Nunavut, Nunavik students dance in Toronto spotlight

Baker Lake students Mary Ikuutaq, left, Xavier Mourot, David Kalluk, Darla Campbell Iksiktaaryuk, Garcia Quinangnaq, and Quin Uqayuittuq explore Canada’s Wonderland theme park near Toronto on Monday. They are in Toronto to perform in the Outside Looking In Showcase on Friday. (Photo courtesy of Cindy Young)

Eleven teenage dancers from Baker Lake and Tasiujaq are in Toronto to put on a show with 100 other Indigenous youth from First Nations communities across Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

The performers are part of the 19th annual Outside Looking In showcase, billed as “a vibrant fusion of contemporary dance and Indigenous culture.”

The two-hour show runs twice at the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, near Toronto’s Union Station, on Friday morning and evening.

Outside Looking In is a charitable organization that fosters self-expression in Indigenous youth through dance and storytelling.

The Grade 8 to 12 students are sharing big city adventures, meeting new people “and being away from their phones for two weeks,” said teacher Cindy Young, who is accompanying six students from Baker Lake’s Jonah Amitnaaq Secondary School.

They arrived in Toronto last week along with five students from Tasiujaq’s Ajagutak School.

The group is staying at a Tim Horton Children’s Foundation farm camp 90 minutes from the city, where they have been rehearsing in a barn for three hours each day.

Back home they rehearsed twice weekly since the fall. Choreographers from Outside Looking In visited both communities for one week each month to help the students hone their routines.

The choreography, based around a water theme, includes a blend of pop-and-lock style moves, jigging, elements of square dancing and some floor work. The soundtrack features popular hip hop tracks.

“My favourite one is Water by Pharrell Williams and Beyoncé,” said Darla Campbell Iksiktaaryuk, a Grade 8 Baker Lake student.

Lucyana Labbé-Mosesiapik, a Grade 8 student from Tasiujaq, said her favourite part of the experience is “making new friends, like meeting other Inuit from Baker Lake.”

“It makes me a little nervous to be onstage, but it’s fun,” she added.

Grade 11 Baker Lake student David Kalluk said his favourite part is “meeting different people and expressing myself.”

“It brings a sense of happiness being with everyone in the same room together,” he said.

Friday’s matinee is sold out. At the time of publication, a few tickets remained for the 7:30 p.m. show.