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Ulukhaktok Western Drummers and Dancers “EVERY CULTURE HAS A DRUM. THAT’S WHAT CONNECTS YOU TO THE UNIVERSE, TO EVERYTHING THAT IS ALIVE. THE ANIMALS HAVE A HEARTBEAT, THE LAND HAS A HEARTBEAT, THE OCEAN HAS A HEARTBEAT, THE SKY HAS A HEARTBEAT. WHEN YOU START HEARING THE DRUMS, IT CONNECTS YOU TO EVERYTHING. IT REJUVENATES YOU. THE SOUND, THE HARMONY, THE BEAT TAKE EVERYTHING AWAY.” - MARY K. OKHEENA
Anyone who has travelled the Inuvialuit Settlement Region will speak highly of Ulukhaktok. Its people and culture come with a reputation for friendliness and strength. But that kind of internal spirit, in a remote community of 400 people, takes effort to develop and maintain. The Ulukhaktok Western Drummers and Dancers exemplify the history and culture of the people, and they carry on a tradition that stretches back in time across the Western Arctic and into Alaska. But keeping the culture of drum dancing alive was thanks to a small group of Inuvialuit in the late 20th century who couldn’t resist the beat. Sisters Helen Kitekudlak and Mary K. Okheena recounted their families’ experience rejuvenating the Inuvialuit style of drum dancing in Ulukhaktok. To pass time together in the early 1980s, Agnes Nanogak Goose and Jimmy Memogana, Helen’s father, began trying to remember the old Inuvialuit drum dance songs and would sing together. Jimmy made a makeshift drum, and the two got more into it when they could hear the beat.
Dorian Kuneluk, David Ekpakohak, Troy Kataoyak, Lucas Kitekudlak
