest.
Kelsey Ciugun Wallace was one of the emcees of the Quyana Nights event, which followed the first and second days of the Alaska Federation of Natives convention.
“When we first learned that they were going to be sheltered at the Alaska Airlines Center, the first phone call I made was, ‘Hey, how do we get TV screens there so that they can watch?’” Wallace said.
Fred Elavgak led the first group to perform, an Iñupiaq group from Utqiaġvik called the Barrow Dancers They had over 35 members on stage, and more back home who couldn’t attend.
Three other North Slope groups traveled to perform at Quyana, from Point Hope, Wainwright and Anaktuvuk Pass.
Marietta Ahmaogak is from the Ulgunigmiut Dancers, from Wainwright, a community of about 600 that borders the Arctic Ocean.
Ahmaogak said the group formed about a year ago, right before the World Eskimo Indian Olympics, but most of the group's songs have been passed down for generations.
“The majority of our songs and dances are from time immemorial,” Ahmaogak said.
She said one of the group's more contemporary songs commemorates when Wainwright dancers performed at the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics.
The Kotlik dance group is one of two Yup’ik dance groups from the community of about 600 people on the mouth of the Yukon River. Stella Akaran, one of the group’s leaders, said the group was scheduled to perform last year but couldn't make it because of the weather.
Many of the groups’ songs focus on daily activities like gathering berries or traveling by snowmachine.
“They have all their own meaning to them,” Akaran said.
She said there was a time period when there wasn't dancing and drumming in the community, but many of the songs are from other communities or passed down from elders.
“These songs are composed mainly by men that have passed on, and like a few surviving elders that we have left,” Akaran said.
Akaren said many of the songs were composed by the late Micheal Hunt Sr. She says one of her favorite songs to perform was written by her father, Ignatius Akaran.
“It was about going by boat berry-picking and going to look for logs, for steam bath,” she said.
Nancy Barnes, who also goes by Mansyndoga da gyet, is the lead drummer of Yées Ḵu.oo, a Juneau-based group that has been performing for over two decades. Barnes is Alutiiq and Tsimshian. She says many of the group's members are of mixed Alaska Native heritage.
“We're a multicultural grouping, so we do a lot of different songs,” Barnes said. “Like we'll do Tlingit, Haida, we do a lot of Tsimshian songs. We do an Aleut song.”
Barnes said the group performs songs from communities throughout Southeast Alaska, from Ketchikan to Kake, but always with a blessing from the communities or song composers.
Amelia Abeyta is a Yées Ḵu.oo dancer. She's Tsimshian and Pueblo. Abeyta said Quyana is her first big performance. She wore a long, red embroidered blanket shawl that she said belonged to her late grandmother.
“It brings me great peace knowing that I'm able to do a lot of stuff that she wasn't able to do,” Abeyta said.
Quyana sold out both nights. It’s now in its forty-third year.
