Buried beneath: bombs & Latte
Performed at Voices Rising at Pride Festival 2013, Duwamish Land, Seattle, WA
Line Breaks Hip Hop Theatre Festival 2012 at University of Wisconsin-Madison, Ojibwe Land
Dakota camacho
Photo used with permission by Atamira Dance Company
(Photographer: Julie Zhu, Choreographer: Frances Rings for "Kotahi" 2018).
Biography
Ancestral Lineages: Matao/CHamoru
Dakota Camacho is a multi-disciplinary artist / researcher working in spaces of indigenous life ways, performance, musical composition, community engagement, and education.
Camacho holds a Masters of Arts in Performance Studies from Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, and graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a Bachelor of Arts in Gender & Women's Studies as a First Wave Urban Arts and Hip Hop Scholar.
Camacho is a chanter, adjunct instructor, and core researcher for I Fanlalai'an Oral History Project based at the University of Guåhan.
Camacho co-founded I Moving Lab, an inter-national, inter-cultural, inter-tribal, and inter-disciplinary arts collective that creates community and self-funded arts initiatives to engage and bring together rural & urban communities, Universities, Museums, & performing arts institutions.
Camacho has worked at festivals, universities, and community organizations as a public speaker, facilitator, composer and performer across Turtle Island (USA), Aotearoa (New Zealand), Australia, Sweden, and South Africa.
Artist Statement
I ground my creativity in ancestral life ways. Born and raised in Coast Salish Territory, my work weaves knowing from both my bloodlines and the diverse lineages that inform my indigenizing journey.
My work spans the realms of ritual activation, performance art, installation, contemporary indigenous movement, and cultural responsibility.
Personal genealogical research has led me to founding GUMA' MATAO - a creative practice research vessel reclaiming embodied indigenous knowing. GUMA' MATAO develops strategies for individuals to feel in connection with and empowered by their ancestors, lands, and languages.
The work aims to proliferate inafa'maolek -- unifying human consciousness with the natural world, restoring balance with the elements, and living with life force.