A Rising Northern Star - Tiffany Ayalik - Storyteller, Dancer, Musician, Throat Singer, Actor

Tiffany Ayalik is an artist of many talents: storyteller, dancer, musician, throat singer, television host, actor. Of Inuit descent, Tiffany was born in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, in the Canadian Arctic. From an early age she learned the power of storytelling from the elders, a lesson that would have a lasting impact on her creative life. Tiffany is part of the throat singing duo, Piqsiq, and a member of the band, Quantum Tangle, which won a Juno Award in 2017 for Indigenous Album of the Year. Tiffany has numerous film credits including Sila, Two Lovers and a Bear, Edna's Bloodline, On Thin Ice, and Darkness by Sinister Oculus. Tiffany is also host of the television show, Wild Kitchen and her television credits include Little Dog, and A Christmas Fury. Most recently Tiffany was recipient of the Betty Mitchell Award (The Betty) for outstanding performance by an actress in a drama for her performance in the stage play, Cafe Daughter.

In this episode we discuss the influence of Tiffany's mother, grandmother, and elders on her career, growing up in an environment with Dene and Inuit culture, musical experimentation, her experience playing twelve parts in a one person play, the historical vilification of throat singing and the importance of claiming it back, cultural appropriation, truth and reconciliation, and her other special skills including wrestling, firearms, gymnastics, fencing, wilderness survival, dog handling, biathlon, horseback riding, igloo building, stage combat and fly-wire training.