Katuarpalaaq Drum Dancing Festival

Project Spotlight: A festival in Nuuk brings together Inuit drum dancers across borders.

ᓄᓇᖃᖅᑳᖅᓯᒪᔪᑦ ᐱᒋᔭᖏᑦ ᓯᓚᕐᔪᐊᑉ ᑲᓇᖕᓇᖓᓂᑦ ᐱᓕᕆᖃᑎᒌᖕᓂᖅ ᓴᖅᑭᑎᑦᑎᓂᖅ
Two drum dancers from East Greenland and West Greenland on a stage lean in towards each other, while the drum dancer on the left beats a drum. A crowd looks on in the background.

Katuaq is Greenland’s culture house, situated in Greenland’s capital, Nuuk. Katuaq makes all kinds of different cultural activities, with a lot of focus on Greenlandic culture. 

Katuarpalaaq is a festival about drum dancing, with drum dancers.

Two drum dancers from East Greenland and West Greenland on a stage lean in towards each other, while the drum dancer on the left beats a drum. A crowd looks on in the background.
COURTESY KATUAQ.
Five drum dancers from Iqaluit perform on a stage with a crowd looking on in the background.
COURTESY KATUAQ.

This project is about sharing different ways of storytelling through traditional drum dance and song. There are common features and differences in Inuit traditions that are interesting to explore, and drum dancing is one of them. The goal of Katuarpalaaq is to strengthen the use of traditional singing and dancing, and to create a bigger sense of coherence between the drum dancers.

A line of eight drum dancers in traditional clothing look out toward the audience. In the centre, two performers exchange glances and smile at each other.
COURTESY KATUAQ.
A group of two drum dancers from East Greenland (Tasiilaq) and two drum dancers from North Greenland (Qaanaaq) on a stage drum dance and sing together.
COURTESY KATUAQ.

From March 21–26, 2022, a group of drum dancers from Greenland, Canada and Alaska were gathered in Nuuk, at Katuaq. During those days they learned from each other, participating in workshops and performances.

A large group gathers in Katuaq’s small hall for a workshop. Seated in chairs, they form a large circle including the workshop’s presenters from Canada.
COURTESY KATUAQ.
Two throat-singers from Iqaluit perform together on a stage, in the middle of Katuaq, singing into a single mic. An audience is shown behind them.
COURTESY KATUAQ.

From March 29–April 6 a group of drum dancers are travelling throughout Greenland on a tour. The group includes two drum dancers from different regions in Greenland, one drum dancer from Canada and one drum dancer from Alaska. The group will perform in various places, like kindergardens, schools, homes for elders and cultural institutions. 

There has been a lot of interest for the festival from all parts of the society.

In a shopping mall, a drum dancer lifts his drum and sings.
COURTESY KATUAQ.
A group photo of approximately 20 drum dancers from Greenland and Canada. They stand and smile at the camera, while several people raise their drums in the air.
COURTESY KATUAQ.

During the festival days in Nuuk there was a panel talk about drum dancing, featuring Arnakkuluk Jo Kleist (Greenland), Nuka Alice Lund (Greenland), Sylvia Cloutier (Canada) and Keenan Carpenter (Canada). A recording of the panel talk is available here:

Credit: This video was originally published by Katuaq on April 1, 2022. COURTESY KATUAQ.

For information about this and other events at Katuaq, visit Katuaq’s Facebook page

This story is part of the Greenland Spotlight. View more content from the Spotlight here.