Dance competition

It's foggy again today and I've realised just how lucky I was to have all that beautiful weather at the start of my visit.  Going out to the floe edge or dog sledding would not have been nearly as much fun in this!  Tonight there was an Arctic Dance competition in the school hall.  They call it Western Arctic dance or jigging.  To be perfectly honest, I've come all the way across the Atlantic to see a variation of Scottish country dancing!  The accordian music that was playing over the speakers wouldn't have been out of place at a ceilidh.  Each pair of dancers, one male, one female set to each other, toes tapping - some pairs linked arms in a ceilidh-style twirl but most kept their arms by their sides a la Riverdance.  Quite a few wore proper dancing shoes but other footwear ranged from battered trainers to sealskin kamiks (boots).  The rest of the costumes showed as much variation - some wore traditional skins but there were also teenagers in baggy combats.  It was great to see all ages taking part from a nine-year old to some of the town elders.  These evening events have brought almost the whole community together, packing out the school hall.  Coming from the UK where we have an increasingly aging population it is very strange for me to be surrounded by so many babies and children.  I would estimate that half the population here is schoolage or younger.  What are these kids going to do when they grow up?  (Apart from simply have more babies.)  There aren't enough houses here as it is.   This week has shown me that the people here are incredibly skilled.  As if more proof was needed I contacted one of the local hat makers to see if she had any hats she could sell me before I leave tomorrow.  She didn't, but immediately offered to go to the store, buy some wool and knit me one that afternoon.  Several hours later when Jenn and I stopped by her house the hat was almost done.  I got a phone call a couple of hours later...would I like a fleece lining for an extra $10?  So within a few hours the wool was bought and a beautiful hat was knitted with an intricate design of inuksuit and ulus.  Inuksuit are Inuit cairns and an ulu is a semi-circular knife carried by women.  The men's knife is a long blade called a savik.  So this is my last night in the Arctic, tomorrow I leave for Ottawa (weather permitting) and from there to Northern Ontario...