“We must do our best to be a good relative, not just to the two-leggeds, but to all of creation.”
– The Seventh Direction
Kevin Locke
Cultural Connections: Lakota and Anishinabe
Home Base: Wakapala, South Dakota
Kevin Locke is a world-renowned Hoop Dancer, distinguished Indigenous Northern Plains flutist, traditional storyteller, cultural ambassador, recording artist, and educator. Kevin is Lakota (from the Hunkpapa Band of the Lakota Sioux), and Anishinabe. His Lakota name is Tokeya Inajin, meaning “First to Arise.” Kevin Locke presents and performs at hundreds of performing arts centers, festivals, schools, universities, conferences, state and national parks, monuments, historic sites, powwows, and reservations every year. Approximately eighty percent of these are shared with children. Kevin is a dance and musical hero and role model for youth around the world. His special joy is working with children on reservations to ensure the survival and growth of Indigenous culture.
Books by Kevin Locke
Awards, Reviews, and Accolades
2021 & 2019 Cultural Capital Fellow by the First Peoples Fund
2020 United States Artists Fellowship
2020 International Academy for Human Sciences and Culture Peace Prize Awardee
2013 National Storytelling Network Circle of Excellence Award
2009 Winner of the Bush Foundation Enduring Vision Award
2009 Native American Music Album of the Year award for “Earth Gift”
1996 Featured Performer and Speaker at the United Nations Habitat II Conference in Turkey
1992 Delegate to the Earth Summit in Brazil
1990 National Heritage Fellow for the National Endowment of the Arts
Interviews & Articles
Kevin Locke, Who Worked to Preserve Lakota Culture, Dies at 68
"Playing the wooden flute and performing hoop dances, he sought to introduce audiences throughout the nation to Native American traditions."
Oct 9, 2022
ORIGIN STORIES WITH FOLK ARTIST KEVIN LOCKE
"Kevin Locke is an internationally-recognized master traditional folk artist, visionary hoop dancer, indigenous Northern Plains flute player/recording artist, cultural..."
Oct 8, 2021
Remembering Kevin Locke
"Kevin Locke passed away on September 30, 2022. He was a Lakota flute player, hoop dancer, teacher, and 1990 National Heritage Fellow. In this 2015 podcast, Kevin Locke talks about learning to play the Indigenous flute..."
Nov 1, 2022
Interview with Kevin Locke, Wakpala, South Dakota
"Kevin Locke (Tokaheya Inajin in Lakota, translated as “First to Rise”) is a world famous visionary Hoop Dancer, preeminent player of the Indigenous Northern Plains flute, traditional storyteller, cultural..."
Aug 18, 2020
Videos Featuring Phyllis Webstad
Lakota Native, Kevin Locke is known through out the world as a Visionary Hoop Dancer, he is an important player of the indigenous Northern Plains Flute, a traditional storyteller, cultural ambassador, recording artist and educator.
“WoLakota” implies balance and coming together. The WoLakota project supports students in high-need schools, pairing trained mentor-teachers with new teachers and providing Courage to Teach circles to tend to the ʻheartsʼ of each. Mentors support the embedding of the Oceti Sakowin Essential Understandings (OSEU) into practice, complementing the Common Core. The OSEU address the achievement gap of American Indian students by embracing their identity, and promote cultural understanding among non-native students and teachers. Lakota Elder Dottie LeBeau states, “When we approach teaching with one worldview…we create systems of failure in our schools.”
Kevin Locke (Lakota name: Tȟokéya Inážiŋ, meaning "The First to Arise"; born 1954) is Lakota (Hunkpapa band) and Anishinaabe. He is a preeminent player of the Native American flute, a traditional storyteller, cultural ambassador, recording artist, fluent Lakota language and sign language speaker, and educator. He is most known for his hoop dance, The Hoop of Life.