Creative spark
Even in Houston’s goth and vampire scene, Tarik Rêver turned heads like no one else. The dancer and visual artist was a godlike presence on the dance floor, an androgynous beauty with flawless skin and a body like a Greek statue who moved through smoke and lasers with fire and passion.
He’s still passionate, but his dancing days are over since being diagnosed with myasthenia gravis, a chronic neuromuscular disorder that leads to skeletal muscle weakness. Though he can walk short distances with a cane or walker in his home, he mostly uses a wheelchair these days. Even talking on the phone tires him.
“Basically, my muscles can’t hold a charge like other people’s can,” Rêver says.
His health has put many of his artistic aspirations on hold as even painting has become frustratingly difficult. But one thing has not changed: his dedication to giving back to Houston. Before he became disabled, Rêver was a constant presence at various charity events. He danced in two charity productions at the Hobby Center meant to help Houston children in need. He performed at the Hare Krishna center for another charity event. Funds for hungry children were raised in a production where body-painted dancers portrayed the four basic elements.
After Hurricane Harvey hit, his interest turned to Houston-area shelters. His first call to action was helping the Houston Area Women’s Center. He partnered with My Petal Club, an organization that helps women obtain hygiene products. He helped organize and spread an online campaign where people who purchased the organization’s gift boxes would see $1 go to HAWC. In addition, Rêver was able to edit a promotional video for the group.
He was moved by intimate partner violence and the role shelters play in combating it. Shelters need more resources after disasters, in part, because violence aimed at women and children spikes in the aftermath. The World Health Organization says, “After a disaster, these women may be forced to rely on a perpetrator for survival or access to services.” Rêver himself witnessed a situation with a friend get worse after the storm.
“No one knows that, that when natural disasters happen it creates a more hostile environment and abuse escalates,” Rêver says.
He has booked and coordinated fundraisers at Numbers to benefit Casa Anandrea, Houston’s only shelter for undocumented transgender women. Run by Ana Andrea Molina, it serves one of the city’s most vulnerable populations by providing sanctuary and legal services. Since it was founded by Organizacion Latina Trans en Texas in May 2017, it has fought eviction multiple times.
“At this moment, politically speaking, being a Latina, being an immigrant and being a trans woman, forms a package of barriers for many things that, in the case of our organization, have made it extremely difficult to raise funds from the community,” Molina says.
Rêver, whose art has involved gender-expression experimentation, has always felt a connection to the trans community. Trans-specific violence happens all around him, he says. With the help of Cassie le Phenix, they planned a night of DJs, burlesque and other acts to help fund the struggling shelter. In just one year, Casa Anadrea has housed and fed mior than 150 people, as well as assisted with name and gender marker changes free of charge. Rêver’s aid has been a big boost.
“It was amazing when they told me it would be in that club, where the fundraising would take place, since it is a predominantly white space, but I have always trusted that in our city there are more good ones that want to change the rules of the game,” Molina says. “I have always been grateful to (Numbers) for all their support because, as a Latina, I am proud to live in a very diverse city.”
Though Rêver’s physical participation is more limited now, he continues to reach out and try to better the lives of people he sees in Montrose. He credits his love of Beethoven with his fire, finding meaning in music with “so much pain” in it.
“You have to find a way to express either destructively or creatively,” Rêver says. “Helping other people is helping myself. I want to help people’s flames be brighter.”