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Uaajeerneq (mask dance)
Come experience the unique mask dance, Uaajerneq, from Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland)!
Uaajeerneq is one of the oldest storytelling traditions among the Inuit of Kalaallit Nunaat. It was primarily a way to teach children about reproduction, fear and comedy, but it was also an activity used to pass the time during the long polar nights.
The masked dancer shifts between the elements of fear, comedy and sexuality, depending on the response the person receives from the audience. By changing and deforming the face, the practitioner reaches a spiritual level, where the boundaries between human and animal, woman and man do not exist.
The dancer is Hans-Henrik Suersaq Poulsen from Kalaallit Nunaat, who is part of the Northern people of the year delegation.