Day: April 1, 2026

The 2026 Cama’i Dance Festival was about preserving traditions and reawakening them, on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta and beyond.

During this year’s festival, recently formed dance groups from the Norton Sound communities of Stebbins and St. Michael performed for the second time ever outside of their communities.

Group co-organizer Suzzuk Huntington summed up the feeling.

“Such a blessing to be here. I think we all feel more excited being at Cama’i than we would getting to Disneyland. So it’s just such a heartwarming place, and it’s just filling our spirits,” Huntington said.

Young dancers from the far Western Aleutians community of Atka working to revitalize Unangax̂ dance tradition, Atx̂am Taliĝisniikangis, also performed. Group leader Crystal Dushkin said dancing is being rebuilt after a 50-year hiatus.

“We formed our dance group in the 1990s because our dancing had fallen asleep after World War Two,” Dushkin said.

From far away on the edge of Bristol Bay, dancers from Togiak returned to Cama’i for the first time since 2002. Group leader Margie Frost was born and raised in Bethel, but has been working to revitalize dance in Togiak since moving there in the late 90s.

“It’s an honor to be back home, and it’s more of an honor to present to you our kids from Togiak,” Frost said.

Frost was once a pupil of the recipient of this year’s Living Treasure award, Arevgaq Theresa John of Toksook Bay. John spent decades teaching at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, where her research highlighted the central role of dance in Yup’ik culture. Her father, the late tribal leader Paul John, was a lifelong advocate for traditional ways of living.

John says she is carrying on that legacy. And she says her work preserving Yup’ik teachings ultimately comes down to promoting unity.

“There is a saying in Yugtun worldview, Yup’ik philosophy that [aa-tlaa-mek yo-gg-tai-took] There’s no other humanity in this globe, just you and I and everybody, and we all have common needs,” John said.

New faces and old friends

This year’s Cama’i brought some brand new faces to the stage, like singer-songwriter Martin Paul of Kipnuk and Kalskag.

The 22-year old, who has amassed a huge following on social media, was trailed by packs of young people in search of selfies at this year’s festival. In performances that wove together traditional songs, Yup’ik humor, and deeply personal stories, Paul said better things are ahead if you just keep on going.

On the final night, Paul brought his grandmother, Minnie Paul, up on stage to sing a song she taught him as a young boy growing up in Kipnuk. They dedicated the song to the community devastated by last October’s storm.

New York City-based percussionist C.J. Joseph and his snare drum acrobatics were also new to the Cama’i stage. Festival organizer Linda Curda said she invited Joseph to Bethel after catching his subway performance in New York City’s Grand Central Station.

Joseph said he’s one of just a handful of musicians keeping rhythm and dance traditions from his native country of Panama alive on the streets. Kids mesmerized by Joseph’s beats clamoured for a chance to sign his drum after he finished.

“If I can leave one last message here in Alaska, it’s to manifest your dreams and to do what you love wholeheartedly. Don’t care who’s watching, and do it when nobody’s looking,” Joseph said.

Throughout the three-day festival, audience members became performers. The Cama’i stage held strong as it filled with cauyaq frame drums for the ever-popular Heart of the Drums ceremony. And it held as children rushed the stage to show off their dance moves for adoring parents.

The longevity of the Cama’i Dance Festival was on full display this year with the return of Inuit-soul group Pamyua for their 30th anniversary since debuting at the festival in 1996.

“Half of us are grandpa and grandmas Now, the other half are right behind. So quyana for having us, we’re glad to be back home,” Pamyua member Stephen Blanchett said.

Stephen and his younger brother Phillip Blanchett took the stage for that first performance alongside founding members Ossie Kairaiuak of Chefornak and Karina Moeller of Greenland.

This year, it was like old times as the four joined other former members to sing the hit “Reindeer Herding Song” from their first album.

This story was originally published by KYUK Public Media. 

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that Pamyua performed as a duo for their 1996 Cama’i performance.

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, shared a message of tempered optimism and hope for the opportunities before Alaskans at her annual speech to the Alaska Legislature on Tuesday, yet called for collaboration to address a wide range of challenges and uncertainty under the Trump administration. 

“Alaska has big needs that demand strong leadership. We’ve got a lot going for us,” she said. “But we have to be clear eyed about our challenges. We need to tackle them head on, and we need to remember we are in this together.”

In her annual legislative address, Murkowski highlighted federal accomplishments in Congress, in step with Alaska’s other federal representatives, Republicans U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan and Rep. Nick Begich III in speeches to the Legislature in recent weeks. That included investments in infrastructure, the U.S. military, Arctic defense, and extended tax credits. 

“We have kept federal income taxes low. We made the child tax credit permanent. We provided tax relief for everyone from waitresses to whaling captains,” she said. “We made historic, absolutely historic, investments in aviation safety, and, of course, for our Coast Guard.”

She praised the Trump administration’s focus on opening federal lands in Alaska and pushing for expanded oil and gas development, citing companies’ renewed investment and expanded future production in the National Petroleum Reserve in the North Slope.  

“Nothing is going better for Alaska than resource development,” she said. “Our state is no longer the special on the menu, but we are the heart of the plan.”

However, Murkowski said while it’s a moment of optimism for Alaska, the time demands realism. 

“Part of my purpose this morning is to help perhaps translate some of what is happening outside our state and the implications for us here in Alaska,” she said. 

“We can start with the crises around the world that are impacting Alaskans now from military service members who are deployed abroad, to rural residents who are already feeling the echoes of war through higher fuel prices, shipping surcharges, and certainly more expensive groceries,” she said. 

Murkwoski said people should prepare to confront volatility and economic hardships caused by a prolonged war in Iran and regional conflict in the Middle East. 

“I’m worried about the impact of higher fuel prices, but I’m also worried about shortages, shortages of our ability to get refined products,” she said. “This is something we all need to be paying attention to.”

In a news conference after her speech, Murkowski defended her vote against a war powers resolution aimed at limiting President Donald Trump’s military authority, citing the need to support actively deployed troops in the region.

“Those who are now in this fight need to know that they are supported by their country,” she said. 

But she said she is pushing for a vote in Congress on the Authorization for Military Use of Force, in part to compel a more clear military mission. 

“We’re no longer seeing a targeted approach to the conflict in Iran,” she said. “So an authorization of use of military force would put some guardrails, (and) allow the President to execute his war plan, but would also require a level of reporting to the Congress. And I don’t think that that’s asking too much.”

Murkowski said that Alaska may see a continued surge in oil prices and state revenues resulting from the regional conflict in the Middle East, but cautioned lawmakers against banking on the boom and bust of oil prices. 

“The windfall will only go so far and last so long, and I think it’s much better to get revenue from volume than it is from price,” she said. “We can’t count on anyone or anything to bail us out of our fiscal woes, only a long term plan will truly end the cycle of a boom and bust.”

‘Political football’

Murkowski criticized more frequent government shutdowns amid deep divides with Congress and the Trump administration as adding to the uncertainty.

“Shutdowns are becoming far too routine and too many policy makers are just becoming numb to their impacts,” she said. “These are real and they are harmful, and we cannot use a shutdown as a form of a political football.”

“It’s not great there in Congress right now,” she added. 

She also criticized the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. She said she supports securing the southern border, but not at the expense of working people, citing a recent arrest and immediate deportation of a family in Soldotna. 

“It’s important for our security. But when the extension of these policies results in a mother in Soldotna and her three children being taken into custody with the mother deported and the oldest put in jail, I think it’s time for serious reflection and reform of our legal immigration immigration policies in this country,” she said. 

Similarly, Murkowski said she agrees only citizens should be able to vote, but she opposes a measure currently being debated in the Senate, the SAVE America Act, which would require proof of citizenship in-person to register to vote. 

“The premise is strong. It was not intended to disenfranchise Alaskans who can rightly vote, but I fear that that could be its effect,” she said. 

Murkowski urges state action to capture federal dollars

Murkowski also urged Alaska lawmakers to do their part, and said there are areas where the state is “not meeting expectations,” particularly for federal match programs for transportation and the Alaska Marine Highway ferry system.

“The fact of the matter is federal funding for AMHS is a lifeline. It’s not an entitlement. We’re going to try but there’s no guarantee that we’re going to be able to renew it at any level. And so it’s not a good strategy to rely on a temporary, competitive federal grant program to cover 45% of our state’s operating costs, all of which used to be paid for by the state,”

Murkowski urged timely action from Alaska leaders to secure health care funding through the Rural Health Transformation Fund, a $50 billion fund created by Congress last year as part of the negotiations that cut $1 trillion from Medicare and health care subsidies. 

“Alaska will receive the second most dollars of any state and the most per capita, about $1.3 billion in all, but the state needs to do dramatically better on this five-year effort than we did on ferries, just putting it out there,” she said. “Because If we don’t, Alaska’s funds can be redirected elsewhere, and we will miss a generational opportunity to improve care.”

Focus on partnerships

Murkowski urged state lawmakers to continue to support fisheries, which continue to be “in crisis” with some salmon runs collapsing, disputes in the industry around bycatch laws, and uncontrollable factors like climate change. 

“We need to have sound science, that’s the foundation of sound management,” she said. “And we need constructive dialogue that respects the needs of communities upriver, while also recognizing the benefits of industry.”

Murkowski called for more state investments in public education, citing visits to schools in “appalling” conditions with deferred maintenance needs. She called for increased pay, local investment in housing, and competitive retirement benefits to recruit and hire teachers in Alaska, as well as families wanting to stay in the state. 

Murkowski highlighted her efforts to secure federal dollars, called earmark spending for specific regions and local projects, like hydropower, drinking water infrastructure, child care, substance abuse recovery services and housing. 

“Over the past five years, my team and I have secured just over $2 billion for the state of Alaska,” she said.  

She touted her role as chair of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, and work focused on Alaska Native communities. 

“We’ve got a big measure that we’re working on to convert the recommendations from the Commission on Native Children into legislation that addresses child welfare, behavioral health, nutrition, education, housing and more,” she said. “So we’re going to be introducing this in the next month or so.”

Murkowski said she’s committed to her role serving Alaska, and urged lawmakers to work across political and regional divides to address the significant challenges ahead.

“We are blessed to live in this great state and even more blessed to be able to represent this great state,” she said. “Let’s set aside the politics, and the regionalism. Let’s focus on partnerships for all of Alaska to achieve as much as we can for every part of our state and for every person in it.”

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