All the girls were screaming. At a coffee-shop performance in Palmer, they met Jelon Vieira, director of DanceBrazil, who invited them to open for his company in Anchorage. They, in turn, invited him to attend the Camai Native Dance Festival in Bethel. Their appearance at Camai held special significance, said Ossie. We felt that, if we were going to continue, we needed the approval of the elders.
Culture is always in transition.
Look, for instance, at how much African-American culture has changed in the last 100 years. We're about to broach the 21st century, very much as Yup'iks, but we have to be part of the new millennium. There's no pretense. It just is what it is, a marriage of different styles and times. They're the real item.