Tegumiak (Tah-GOO-mi-uhk) is Dance Fans in Yugtun
Storyknife, January/February 2026 edition
Calista Education & Culture (CEC) presents the Yup’ik Teaching Moment in our Storyknife newsletter. CEC is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization with the mission to serve the people of the Calista Region by preserving culture, empowering education and facilitating Yuuyaraq, our traditional Way of Being, to ensure a vibrant and sustainable future. This Yup’ik Teaching Moment is provided by Alice Cucuaq Rearden. Rearden is a transcriber and translator for Calista Education and Culture and helps produce publications. She grew up in Napakiak and lives and works in Anchorage as Cultural Engagement Manager at CEC.
Tegumiak (Tah-GOO-mi-uhk) is Dance Fans in Yugtun. A pair of Tegumiak (or Taruyamaarutek) is essential regalia in Yuraq dance performances.
The central part of women’s dance fans is made of coarse seashore grass sewn into a circular-shaped coil with colorful geometric designs. On one side is a small loop handle that is held while dancing. The other side is lined with long caribou throat hairs called tengayuut that were sewn on and sometimes decorated with otter, beaver or wolf fur. The long bendable hairs move gracefully with the dancer’s arm motions, telling a story.
Some women’s dance fans mainly in the Yukon River area are made of carved wood and decorated with a family design or emblem of an animal or human face. They are adorned with caribou throat hairs, bird feathers and tufts of down feathers or furs along the tips. There are two carved loops on one end for the fingers to grip them.
Men’s dance fans have a central piece made of two thin strips of pliable wood bent into hoops, with a smaller hoop on the inside. The outer hoop holds five snowy owl or swan feathers with quills inserted securely into small holes drilled at the top. They are sometimes adorned with darker bird feathers. The two loops are bound together by twine on one end where the dancer grips the dance fans with his entire hand when performing.
Women Yuraq dancers stand in the back when dancing and move their legs mainly at the knees following the beat of the drum while making arm motions depicting the lyrics of the song. They make arm motions on the right side first, then mirror them on the left side.
Men Yuraq dancers sit on the floor in front of the women with their legs crossed and dance. In the middle of the song, they switch to sitting on their lower legs and bounce to the beat of the drum while dancing vigorously.
If the song lyrics are about traveling somewhere, dancers move their hands in a forward motion in front of them, right hand first then left. If the song is about hunting, they shoot an arrow or a gun pointing to the left as they shoot with the right.
Dancers also move their neck and head following their arm movements and don’t look directly at the audience. Skilled dancers are very good at moving their necks gracefully from side to side. As the beat steadily grows faster following the progression of the dance, the movements become swift and exciting to watch.
The last four verses of the song and not the first end with a drum solo with dance movements of catching something, processing fish or animals, a humorous act, or other movements showing a good ending.
Yuraq, Yup’ik dance, is mostly held in the winter months to celebrate individuals, families and communities and their successes during hunting, fishing and gathering and other life accomplishments. It is a celebration of a child’s first catch or first dance and carried out during community events, graduations and parties. It is done with gift giving and feasting. It encourages unity in the community as people gather and work together to carry out a good festival not just for entertainment but for celebration of important life events.
Yuraq brings joy, entertainment, laughter and strengthens family relationships. It is done for prayer, to show gratitude and a way to request abundance during the upcoming subsistence season. People are encouraged to take part and participate even if they have nothing to give and to come and watch and share the joy. They call those blackfish aninit and when that happens, people usually share the abundant catch with the community.
