Abstract
RainbowGlitz, an Indigenous artist of Haida, Squamish, Musqueam, and Black heritage, is a long-time Burlesque performer/dancer, Pole Dancer, Stripper, and Native American Fancy Shawl Dancer. With ties and lived experiences in the US and Canada, RainbowGlitz is identified by her Haida community whose territories have historically spanned across northwestern Turtle Island (North America) long before settler nations established geopolitical borders.1 A brief, close reading of her 2019 piece, "Love Medicine" (performed for RECLAIM: A Powerful Evening of Indigenous Burlesque Art in Nelson, BC)2 looks to the ways that RainbowGlitz's presence and dancing refutes the ongoing oppression and colonization against Indigenous geographies and bodies. Drawing from Indigenous Studies writer Jacqueline Shea Murphy, this case study recognizes Indigenous dance as an act of Indigenous agency, which is inherently political as it counters historical oppression/colonization.3