Chukchi Dancers

One of the most wonderful aspects of the trip to Anadyr' were the dancers.  The conference directors arranged for native dances in the auditorium and in the streets.  The conference coincided with their territory-wide folk festival and dance competition.  What a treat!  The Chukchi are a bit more effusive than Alaska native dancers, in fact, even more than their Siberian Eskimo neighbors but many of the forms are the same, as are the general themes of the dance.  This is to be expected as  Beringia is not just science or geography but a celebration of the cultural bond across the Straits and between the peoples.