I have tons of photos of the dancers and singers from Celebration 2008 and when I have a secure internet connection I'll illustrate this.

The troups that present during Celebration, playing on the big stage in Centenial Hall, and the smaller stage in the ANB (Alaska Native Brotherhood) hall nearby, seem to be organized by area. During the parade Saturday some had banners announcing their locale: Angoon, Hoonah, Sitka, Juneau, Kake... Newspaper reports say about 2500 people participated in the troups.



The groups are all inclusive - inclusive seems to be the key word to the Tlingit culture. Very few are non-Tlingit. There was one Tsimiam group with a wonderful dance about being led from Canada in the late 19th century by preacher, William Duncan, who converted them to Christianity and brought them to Alaska - at the end they whipped out crosses and American flags. One Athabascan group which did some very nice dancing, and one Haida. There may have been other troups from these groups, but these were the ones I noticed. The others were Tlingit.



Ages on stage during the presentations range from babes in arms being carried by their mothers as they dance, to honored elders now too old to dance who are seated in places of honor on stage. If I might quote the song, "everyone solos" during most of the dances. A few had what appeared to be actual steps, particularliy one women's dance during which the women did a kind of shoulder movement which drove the crowd wild. But others seems like each dancer simply did what he or she felt was right, given the beat and their skill level. Skill levels varied wildly from one poor young girl who simply couldn't find the beat, to some extraordinary older dancers who seemed to these naive eyes to know the moves.



If the makeup of these troups is consistent with the tribal rolls, the Tlingit inclusiveness has led them to "look like America" as a recent President said of his cabinet. Dancers appeared to have backgrounds ranging from the native to the Russian, Euro-American, to Fillipino and African. This was especially true of the younger dancers,and I imagine that intermarriage among other groups is particularly widespread in the youngest generation.



Elders get a lot of honor and preference among the Celebrants. Not only do they get seats of honor on stage, but in the audience there are special, and excellent, seats reserved for us. Two ushers helped elders find seats - to the point of going to get extra chairs for Mary Alice and I (we qualified as elders a few years back it seems)- and they bring water around for any who want it. The troup announcers make a point of thanking the elders who have assisted the troup in learning the proper forms of traditional song and dance, and of saying that every attempt has been made to learn and preserve the wisdom the elders have given them. As a recent arrival at elder status I have to say that this attention to the needs of, and honoring the wisdom of, elders is a great idea and I commend it to the Mateel Nation.