Thursday, September 20, 2007

Sitka

On my trip to Alaska I stopped in Sitka and saw the New Archangel Dancers. They are a group of women who wanted to preserve Sitka's Russian history by performing folk dances using authentic music, choreography and costumes.

When the group was originally formed, the women asked their husbands and other men of the town to join them. The men all refused to join, so the women went ahead with their plans and some of the women took the roles of the men.

The group was very successful, travelling throughout Alaska, the lower 48, Japan, Mexico, Canada and even Russia. The performance was very good and the ladies seemed to be enjoying themselves.

After a few years, when the men saw what a good time the women were having and how successful they were, they asked to join the group. This time it was the women's turn to say no. There are no men in the group.

New Archangel was the original name of the town known as Sitka.





On my trip to Alaska I stopped in Sitka and saw the New Archangel Dancers. They are a group of women who wanted to preserve Sitka's Russian history by performing folk dances using authentic music, choreography and costumes.


When the group was originally formed, the women asked their husbands and other men of the town to join them. The men all refused to join, so the women went ahead with their plans and some of the women took the role of the men.


The group was very successful, travelling throughout Alaska, the lower 48, Japan, Mexico, Canada and even Russia. The performance was very good, and the ladies seemed to be enjoying themselves.


After a few years when the men saw what a good time the women were having, they asked to join the group. This time, it was the women's turn to say no. There are no men in the group.


New Archangel was the original name of the town known as Sitka.


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