Acosia Red Elk
Acosia[1] Red Elk (born 1980) is a jingle dress dancer from the Umatilla people of Oregon. A descendant of Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt, she did not become interested in dancing until she was 16, when she taught herself to dance from videos of other jingle dancers. Red Elk began dancing professionally in 1998 with her then-husband, Paris Leighton, visiting up to 50 pow wows a year for ten years.[2]
Acosia Red Elk | |
|---|---|
| Born | Young Swan Rising From the Water 1980 (age 39–40) |
| Nationality | Native American |
| Citizenship | United States |
| Occupation | Dancer |
| Years active | 1998-present |
| Dances | Jingle dancer |
From 2004-08, she won five world championships at the Gathering of Nations; she won again in 2011, 2014, and the 2015 competition, which she decided to enter at the last minute and had to sew a dress for the day before the competition.[3] In 2005, she also won the Head Woman Dancer title; in 2014, having entered 8 competitions, she won all of them.[2] She performed in Supaman's video for the song Why?, having met him on the pow wow circuit.[4]
References
- "Acosia" means "Young Swan Rising From the Water" in the Yakama language
- Mounts, John. "Young Swan Rising From the Water". 1859.
- Aney, Kathy. "Pendleton jingle dancer Red Elk wins eighth world title". East Oregonian.
- Schilling, Vincent. "Check out Supaman's "Why" featuring Jingle Dance Champion Acosia Red Elk".
External links
- Acosia Red Elk on Instagram
- "Healing Movement: Acosia Red Elk Created Powwow Yoga for Her People" from This is Range
- "Meet Acosia Red Elk" from Muse
- "Acosia Red Elk demonstrating the Jingle Dress Dance" from the Australian Broadcasting Channel
- "Young swan rising" from the Wallowa County Chieftan