Carmen Baker | We are fighting hard to bring it back
Carmen Baker is the indefatigable leader of the Selkirk Spirit Dancers, a Northern Tutchone dance group comprised mostly of children and youth numbering close to 40 dancers. Carmen is Northern Tutchone and Tlingit from the Crow clan and a member of Selkirk First Nation from Pelly Crossing in central Yukon.
Dance troupe leader, community organizer and mother of six, Carmen personifies the leadership and commitment that forms the core of cultural revitalization in many small indigenous communities. The Selkirk Spirit Dancers rehearse weekly in the recreation centre in their village, and they fill several vans for the long journeys to perform at festivals across the North. In just a decade the group has built a dedicated following and recently performed in Alaska and Oregon.