Saturday, October 8th
Dancing Across the Diaspora
Cuahtemoc Peranda (Host)
Kumari Suraj
Maque Pereyra
Tandile Mbatsha
Sunday, October 9th
Trans and Non-Binary Dance Futures
Sean Dorsey (Host)
Ace Fusion
Sydney Baloue
Jayla Rose Sullivan
Cuauhtémoc Peranda (Mescalero Apache, Mexika-Chichimeca/Cano; & cihuaiolo butch queen) is a fifth-year Critical Dance Studies Ph.D. student at the University of California, Riverside. Their academic studies have been supported by the U.S. Department of Education Native American Studies Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need (G.A.A.N.N.) Fellowship, the Dean’s Distinguished Doctoral Student Fellowship, and the Max H. Gluck Arts Fellowship. Their research focuses on the history of the United States’ House Ballroom Scene, in particular the West Coast ball scene, and its involvement in how queer, trans- and two-spirit Black and blackened indigenous peoples of the Western Hemisphere have deployed the dance form of vogue (voguing/performance) as a praxis of decolonization, anti-colonialism, transformational resilience, and queering indigenous knowledge reclamation. They walk and raise children in the West Coast ball scenes as Overall Prince Don’Té Lauren of The Legendary House of Lauren, International. They hold an M.F.A. in Dance from Mills College, and a B.A. in Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity from Stanford University.
Also known as Vanity Ada from Legendary Season 3 on HBO MAX airing May 2022. Featured in the New York Times (2020) and named one of Vogue India’s “Top 50 Most Influential Global Indians” (2019); Kumari Suraj is an artistic force, LGBTQ+ activist and cultural game changer who has influenced the entertainment industry and underground cult communities from Hollywood to Bollywood and beyond. Kumari’s performance work as a creative garners icon status in the realm of Waacking – a vintage disco dance form lauded by the elites. As the creator of Bollywaack and founder of the world’s first queer dance festival, Waackfest, the phenom has worked with legendary artists and powerful platforms. HBO MAX, Madonna, Mya, Jody Watley, World of Dance, Buzzfeed, Star Plus, New York Times and So You Think You Can Dance to name a few.
Kumari Suraj, a multi hyphenate artist is a creative director, choreographer, fashion designer, recording artist, LGBTQ+ activist and reality TV personality. Kumari’s parents are a vibrant mix of Afro West Indian, South Asian, Indigenous American and European cultural heritage. Kumari’s exploration of life and celebration of their cultures are reflected in their commercial work with dance, fashion and music. Their unique storytelling encourages conversation between contrasting communities and cultural understanding relevant in today’s social climate.
I was born in Bolivia in 1987 and since 2016 I’m based in Berlin, I came to study the MA SoDA Solo Dance Authorship at HZT and stayed. During my studies I received a DAAD scholarship in the field of Performing Arts and, also during that time, Yoggaton started to be developed. In Bolivia, I studied dance and psychology. My artistic work (performances, videos, workshops, etc) has been awarded and presented internationally in platforms such as Tanztage Berlin, Tanzquartier Wien and HKW. Last year I received the Studio Grant at District Berlin with the research ‘Yoggaton as empowerment and decolonial body practice’. My love for music is also growing and exciting projects are coming soon.
The focus of my work is on decolonial/queer aesthetics-practices, empowerment through pleasure and spiritual activism, healing rituals/ancestral futurism and knowledge production with and from the body.
Tandile Mbatsha (They/ Them and Theirs) is a South African queer and gender non-binary performance artist, choreographic-activist, educator, speaker, host, producer, model and scholar. They make multimodal performance art work that illuminates the efforts of racialised queer people to self-fashion and self-determine. Tandile makes work that emphatically declares the full humanness and citizenship of queer people of colour. They have performed at the PERFORMA17 Biennale in New York, in Zoë Modiga's set at Afropunk, at the Investec Cape Town Art Fair and opened for FAKA at the Cape Town Electronic Music festival. They produced the film The Solo Ball on the virtual National Arts Festival curated programme. Tandile has also worked with internationally acclaimed artist Zanele Muholi on various projects.
Mbatsha holds a Master of Arts in Theatre and Performance from the Centre for Theatre, Dance and Performance Studies at the University of Cape Town. They were selected as part of the top 100 artist entrepreneurs by Business Arts South Africa’s (BASA) and took part in their Debut Programme and graduated. Their latest work I AM premiered at the Institute for Creative Arts (ICA) Live Art Festival and they recently featured at the exhibition opening of the Goethe Institut Young Curators Incubator.
Sean Dorsey is a San Francisco-based choreographer, dancer, writer, teaching artist and cultural activist. Recognized as the U.S.’ first acclaimed transgender modern dance choreographer, Dorsey has toured his work to more than 30 cities across the US and abroad – and taught with his explicitly trans-positive pedagogy in more than 35 cities.
Dorsey is a 2020 Doris Duke Artist and an inaugural Dance/USA Artist Fellow. He has been awarded five Isadora Duncan Dance Awards and the Goldie Award for Performance. In 2009, Dorsey was named in Dance Magazine’s “25 To Watch;” in 2019, he became the first openly-transgender person on the cover of Dance Magazine.
A longtime social practice artist, Dorsey creates his works over 2-3 years in deep relationship with/in community. Dorsey’s dances are powerful explorations of human experience – a fusion of full-throttle dance, luscious partnering, intimate storytelling and theater. Highly physical, accessible, rooted in story, and danced with precision and guts and deep humanity, Dorsey’s works have been praised as “exquisite…poignant and important” (BalletTanz), “trailblazing” (San Francisco Chronicle) and “evocative, compelling, elegant” (LA Weekly).
As a teaching artist, Dorsey leads workshops, classes and DREAM LABS with a trans-positive pedagogy – and centers and celebrates gender non-conforming and trans bodies, voices and aesthetics.
Andrea Arenasvazquez (They/them/theirs) is an International Queer Entertainer also known as “Ace Fusion”. Born in Ponce Puerto Rico. Raised in Brooklyn N.Y. Growing up was always working on their passion for Dj in and dance. After high school joined the Marine Corps and also worked on building their brand as an Entertainer. After serving 12 years active duty, the now veteran is working on their full time company Ace Fusion Entertainment LLC, traveling the world spreading awareness about LGBTQ culture/LatinX culture, and their love for music and dance. Ace Fusion is mainly known for their bachata musicality and breaking how to dance bachata for all dancers, freestyle performances and being the party starter at any event they attend.
Sydney Baloue is a TV writer and producer, dancer, archivist and journalist and whose work on the ballroom community has been published in The New York Times, Vice and them. He is a proud member of the House of Xtravaganza and he was Co-Executive Producer and writer on HBOMax’s competition show, LEGENDARY on Season 1 and 2. He also worked as a staff writer on HBO’s THE VANISHING HALF under Jeremy O. Harris and Aziza Barnes and he was a staff writer position on the CW’s TOM SWIFT. After living in Berlin, Paris, London and New York for 5 years, Sydney is excited to share his story of transition in a memoir/history hybrid book UNDENIABLE: A HISTORY OF VOGUING, BALLROOM AND HOW IT CHANGED MY LIFE (AND THE WORLD) he’s writing about New York City’s ballroom history and his own history within it.
Jayla Rose has been a dancer for over 15 years. Growing up in Buffalo she started as a gymnast but fell in love with dance and traded in her grips for tap shoes. She has been able to travel on conventions as a choreographers assistant. She co produces and performs at Diva Drag brunch performing in Portland and traveling and being able to work with different LGBTQIA+ organizations. She has had the honor of being cast and being seen on Lizzo’s Watch Out For The Big Grrrls. Since the show airing she has been seen dancing with lizzo, as well as performing around the country herself. The show and the cast were also nominated and won at the 2022 Emmy’s. From being on and off the stage Jayla believes in the importance of visibility and representation in the dance world.