This performance in Tallinn’s Town Hall Square was a joy to watch as the Yakutsk troupe demonstrated expert use of humor as a universal language. They even brought members of the audience up on stage to participate. This, of course, was a crowd pleaser. Throughout the show I couldn’t help but appreciate the similarities in culture and appearance this group bore to many of the indigenous people living here in Alaska.

Yakutsk is a major port city located on the Lena River in Russia’s Far East (Siberia). Coincidentally, Yakutsk is a sister-city to Fairbanks, Alaska. In fact, Yakutsk is much closer to Fairbanks than it is Moscow (2,400 miles vs. 3,100 miles or 3,800km vs. 4,900km). One more factoid – it’s believed the Americas were first populated about 13,000 years ago via the “Bering Land Bridge” connecting east Siberia with western Alaska, hence the similarities.

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