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15 Years ago in the Sounder - Barrow dancers in inaugeral parade

January 20th 3:23 am | Duncan Adams Print this article   Email this article   Create a Shortlink for this article

BARROW — Billy Aiken got up early Monday and switched on the TV to make sure he got a glimpse of his grandparents, Robert and Martha Aiken, and the rest of the Barrow Dancers participating in President Bill Clinton's second inaugural parade.

"They looked great,' he said later in the day, reporting that televised overage of the parade featured "two to three minutes" of the dancers.

Just a few days earlier the Barrow Dancers had mixed wide-eyed smiles with squinting concentration at Ipalook Elementary School during one of the troupe's final rehearsals before the parade in Washington, D.C.

Myrtle Akootchook, who participated with other troupe members in Clinton's first inaugural celebration in 1993, said she hoped this year's parade rote up Pennsylvania Avenue would be shorter.

"Last time we walked five miles. Golly, that's long. I almost give up. But I wanted to see the president," she said, smiling.

The group left Barrow on the Saturday morning Alaska Airlines flight and were due in Washington Sunday morning.

"Somehow, we'll have to sleep on the plane," said Akootchook.

Josie Kaleak, who participated also in Clinton's first inaugural, said the Barrow Dancers made a big hit last time along the parade route.

"People were yelling, screaming. It was like it was the first time they'd seen people from Alaska, at least from this far north," she said. "Some of the kids asked if people up here still lived in igloos."

According to a press release issued in December by the Presidential Inaugural Committee, the Barrow Dancers, a group of Inupiat dancers whose president is Robert Aiken Sr., were chosen from hundreds of other entries because the troupe reflected the inaugural theme: "An American Journey: Building a Bridge to the 21st Century."

Although the group planned to perform in traditional costume, at least one of the dancers was planning a quick shopping stop in Anchorage on the troupe's journey east. Kaleak said she hoped to find formal attire to wear to one of the inaugural balls.

 

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