Material Culture Spotlight with the Git Hoan Dancers
name: label: Collection Creator
content: Smithsonian Institution. Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
setName: label: See more items in
content: Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 2024 Smithsonian Folklife Festival
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content: Smithsonian Folklife Festival records: 2024 Smithsonian Folklife Festival / Series 3: Audio
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 1 Sound recording
unitdate: label: Date
content: 2024 June 30
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections
identifier: label: Identifier
content: CFCH.SFF.2024, Item SFF2024_0630_IVA_Studio_0002
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: Listening copy available
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Rebecca Fenton (Presenter); David A. Boxley (Ts'msyen) Sit down with members of the Git Hoan Dancers after their performance and learn more about their masks, their language, and why they dance. The Git Hoan Dancers (People of the Salmon) bring Tsimshian dance to the world, sharing songs, dances, and oral traditions and using a wide variety of articulated masks and musical instruments that are distinctive of their home community in Metlakatla, Alaska. Founder David Boxley is an internationally recognized wood carver and cultural leader, frequently collaborating with his son David R. Boxley on public art commissions, including the totem pole in the National Museum of the American Indian's Potomac Atrium. Based in Seattle and Metlakatla, the Boxley family and the Git Hoan dancers have been instrumental in the revitalization of Tsimshian arts and culture, integral parts of Tsimshian life that were once forbidden. Git Hoan performances unite many forms of artistry in handmade regalia, wooden masks, painted drums and rattles, and dramatic storytelling dances.