Theatre and dance – Trap Greenland

Mask dance at the National Theatre of Greenland in Nuuk. The dancers are ConnieKristoffersen and Hans-Henrik Suersaq Poulsen.
MARTIN LEHMANN/RITZAU SCANPIX, 2021

The performing arts are based on a strong storytelling tradition, drum dance and mask dance. These traditions are rooted in social, cultural and spiritual rituals. The drum and mask dance are two different old traditions.

The dances give a glimpse into a Greenland that was both then and is now rooted in presence with family and friends, thrills and laughs and myths and mystique. Both mask dance and drum dance were disapproved of by the Christian missionaries who considered the dance a pagan ritual. This meant they both were under threat and close to disappearing altogether in West Greenland. The prevalence of Christianity was strongest in Middle and West Greenland, which is the background to the fact that many existing songs and drum dances originated in the North and East. The mask dance, on the other hand, originates predominantly from East Greenland, where it was secretly kept up.

Mask dancing is an approximately 4,000-year-old tradition that has been used especially during the winter time as entertainment. The dance is impromptu and occurs in the meeting with the audience. It varies regionally and spans three overarching themes: to poke fun, to scare and to pay court. Thus, the mask dance reflects both the sexual drive, the humour and the frightening. Children and adults alike are struck by the delight of horror, laughing at the absurd movements and grotesque appearance.

In the period 1819 to 2011, the theatrical scene as we know it from the West evolved from early amateur theatre to a genre-borne and more professional scene. With the establishment of the Silamiut Theatre in Nuuk in 1984, the country got its first professional theatre, and in 2011, this stage transitioned to being the national theatre.

Theatre

The performance Angutivik//The Greenlandic Man was a co-production between Nunatta Isiginnaartitsisarfia and Teater freeze Productions. It played in Greenland and Denmark and won Klaus Geisler a Reumert Award for Male Ensemble Role of the Year. Premiere in 2017.
GERTH LYBERTH, NUNATTA ISIGINNARTITSISARFIA, 2017

Theatre, as it is known from Western cultures, came to Greenland in 1819‑1820 when Peder Kragh, a missionary in Aasiaat, translated B.S. Ingemann’s Bible drama The voice in the wilderness, which is about John the Baptist. The main content was known by the Greenlanders from The New Testament, but it was not until 1874 that the script was printed. Birgit Kleist Pedersen points out that Greenlandic theatre history can be divided into four phases: In the first phase, the period 1820 to 1920, amateur theatre was primarily performed, and the plays were mainly translated.

During the period 1820 to 1920, mainly amateur theatre was performed in Greenland, and the plays were mainly translated. Then, around 1930, different genres started to be seen within Greenlandic acting, including plays by Pavia Petersen and Hans Lynge. The third phase was initiated in 1975 with the establishment of the Tuukkaq Theatre in Fjaltring near Lemvig, and it ran until 1984. It lasted until 1984, when the Silamiut Theatre was established.

In 2011, the Silamiut Theatre became the national theatre – the National Theatre of Greenland – which is also home to the National Acting School.

Tuukkaq Theatre

The Tuukkaq Theatre has played a special role in reviving, developing and preserving the mask dance. The theatre in Fjaltring was founded by Reidar Nilsson, and its purpose was to train Greenlandic actors as well as to conduct performances on subjects drawn from Greenlandic culture. This started a new phase of the performing arts.

Tuukkaq’s focus was not the traditional word theatre, but rather physical theatre, singing and music. The focus was on old cultural practices and its renewal, both in form and content. The actors worked with body, movement, singing and masks as the essential expressions, and there was very little focus on the spoken word.

The theatre functioned both as a theatre and educational institution; both were experimental and characterised by the continuation of the mask dance. The Tuukkaq Theatre existed from 1975 to 1994, and today it serves as a living museum and visitors’ centre in Fjaltring.

Silamiut Theatre

Performing artists who had graduated from the Tuukkaq Theatre travelled back to Greenland and established the Silamiut Theatre in Nuuk in 1984. Alongside physical theatre, Silamiut produced classical theatre based on both original Greenlandic material and on works from the outside. The theatre also set up musical productions.

In 1984, Simon Løvstrøm (Mooqqu) became the manager of the theatre, taking over Tuukkaq’s role as theatre school and running it until 1997, when Silamiut, together with Norwegian director Indra Lorentzen, helped to open the Katuaq cultural centre with the performance Qasapi’s last day.

Nunatta Isiginnaartitsisarfia – The National Theatre of Greenland

The idea of the National Theatre and the work on a theatre act was set in motion after a theatre seminar held in 1992, and the Theatre Act was passed in 2010. On 1 January 2011, the act was introduced, and this made the Silamiut Theatre the national theatre, Nunatta Isiginnaartitsisarfia. In 2013, the theatre moved to Industrivej in Nuuk, where it is still housed.

The National Acting School opened in August 2012 with Makka Kleist as the director of Nunatta Isiginnaartitsinermik Ilinniarfia. The National Theatre and the School of Acting form a unified whole which has three main tasks: to produce, develop and make accessible Greenlandic performing arts to a wide audience, to train actors and to support and develop amateur theatre in Greenland. In 2018, Varste Mathæussen became the director of the school, followed by Ruth Montgomery-Andersen in 2019 and Vivi Sørensen in 2021.

The School of Acting is a two-year education that accepts five students every two years. The school opened in 2012, and since then a total of 18 actors (2021) have graduated.

Amateur theatre

N.A.I.P (Nuummi Aliikkusersuisartut Isiginnaartitsisartut Peqatigiiffiat) is Nuuk’s amateur theatre association, established by Kristian Egede in 1959. He was a noted entertainer, who toured all over Greenland in the 1960s and 1970s. In addition to theatre, N.A.I.P. is a cultural institution which preserves and develops the vernacular use of folk dance, kalattuut, mask dance and drum dance, and is also known for radio theatre. The association is open to everyone and helps to ensure that these cultural elements are handed down from generation to generation and that they are accessible to the local community.

Throughout time, amateur theatres have existed in several locations in West and East Greenland. Before the sports hall came into being, these theatres were often housed in the local community centres.

In recent times, the best known and established amateur theatre is Pakkutat in Sisimiut. In 1992, under the direction of Valerius Nielsen, the theatre represented Greenland at the Arctic Winter Games and later at the Nordic Amateur Theatre Festival, where in the mid-1990s they received the award for best performance. East Greenland’s Ortu Ignatiussen also helped establish and maintain interest in theatre in Tasiilaq.

Nunatta Isiginnaartitsisarfia has had an important task in supporting and developing amateur theatre. In 2015, 2016 and 2017, the National Theatre held amateur theatre seminars, and in 2018 an amateur theatre festival called Kiinnat Festival.

Dance

The original dance traditions of Greenland are mask dance and drum dance, and from the late 16th century, when European seamen brought dance and fiddle music, the foundation of the somewhat younger tradition kalattuut was created.

Within European genres, there have been several dancers who have participated in performances and held workshops since the 1960s; among them, Ann Crosset has toured both with Nyt Dansk Danseteater (New Danish Dance Theatre) and subsequently, in 2015 and 2018, with Company B of The Royal Danish Ballet.

Establishing a dance community with trained dancers in ballet, modern, standard dance, hip hop and other dance genres began with Greenland’s hosting of the 2002 Arctic Winter Games. During the period 2003 to 2011, dance lessons were offered by Dida Jensen and Niels Berglund for children and young people in Nuuk.

Qiajuk Studios opened a dance studio in 2011 with lessons in ballet, vertical dance, modern, urban styles and jazz. This was now possible because young dancers had returned to Greenland after graduating abroad.

Alexander Montgomery-Andersen and Maliina Jensen have secured development and Greenlandic entrenchment of these dance genres, and they have taught 200‑300 children a year, both in the capital and in other towns. Together with the individual municipalities and cultural centres, Katuaq, Bårdar Dance Academy in Oslo, Norway, and NAPA (Nordic Institute in Greenland), Greenland’s dance community has hosted the national dance festival OuterVision in the years 2010‑2017.

National and international cooperation

The performing arts have always been based on cooperation between different institutions and bodies. The Katuaq cultural centre has supported artists and has served as producers for performances by various institutions. The Nordic Institute in Greenland, NAPA, has supported the genesis of the Katuaq cultural centre as well as numerous performances. By serving as host and producer of several productions, NAPA has helped to ensure a Nordic presence in the Greenlandic theatre and dance community, including through cooperation with The Royal Danish Theatre, The Royal Danish Ballet, Jo Strømgren (the performance Polaroid) and other artists.

The dance community has benefited from the stages of Katuaq and the National Theatre. Young artists have been given the opportunity to create and show their own productions, which has included collaborations with local actors, sound and lighting designers, as well as collaborations with Nordic and international theatres established and directed by Sami and Indigenous peoples in Australia, Canada and Alaska.

As the dance community has grown, dance performances have been created both featuring NAPA, The National Theatre, foreign artists and local youth talent. The driving force in these productions has been the Greenlandic dancers Maliina Jensen and Alexander Montgomery-Andersen as well as Ruth Montgomery-Andersen.