Dancers steal the show

Tag : Curtain Cloth

The dancing started with the galsgamlila or the first to appear inthe house ceremony. Like the coming attractions shown in a theatrebefore movies, the galsgamlila is meant to preview all the animals,birds, and supernatural beings that will be portrayed in dancesthroughout the t'seka or winter season of dancing.
A cloth screen was raised on stage and then dropped to reveal amenagerie of natural and supernatural beings wearing masks anddancing. Accompanied by singers calling forth the spirits, thescreen was lowered and raised four times in keeping with theKwakwaka'wakw's reverence for the number four. The last drop of thecurtain was meant to represent the final removal of the thin veilbetween the supernatural and the natural and the release of thedances to come.
After an intermission, the live performance resumed with a shortwelcome dance followed by the hamat'sa, the highest-ranking dance.It tells the story of a young man's possession byBaxwbakwalanuksiwe, the man-eating spirit, and his reintegrationinto society.
Besides the blackened faces of the male dancers who wore bird maskson their heads, the dance was a haunting one because of the way thedancers rapidly vibrated their outstretched hands in smallhorizontal movements.
In the kwan'wala or thunderbird dance, a performer came out wearinga thunderbird mask representing the ruler of the heavens. Duringhis performance, he turned his back to the audience and when hefaced front again, he opened his mask to reveal its human faceinside.
It was a spectacular and dramatic example of the complextransformation ideas in Kwakwaka'wakw culture.
Several times during the performance, the singers sang offstage.Because of the wonderful acoustics in the Chan, this had the effectof filling the entire concert hall with rhythmic and melodicsinging.
When all the Gwa'wina performers left the stage after the end ofthe formal part of the performance, their powerful singing offstagewas one of the emotional highlights of the evening.
The performance didn't end there. The Gwa'wina dancers back camefor a hana'ldaxw'la or play song that included inviting audiencemembers to perform a Kwakwaka'wakw-style conga line on stage and inthe aisles.
Edward Curtis Meets the Kwakwaka'wakw started with the screening ofCurtis' restored film. With the original score by John Brahamperformed live by the Turning Point Ensemble as it would have beenin 1914, the music helped reframe the film as the melodramaticfeature originally made by Curtis.