AUSUITTUQ/GRISE FIORD - Kids in Grise Fiord learned coping skills along with dance moves and poetry during a Blue Print For Life hip-hop workshop in the community last month.

This was the group's second visit to Grise Fiord.

"The kids really enjoy it," recreation co-ordinator Melissa Patey said. "They bugged me and bugged me to bring them back."

About 20 youths participated in group discussions, learned hip-hop moves and performed a poetry presentation in the community gym for parents and residents, Patey said.

"We did poetry and we did our own little performance to show to the community," she said.

About half of Grise Fiord's 150 residents came out to watch the show, she said.

Hip Hop For Life director Stephen Leafloor said poetry performances and group discussions allowed kids to become more comfortable discussing problems.

"Sometimes we took our chairs and sat out on the sea ice and talked," he said. "The idea is you don't heal overnight, healing is a lifelong process."

Hip hop provides youth with a vehicle to express feelings and emotions, Leafloor said.

"It really was not about the gangster imagery and the bling and the booty shaking, that all came later with music videos," he said. "It really is about people who sometimes have tough lives and anger inside and feel like the rest of the world isn't paying attention to the values of who they are."

"Hip hop allows that to happen."

Seventeen-year-old Melanie Kuluguqtuq participated in both workshops.

She said dances in Grise Fiord have become a lot more exciting since the group visited town.

"People here don't usually dance," Kuluguqtuq said. "They would just sit there and listen to music."

She said since the workshops, more Grise Fiord residents have been strutting their stuff on the dance floor.

"I think it helped them move to the music," she said.

Kuluguqtuq said the workshops also encouraged youth to talk about their problems.

"They showed us how to talk to somebody and just don't hold it in," she said.

She said the crew set a positive example.

"They're always positive," she said. "If something goes wrong they find a way to fix it," she said.

Patey said the community hopes to host the group again next year.