La MaMa Kids: Akmani | Meeting Through Story, Puppetry, & Dance
Distance Workshop with Ping Chong + Company, CultureHub & Alaska Native Heritage Center
With Gary Upay’aq Beaver (Central Yup’ik), Ryan Conarro, Justin Perkins
This special distance connection gives young people an experience of storytelling forms fromthe wider world beyond New York City! NYC youth meet Ping Chong + Company artists from the La MaMa production ALAXSXA | ALASKA, and connect with diverse artists and young people from Alaska Native Heritage Center in Anchorage. “Akmani” in Yup’ik means “over there across a great distance”; youths in this session will explore puppetry and indigenous drum and dance as means for fostering mutual understanding. For children 7 & up.
Alaska Native Heritage Center artists share traditional storytelling approaches from Anchorage. In New York, Yup’ik artist Gary Upay’aq Beaver shares his ancient dance form, and puppeteers Ryan Conarro and Justin Perkins offer playful approaches to puppetry–all inspired by ALAXSXA | ALASKA. CultureHub provides the connection – a center for art and technology connecting communities around the world. www.culturehub.org
Gary Upay’aq Beaver (Central Yup’ik) was born in Bethel, Alaska and raised in his family’s village of Kasigluk.
Ryan Conarro is a performance maker, teaching artist, and facilitator of community engagement. He is Collaborator in Residence and Education and Community Projects Associate at Ping Chong + Company.
Justin Perkins is a New York based puppet artist and performer.
The Alaska Native Heritage Center continues to find innovative ways to fulfill our mission of sharing, perpetuating and preserving our unique Alaska Native cultures, languages, traditions and values through celebration and education.
CultureHub is a center for art and technology that connects communities around the world, through live performances, exhibitions, web-based presentations, livestreams, and education programs. www.culturehub.org
Ping Chong + Company produces theatrical works ranging from intimate oral history projects to grand scale cinematic multidisciplinary productions addressing the important cultural and civic issues of our times, reaching the widest audiences with the greatest level of artistic innovation and social integrity.
La MaMa Kids
La MaMa Kids Online presents kids performances and hands-on workshops online, timed especially for “after school” viewing! La MaMa will continue to use emerging technologies to create a new venue for artistic expression that questions how art can function and how we as a society can survive challenging periods of history.