Dancing again

Alaska, USA - "This is the way God made us, to express our thankfulness to Him with dancing," says Bobby Wells, a 53 year-old Inupiat Eskimo in Alaska. Traditional native dances were banned by missionaries as primitive idolatry in settlements a century ago. Even today, the old ways of worship being considered evil remains a consensus in a number of Native villages across the state. But a number of communities have broken with the missionary ideology and have resurrected the old rituals.

In the dances, songs and movements represent various cultural activities and a sacred means to push away bad spirits or dispel sickness. "It was our only way of prayer," said Theresa Arevgaq John, a Native studies professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and a Yup'ik Eskimo. She emphasizes dancing had nothing to do with devil worship. "Can you imagine someone coming in and saying your way is wrong?"

In one village, the revival required bringing in dancers from other villages to teach the long forgotten moves.