D r a m a + M i m e = D R I M E

Youth in Tuktoyaktuk and Aklavik have a new way of hanging out. They do DRIME, which Jennifer Thrasher describes as “a lot of music and action”, “There’s no speech, only Christian music in the background and we do actions to the rhythm.” She mimes for us the action of injecting a needle into her arm, or pulling up the tab on a can of beer. Quite different from the mime you would expect.

The themes and actions in DRIME are contemporary and relevant to the problems faced by today’s youth. By miming instead of submitting to the actual act of substance abuse, others are able to see the story develop as an audience and make personal decisions about the consequences.

“DRIME has made us more open, more free. We learnt how to release ourselves from drugs and alcohol, family violence and peer pressure. All this has really helped the youth, and our youth participation is growing! We are inspired by our religion; it is Jesus who sets us free from all. There are all kinds of different DRIMES. There’s one called ‘The Heart’. It’s about relationships. A boyfriend cheats on his girlfriend, her heart gets broken, but she gives her heart to God, and when the boyfriend tries to come back, he can’t because Jesus is in her heart and she can’t get broken anymore.”

“We learnt all these DRIMES from the Salmon Arm Youth Group, they gave us a DVD and we practiced for about 2 weeks just before we went to Camp Yukon last year. We did some DRIMES there and it went over really well with the youth. We are expecting to do more DRIMES in other communities. We did it in Tuk last year and more and more people want to learn about it.”

Shane Gruben believes in DRIME as “it brings out a lot of confidence. It is fun to do. Say it’s Friday night and there’s nothing to do, no home work... You can go to church, do some DRIME, it’s almost like a workout routine.”

Jennifer said, “Two of our youth, Shaney Cockney, and Chelsey Jacobson were so inspired by the DRIMES that they made their own. It’s pretty neat, now we’re expecting more!”

The DRIME group has worked hard, selling food at the Jamborees, bakesales and canteens at dances, to raise funds so they can go to Camp Yukon again this year. We’ll hear more from them when they return!