Speaking Engagements
Invited Talks
Blu Wakpa, Tria. “The Decolonial Possibilities of Native American Dance.” The Executive Committee on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, United Nations, Online, February 15, 2024.
Blu Wakpa, Tria. Guest Presenter. “Lakota Children’s Bodies at the Borderland: Student Theatrical Performances in a Former Indian Boarding School as Punishment and Pleasure.” Border Crossings: Exile and American Modern Dance Symposium. Coordinated by Ninotchka Bennahum. University of California, Santa Barbara, January 26 and 27, 2024.
Blu Wakpa, Tria. Guest Presenter. “The Decolonial Possibilities of Native American Dance.” Indigenous Meditation and Mindfulness Retreat, School of Public Health, Brown University, Mountain Cloud Zen Center, Santa Fe, NM, November 2-5, 2023.
Blu Wakpa, Tria. “The Decolonial Possibilities of Native American Dance.” Selma Jean Cohen Fund Lecture Award, Fulbright Association Conference, Denver, CO, October 21, 2023.
Blu Wakpa, Tria. “Dance and Abolition.” Coordinated by Hannah Schwadron; panel also featured Suchi Branfman and Irvin Gonzalez. Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, Online, September 28, 2023.
Blu Wakpa, Tria, TaPRA Keynote, “Performance, Violence, and Hope.” Coordinated by Arabella Stanger; panel also featured Mojisola Adebayo, Jasmine Johnson, and Tejas Rawal. University of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, Online, September 1, 2023.
Blu Wakpa, Tria, Laura Dunn, Haley Laughter, Laura Toyofuku-Aki, and Pravina Rodrigues. “Decolonizing Yoga: Indigenous and Ally Perspectives.” Coordinated by Laura Dunn. Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, CA, Online, July 26, 2023.
Blu Wakpa, Tria. “The History, Politics, and Study of Native American Dance.” Hunter College, New York, NY, Online, June 14, 2023.
Blu Wakpa, Tria. “Combating Settler Colonial Injustice: Performativity, Possibility, and Land Acknowledgements in Academia.” University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, November 2, 2022.
Blu Wakpa, Tria and Jameson Sweet. “Native American Dance: A Conversation with Tria Blu Wakpa and Jameson Sweet.” Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ, Online, October 26, 2022.
Sherman Stephanie and Tria Blu Wakpa. “Decolonizing Whiteness.” Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, CA, August 24, 2022.
Blu Wakpa, Tria. “What Contemporary Native American Dance Does.” Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ, Online, April 20, 2022.
Blu Wakpa, Tria. “What Contemporary Native American Dance Does.” Mills College at Northeastern University, Oakland, CA, March 17, 2022.
Blu Wakpa, Tria. “Indigenous Dancing, Decolonial Possibilities.” The Hive, The Claremont Colleges, Claremont, CA, March 8, 2022.
Blu Wakpa, Tria. “The History and Politics of Native American Dance.” Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ, Online, February 16, 2022.
Blu Wakpa, Tria. “Native American Dance: Context and Contributions.” University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA, Online, February 10, 2022.
Blu Wakpa, Tria. “Yoga and Decolonial Possibilities.” Center for Religion and Spirituality, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA, Online, October 17, 2021.
Blu Wakpa, Tria. “Landing and Thriving in a Postdoctoral Fellowship.” Department of Ethnic Studies, University of California, Berkeley (online due to the COVID-19 outbreak), April 14, 2021.
Blu Wakpa, Tria. “This Is Where We Dance Now: COVID-19 and the New and Next in Dance Onscreen.” Online symposium and the special issue of the International Journal of Screendance (during the COVID-19 outbreak), March 20, 2021.
Blu Wakpa, Tria. “From Buffalo Dance to Tatanka Kcizapi Wakpala, 1894-2020: Indigenous Human and More-than-Human Choreographies of Sovereignty and Survival.” Antioch University [New England] (online due to COVID-19 outbreak), November 9, 2020.
Blu Wakpa, Tria. “Settler Colonial Choreography and the Divided Body: Performing Masculinities Through the Switch Dance at Native American Prison Powwows.” University of Michigan, February 19, 2020.
Blu Wakpa, Tria. Guest Speaker and Teacher at “Dancing Around Race: Whiteness in Higher Education” immersion, University of Utah, January 16-19, 2020.
Blu Wakpa, Tria. Guest Panelist at “Decolonizing Methodologies,” University of Utah, January 17, 2020.
Blu Wakpa, Tria. “From Buffalo Dance to Standing Rock, 1894 to 2016: The Embodied and Interconnected Sovereignties of Indigenous Human and Nonhuman Persons.” University of California, San Diego, February 7, 2018.
Blu Wakpa, Tria. “Indigenous Contemporary Dance in the U.S.” University of California, Berkeley, November 6, 2017.
Blu Wakpa, Tria. “Tatanka Choreographers, Dancers, and Martial Movers? Implications for Scholarship and Survival.” New Research in Dance Studies, University of California, Riverside, October 25, 2017.
Blu Wakpa, Tria. “Indigenous Contemporary Dance: Politics, Practices, and Sovereignty.” Stanford University, April 26, 2017.
Blu Wakpa, Tria. “Native American Representations: Challenging Dominant Discourses Through Indigenous Contemporary Dance.” University of California, Irvine, April 14, 2017.
Blu Wakpa, Tria. “Indigenous Dance and Institutions Panel.” Indigenous Choreographers Riverside, University of California, Riverside, November 2, 2016.
Blu Wakpa, Tria. “Fixing and Eclipsing: Native American Dance in Educational and Carceral Contexts.” University of California, Los Angeles, February 7, 2016.
Blu Wakpa, Tria. “‘Still Our Own Indian Selves’: Dance at St. Francis Mission School and in the Broader Rosebud Community, 1901-Present.” Indigenous Dance Today Symposium, University of California, Riverside, May 8, 2015.
Blu Wakpa, Tria. “Criminalizing Native Peoples and Cultures: Education and Incarceration in the Lakota Context.” University of Oregon, January 20, 2015.
Campus Guest Lectures
Blu Wakpa, Tria, Shreerekha Subramanian, Pancho Argüelles Paz y Puente, and Autumn Elizabeth. Guest Speaker at “Carceral Liberalism: A Book Panel and Mixer with Decarceration Author/Activists Speaker.” Coordinated by Hannah Kim. The UCLA School of Law, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, September 21, 2023.
Blu Wakpa, Tria. Guest Speaker at Geffen Academy Day, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, March 10, 2023.
Blu Wakpa, Tria. Guest Speaker at “Gather: A Documentary Screening.” The UCLA Food Studies Graduate Certificate Program, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, February 26, 2021.
Blu Wakpa, Tria. “Community-Engaged Scholarship: Research and Action.” Guest Presentation, University Studies 15B, undergraduate course for students in the First Year Scholars Program with Instructors Ana Gomez and Mana Hayakawa, University of California, Los Angeles, February 23, 2021.
Blu Wakpa, Tria. “ABC Abolition and Decolonization.” Guest Speaker for a public panel of artists, scholars, and formerly and currently incarcerated activists, University of California, Los Angeles, December 10, 2020.
Blu Wakpa, Tria. “Restorative and Transformative Justice.” Guest Lecture, Justice Studies 1, concurrent graduate and upper-division undergraduate course with Professors Bryonn Bain and Claudia Peña, University of California, Los Angeles, May 8, 2020.
Blu Wakpa, Tria. “Native American Incarceration.” Guest Lecture, American Indian Studies 10 undergraduate course with Professor Peter Nabokov, University of California, Los Angeles, February 11, 2020.
Blu Wakpa, Tria. “Demystifying Theoretical Frameworks: Social Confinement and Carceral Liberation,” Guest Lecture, “Bodies” undergraduate course with Professor Nancy Marie Mithlo, University of California, Los Angeles, April 29, 2019.
Blu Wakpa, Tria. “Settler Colonial Choreography and Indigenous Resistance: Performing Masculinity Through Humor and Seriousness at a Native American Prison Powwow.” Center for Performance Studies, University of California, Los Angeles, December 5, 2018.
Public Presentations
Blu Wakpa, Tria. “What Native American Dance Does.” Ramona Convent Secondary School, Alhambra, California, December 11, 2023.
Blu Wakpa, Tria. “Demystifying Thanksgiving and Toppling Monuments.” Ramona Convent Secondary School, Alhambra, California, November 17, 2023.
Blu Wakpa, Tria. “Native American Confinement and Resistance: Missions, Indian Boarding Schools, and Prisons.” Ramona Convent Secondary School, Alhambra, California, November 10, 2023.
Blu Wakpa, Tria. “Introduction to Native Peoples and Settler Colonialism.” Ramona Convent Secondary School, Alhambra, California, October 27, 2023.
Blu Wakpa, Tria. “Yoga and Liberation: A Critical Interrogation with Dr. Tria Blu Wakpa.” The Love of Yoga Podcast with Anjali Rao, Accessible Yoga, Online, September 15, 2023.
Blu Wakpa, Tria. “The Decolonial Possibilities of Native American Dance.” Indigenous Pedagogy Virtual Academy, Online, September 19, 2022.
Blu Wakpa, Tria. “What Native American Dance Does.” Native American Council of Tribes Powwow, South Dakota State Penitentiary, Sioux Falls, SD, December 4, 2021.
Blu Wakpa, Tria. Guest Speaker at “The Evolution of Yoga Summit,” Los Angeles, CA, (online due to COVID-19 outbreak), April 20, 2021.
Blu Wakpa, Tria. “Indigenizing Embodied Practices.” Empowered Youth Development Initiatives/Indigenous Pedagogy Virtual Academy (during the COVID-19 outbreak), February 2, 2021.
Blu Wakpa, Tria. Guest Speaker for a short interview about Native American terminology, perspectives, resources, and visibility. ABC7 Los Angeles (online due to COVID-19 outbreak), November 28, 2020.
Blu Wakpa, Tria. “Thanksgiving from a Native American Studies Perspective.” ABC7 (online due to COVID-19 outbreak), November 16, 2020.
Blu Wakpa, Tria. “Native American Embodiment: Politics and Possibilities.” Virtual Indigenous Peoples Speaker Series, Two Feathers – Native American Family Services, April 30, 2020.
Blu Wakpa, Tria. Guest Speaker and Teacher at “The Evolution of Yoga Summit,” Los Angeles, CA, forthcoming March 19-22, 2020 (unable to deliver, meeting postponed due to COVID-19 outbreak).
Blu Wakpa, Tria. “Suicide Prevention and Native American Cultural Connection.” Sisters of All Nations Semi-Annual Spirituality Conference, South Dakota Women’s Prison, September 28, 2019.
Blu Wakpa, Tria. “Settler (In)justice: Native American Imprisonment on Lakota Lands.” All Souls Unitarian Universalist, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, September 6, 2019.