Skip to main content
ALT TAG ALT TAG

Acosia Red Elk (Pendleton, OR) is an enrolled member of the Umatilla Tribe from the northeastern Oregon territory and a 2024 Doris Duke Artist Award recipient. She is a 10-time World Champion Jingle Dancer and world-renowned performing artist. She is also an international yoga instructor, snowboarder, glass artist, cultural teacher and wellness advocate. She is known for public speaking and storytelling, tribal dance performance, indigenizing fitness, teaching yoga through a tribal lens and instructing powwow dance to tribal youth across Turtle Island. Acosia travels the world performing and sharing cultural knowledge, movement and meditation. She is passionate about using yoga and universal movement as a way to heal from historical and intergenerational trauma. She created Powwow/Yoga, a fusion practice that braids together tribal dancing and yoga for a well-rounded workout with an Indigenous approach to wellness. Acosia leads classes with a seventh generation approach, teaching that all actions should be taken with a sustainable mindset to protect what is sacred. She is an advocate for health and wellness and encourages all people on earth to recognize the Indigenous knowledge within them so that they can continue to build bridges and protect earth’s resources for future generations.

Meet the 2024 Doris Duke Artists