In this essay, Greenlandic-Danish director, researcher, producer and sound designer Sirí Paulsen offers a valuable insight into the Greenlandic performing arts from a performance-historical perspective. With a particular focus on Inuit narratives, archival traditions and the transmission of knowledge, she asks - which story is being told, who is telling it, and to which audience?

Paulsen’s essay provides a historical overview that highlights the revitalisation of drum and mask dance traditions in the 1970s, as well as the development of the Greenlandic National Theatre in order to shed light on contemporary Greenlandic performing arts; a flourishing community of Inuit artists increasingly reclaiming ownership of their cultural heritage.

The outside world is showing a growing interest in Greenlandic performing arts. Could it be that a wider audience is finally ripe and ready to embrace contemporary Greenlandic performing arts from the inside out - told by Inuit themselves?