Churchill guide chronicles adventures with polar bears in new book

Dennis "the bear man" Compayre, a guide in and around Churchill, Man., for about 35 years, is uniquely qualified to write about polar bears.

"I've got the whiskers, so to speak," he jokes.

Compayre's new book, Waiting for Dancer, features photographs by American photographer Andrew Bazeley and Compayre's own memories about bears and his hometown.

Compayre was born and raised in Churchill, known as the polar bear capital of the world, and he said bears have always been part of his life.

He grew up fearing a bear might be lurking behind a snowbank or around the next corner, he said.

"Once you've been around those animals long enough," said Compayre, "you kind of understand. They are a pretty intelligent animal."

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While tracking bears is part of his professional life, Compayre's respect for the animal runs deeper than his guiding business. Watching polar bears in their natural habitat is a peaceful, even a zen experience, he said.

"Everything disappears all around you and you get lost in the moment when you're with these animals. They're amazing."

The bear known as Dancer

The title of Compayre's book comes from the name of a bear he saw every November, when the bears travel through Churchill to wait for ice on Hudson Bay to freeze, he said.

The pairmet up regularlyover the course of about 20 yearsand built a relationship arounda game of peek-a-boo they played.

"I met [Dancer] when he was a very young lad, probably about three months old," Compayre said."I could tell he was a bit different from the other bears."

Their meetings developed into a bit of adance.

"We'd play this game wherein the back of the buggy, there's a railing where if I duck down, he couldn't see me," said Compayre. "If he couldn't see me, he'd stand up on his hind legs and get a better look and sort of wobble backwards."

Either Compayre would find Dancer or sometimes Dancer would find him. After about five years of not seeing each other, Compayre remembers one particularly moving meet-up with the bear.

"I scratched the frost off [my buggy's window] and I had a look, and there's this big nose, this face about a foot from mine. Soon as the bear saw me, he started dancing backwards," said Compayre. "He found me after all these years."

Dennis Compayrelauncheshis new bookWaiting for Dancer at the Winnipeg Art Gallery Wednesday evening.