Organizers of Southwest Alaska’s largest Indigenous dance festival have announced the Cama-i Dance Festival’s 2025 theme: Ciuliamta Cauyait: The Drums of our Ancestors.
Each year, the Cama-i festival is dedicated to the memory of at least one Elder who helped shape and preserve cultural traditions in the region, and at least one “living treasure.”
This year, the festival will be dedicated to the memory of Cakicenaq Stanley Waska of Emmonak, and will honor two living treasures from Kotlik: Caara Isidore Hunt and Yaayuk Angela Hunt.
The Cama-i Dance Festival is sponsored by the SouthWest Alaska Arts Group (SWAAG). In addition to over 24 hours of dance performances, the annual festival includes a regional arts fair, a qaspeq fashion show, seminars with dance groups, a Native foods dinner, and the Miss Cama-i pageant.
The three-day festival is set to kick off in the Bethel Regional High School gym at 5:00 p.m. on March 28.
