March 27-29, 2026
Cama’i Dance Festival
“Atualuki Piciryaraput - Singing Our Traditions”
In Yup’ik culture, we embrace each other with a warm and welcoming greeting by offering a handshake accompanied by the exclamation, “Cama’i!”
Join us
The three-day event begins on Friday, March 27th with doors opening at 5 p.m., ending Sunday, March 29th at 9 p.m.
Friday: Doors open 5 p.m.
Dancing begins 5:30 p.m. to midnight
Saturday: Doors open 11:30 a.m.
Dancing begins 12:00 p.m. to midnight
Native foods dinner - 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Please donate food ~ everyone is invited
Sunday: Doors open 12:30 p.m.
Dancing begins 1:00 p.m. to 9 p.m.
-
Team Leaders Needed
Team leaders help recruit volunteers to help make Cama’i successful.
Put your leadership and organizational skills to work.
-
Volunteers Needed!
The festival is only possible with generous help from volunteers who give their time and energy so that we can all share in these experiences.
Volunteers work in 2-4 hour shifts.Each volunteer receives a day pass to the event and a Cama’i pin.
-
Alaska Airlines Travel Discount
Book your ticket on Alaska Airlines now and get a 7% discount to join us in Bethel!
Use Alaska Airlines discount code: ECMO819
Valid for travel between March 21st - April 4th, 2026 (exclusions may apply).
-
Miss Cama’i Cultural Pageant
Miss Cama’i is a cultural ambassador whose mission is to build leadership and increase community involvement among people of the YK Delta and beyond.
-
Artist Vendor Tables
Full table $50/day or $130 for 3 days
Half table $30/day or $75 for 3 daysTable reservation for corporations or orgs: $300 for the weekend.
-
Sponsor Now
We love our sponsors!
It is our hope that you will consider
partnering with us to keep regional arts
alive for the coming generations. -
YK Delta Memoriam
Submit a loved one’s photo and info: Yup’ik & English names, birth & death dates, village
Eligibility: from any YK village, died in the last 5 years
Click below to email your submission to Loddie at loddie_jones@lksd.org
-
Cama'i Workshops
Qaspeq Workshop with Nikki Corbett
Co-Sponsored by ANHC and SWAAG
March 27-29
Attendees must commit to all three days to register.Beading Workshops with Susan Jones
Attendees should choose one workshop when registering.
March 28 | 12pm - 2pmMarch 29 | 11am - 3pm
Click to learn more about the workshops at this year’s festival!
-
Saturday Native Dinner Food Donations
Help us provide Native Dinner.
Food Needs: Game meat, Moose, Fish, Fowl, Salmon, Berries, Akutaq, Seal Oil, Yup’ik Foods
Volunteer: to help cook and serve elders.
-
Cama’i 2023 Gallery
Dance Groups Invited
-
Qasgirmiut
Upallret
Yurartet
BRHS Warriors
Mikelnguut Elitnaurviat
Ayaprun Elitnaurvik
Gladys Jung Cranes
Delta Illusion Dancers
-
Chefornak
Pilot Station
Imarrpigmiut, Togiak
-
Pamyua - 30 years
• Atxâm Taliĝisniikangis Atka
Martin Paul, Kalskag
Qaluyaarmiut Yurartet Nelson Island/Anchorage
Taciq & Tapraq St. Michaels & Stebbins
-
• Cornelio “C.J” Joseph The Beat of NYC: America’s Got Talent Contestant
-
Bethel Filipino Community Dancers
Atualuki Piciryaraput
•
Singing Our Traditions
•
Atualuki Piciryaraput • Singing Our Traditions •
Miss Cama’i Pageant
Miss Cama’i is a cultural ambassador whose mission is to build leadership and increase community involvement among people of the YK Delta and beyond.
Reserve a craft table.
Full table $50/day or $130 for 3 days | Half table $30/day or $75 for 3 days
Leave a message for Laura Ellsworth
2026 Dedication
Paniliar Theresa Abraham
Background
Paniliar was born and raised in the village of Caputnguaq, near the coast of southwest Alaska. Many residents of this community, including Paniliar relocated to the village of Chefornak when Alaska became an American territory. In Chefornak, she and her husband Jobe raised nine children.
Legacy work
Paniliar always made herself available to pass down Yup’ik cultural knowledge, whether it was by assisting with hands-on activities, through recorded interviews or sharing hervast knowledge at public events.
Paniliar’s contributions of Indigenous knowledge were incorporated into many Calista Education & Culture, Inc. publications like All the Land’s Surface is Medicine, The Flying Parka, and Our Yup’ik World & Weather, ensuring the preservation of our Yup’ik culture for future generations.
Umkumiut, a village on Qaluyaat (Nelson Island) hosts many cultural camps attended by Yup’ik people of all ages, from youth to elders who all process fish following their seasonal availability. It’s here that Paniliar participated, skillfully showing the younger generation how to process and preserve food that will sustain us through the winter. She believed strongly in starting children young, giving them tools to practice aspects of food preservation and adapting with the child’s capabilities.
In her community, she was a patient teacher of yuraq. Many who knew her describe her as calm and playful– using humor to engage with those around her. Many will attribute the role of “leader” to a male drummer, but it’s usually the women who they rely on to remember carefully choreographed movements and lyrics for the stories the dances tell.
Personal life
Those who knew Paniliar best describe her as warm, attentive, resourceful and hospitable. In the Yup’ik culture, men often assume the role of hunter and provider, braving the elements to ensure their families have enough food and wood for heat. Their success often depends on the quality of their tools and gear. Paniliar expertly crafted fur clothing for her family, including atkuks, piluguqs, mittens and more.
Her handiwork, including intricately woven grass baskets, also supplemented her family’s income to be able to afford fuel for subsistence activities and for the purchase of essential equipment. Through her life, she showed us what pingnatugyaraq, striving for Yup’ik excellence, truly means.
Photos courtesy of Theresa Abraham’s family.
Background
Arevaq is from Nunakauyaq on Qaluyaat, Toksook Bay on Nelson Island. She was born to the late Chief Dr. Paul Kangrilnguq John and Martina John and grew up in the traditional Yup’ik lifestyle of subsistence and ceremonial yuraq practices.
Through her early childhood experiences, she learned from precontact elders, people who were alive before Alaska became colonized by Russians and Americans. We are incredibly fortunate to benefit from the extensive work that Arevgaq contributed to the world of Indigenous and Yup’ik education.
2026 Living Treasure
Dr. Arevgaq Theresa John
Photo by Jimmie Lincoln
Legacy work
Arevgaq began teaching at the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 1985 and has contributed to numerous publications, films, and shared from her vast knowledge at many conferences and gatherings. In 2011, she was appointed to serve as a member on the National Advisory Council on Indian Education under President Barack Obama.
Throughout her professional career, she has taught 28 course subjects to generations of eager learners, imparting her wisdom to ensure that future generations will retain and continue to practice our culture.
Arevgaq’s doctorate dissertation, published in 2010, “Yuraryaraput Kangiit-llu: Our Ways of Dance and Their Meanings has helped to document the integral role of yuraq in the Yup’ik culture. Thanks to the internet, people everywhere can now access videos of Arevgaq delivering insights into the world of yuraq, including the above video published by Sealaska Heritage Institute in Juneau.
Personal life
The John family includes many professional educators and community, statewide, and national leaders who help to shape and preserve governance practices in our tribal communities. Arevaq and her siblings encourage their family to continue to speak in Yugtun at home. Their children and grandchildren continue to participate and lead in local yuraq groups, ensuring that future generations will continue to dance and sing our traditions.
Photo by Jimmie Lincoln
University of Alaska Fairbanks
View 2024 Recap
“Yuraq Paiciutekaput ~ Dance is our Legacy”
