Arts festival offers everything from breakdancing to Mongolian throatsinging

The Alianait Arts Festival kicks off this Saturday, June 20, and continues for the next 10 days with an ambitious schedule that should offer something – from Mongolian throat-singing to a big band to breakdancing to traditional Inuit string games – for just about everyone in Iqaluit.

By now an enormous purple and yellow big-top tent, capable of holding 800 people, should be standing in front of Nakasuk school.

On Saturday evening, during the festival's grand opening, clowns are expected to dangle from the tent ceiling to dazzle the crowd with acrobatic stunts, as Artcirq, Igloolik's circus troupe, performs with clown comrades from Quebec and Mexico.

Exotic music will ring through the tent that evening, including Mongolian throat-singing performed by Namgar, a group based in Moscow, and traditional Yiddish tunes from Quebec, along with music more familiar to the home crowd, with accordion playing by Simeonie Keenainak of Pangnirtung and fiddling by Colin Adjun of Kugluktuk.

The opening concert, like most big events during the festival, will cost money to attend. Tickets for the opening concert, available at Arctic Ventures, cost $15 for adults, $5 for youth and $25 for a family.

But there are lots of free activities during the festival, including several free concerts and many free workshops.

For example, Iqaluit's young hip-hop heads will be treated to breakdancing lessons each afternoon at "The Spot," a space to be set up beside the Nakasuk school basketball courts. Nearby, artists will work with kids to paint large wooden boards, which will be permanently hung on the sides of buildings around town after the festival.

Art lovers should head down Federal Road to the old residence between Saturday, June 21 to Tuesday, June 24, while the Nunavut Arts and Crafts Association holds its annual Nunavut Arts Festival. Carvings, paintings, jewelry and more will be on display, and for sale. Afternoon visitors will be treated to live music and local and visiting performers.

Aspiring musicians will want to check out several workshops tied to the festival. There will be throat-singing and drum-dancing lessons, a workshop on how to build a drum kit out of cookie tins and cardboard boxes to pound out world music rhythms, songwriting tips offered by Rheostatics guitarist Dave Bidini, and a lot more.

For kids, there will be lessons on how to put on a puppet show with professional marionettes, how to twist balloons into animal shapes, and more.

Nunavut's francophones hold their annual St. Jean Baptiste Day bash at the Francophone Centre on June 23, featuring traditional Quebec tunes by Bon Débarras.

And later, on July 2, a travelling celebration of Quebec's 400th anniversary, called Francoforce, stops in Iqaluit for a performance in the big-top tent.

There's a lot more – including a storytelling evening, a big band performance by the Canadian Forces, an Inuktitut theatre performance, and more circus performances and workshops.

For a full schedule of events, visit www.alianait.ca.

Alianait has already enlisted about 150 volunteers. They need about 50 more, to help with security, manning information booths, and more. To help, call Lorraine at 979-6935.