New Years Day Lyrics

3-day workshop in Kodiak revives lost art of creating Alutiiq dances

KODIAK, Alaska — This isn't just a dance workshop. It's an archaeology session.

For three days this month, about 20 men and women have embarked on a unique effort: drafting new Alutiiq dances. They're trying to repair more than two centuries of neglect caused by missionaries who forbade Native dancing and others who simply thought it had no place in the modern world.

Thirty years ago, the Kodiak Area Native Association began to revive Aleutiiq dance on Kodiak Island, and groups sprang up in villages across the island. But dancers usually relied on preserved songs and dances. The art of writing new ones had been lost.

As interest grew in preserving the Alutiiq language, people began asking how to preserve other aspects of the culture.

"With the linguistic and cultural revival happening on Kodiak right now, there is a need for accessible information on older or more subtle aspects of culture, including traditional dance," Alutiiq Museum language manager April Laktonen Counceller said.

But with few historical records available, dancers had to look off Kodiak Island for help. They turned to Central Yup'ik professional dancer and UAF professor Theresa John.

Unlike Kodiak Island, Yup'ik areas kept their dance traditions and continue to host regular dances.

"We wanted to have Alutiiq dancers learn about the history of dance in other cultures that have preserved it better," Counceller said.

"The Yup'ik language is the closest to ours, so most of our Elders can understand . maybe 80 percent of what they say," she said. "We share a lot of cultural and historical characteristics. Some people even consider the Alutiiq culture to be the next culture in the spectrum of Yup'ik cultures and languages."

At the workshop that began Tuesday in the Koniag building on Near Island, participants heard from John and her sister, Agatha John-Sheilds, who spent the first day explaining the cycle of dance performances throughout the year and the way drumming, gestures and lyrics work together.

"Dancing is a method of storytelling to pass on heritage," John said.

In the second day of the workshop, attendees broke into small groups to write songs matching Yup'ik gestures with Alutiiq lyrics. Alutiiq Elders were on hand to translate lyrics.

"This is the first time we've brought Elders and young people together," John said. "This is a very unique thing."

In one small group, Allison Anderson of Larsen Bay, Brandy Boskofsky of Ouzinkie and Desiree Cronin-Tallman of Anchorage joined Counceller, who came to the workshop with a melody and lyrics but needed help to tie gestures into the song and create a dance.

NEW YEAR'S DAY LYRICS - MY STARVING LION

I hear the bells around me

And Something's wrong

The ticking clock revolving

The day moves on

Do you remember me?

Did you forget?

Is this a memory

Or have we even met?

The bells, the bells are ringing

On new years day

I watch expantantly

As my years pass away

Will I ever see your face again

The bells, the bells are ringing

On new years day

Lyrics provided by http://www.kovideo.net/

Source - http://www.kovideo.net/new-year-s-day-lyrics-my-starving-lion-1241061.html

I run to find the danger

But all is lost

You gave your blood in anger

And all my hope is gone

I stand in empty darkness

You slip away

As seconds tear asunder

This new years day

Do you remember me?

Did you forget?

Is this a memory

Or have we even met?

The bells, the bells are ringing

On new years day

I watch expantantly

As my years pass away

Will I ever see your face again

The bells, the bells are ringing

On new years day

I close my eyes to wonder

Where you have gone

But nothing I can muster

Would take this long

My heart that breaks within me

My life moves on

But time's the endless enemy

That proves me wrong.

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