I Am Pride

Five dance artists from Canada’s vast Queer communities

Five dance artists from Canada’s vast Queer communities

CURATED BY RALPH ESCAMILLAN, the founder of FakeKnot and Van Vogue Jam, these profiles are meant to show the power of dance today, and its past and present relationship with the QTBIPOC community, as Pride celebrations roll out across Canada.

“It was important for me to catalogue the vastness of Queer communities around the country, specifically featuring the work and activism of artists and allies,” Escamillan writes. “I hope the readers find these profiles as catalysts to learn more about people in their own communities and how to support them in the work they are doing.”

The following pages feature five artists from these vast Queer communities: N9ne Louboutin Margiela, Jessica McMann, Tia Ashley Kushniruk, Ross Wirtanen and Jossua Collin Dufour.

Margiela (featured on the cover) is the mother of the kiki House of Louboutin’s Toronto chapter. After moving to Toronto and finding ballroom, she has been able to turn her feminine energy into a source of power and strength.

McMann is a Two-Spirit Cree contemporary dancer, choreographer and musician based in Calgary. Her work includes creating safe spaces for Two-Spirt and trans Indigenous dancers to express themselves.

Kushniruk, hailing from Edmonton, is expanding the idea of a dance practice. Her work, which she describes as interdisciplinary, includes digital paintings and films. But she believes that all dance artists are multi-faceted because the definition of a dance practice goes beyond just dancing.

Wirtanen has built an impressive resumé dancing with big names. But that’s not the most important part of his work to him. After years of experience, he stresses the importance of understanding the elements and history of dance styles, especially when those styles were created by marginalized QTBIPOC communities.

Collin Dufour, based in Montreal, has danced various styles including burlesque and contemporary. In his work, he wants to break the stereotype of “the troubled gay kid” narrative. And although he is seeing Queerness appearing in commercial dance culture, he hopes it’s not just the “flavour of the month.”

Read more about the work of these five artists.