New Works and Rainbow Refugee Society honour Pride Month with reflections on an impactful dance collaboration
Artists Kevin Jesuino and Marco Esccer worked with LGBTQI+ society members to create an empowering dance performance that told their truths
SPONSORED POST BY New Works
Members of the Rainbow Refugee Society perform a piece co-created with New Works at the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT). Photo courtesy of Rainbow Refugee
Being exiled from one’s community is never easy. Kevin Jesuino—an interdisciplinary artist of Portuguese heritage whose practice spans performance, temporary public art, participatory works, activist interventions, and innovative pedagogy—has experienced that firsthand.
At age 27, Jesuino came out to his family. His mother and father did not speak to him for eight years. While they are now reconciling, Jesuino’s story remains one of two immigrant parents with conservative values who misunderstood their son, a first-generation Canadian.
This same story often unfolds far from Canada, in countries where laws offer no sanctuary or protection for its LGBTQI+ citizens. Organizations like the Rainbow Refugee Society of Canada become beacons of hope by bringing people to Canada, where they can find the safety and human dignity that everyone deserves.
Movement plays an important role in this story. This spring, New Works invited Jesuino to collaborate with dance artist and staff member Marco Esccer. Working with members of the Rainbow Refugee Society, they created a dance that signified their journey and presented it at the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT) event, hosted annually by Rainbow Refugee.
International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT) performance. Photo courtesy of Rainbow Refugee
Esccer and Jesuino built a community-oriented process for the society members to craft a short piece that not only told their truths, but empowered them to celebrate the arduous paths that led them to the present. Rehearsal after rehearsal, words and gestures intertwined, slowly stitching themselves into a larger tapestry of shared dance. Along this path, guest artists Starr Muranko, Ben Castro, and Ralph Escamillan offered moments of light and inspiration.
Those teachings laid the groundwork for the performance that was shared with the community. On May 17, Rainbow Refugee community members stepped onto the stage at The Junction in Vancouver. The audience witnessed these dancers who left behind their homes in order to find themselves in this new home.
In honour of Pride Month, Jesuino has chosen to share the poem the artists collectively generated as part of their process and performance. It is a reminder that as people move between places, they find the ground beneath their feet and communities that embrace them.
THE ART WE MADE TOGETHER
I move between two places.
My roots dig deep.
I stand tall.
Grass under my feet.
My chosen place.
Freedom.
Liberty.
Lower and higher,
Rain or sun,
I want to go back to the wooden forest.
There is power.
There is feeling.
There is dance.
There is joy.
Energy.
Flow.
Autonomy.
I feel a lot, but at least I’m feeling again.
Together we are going to the unknown.
To the place I’ve never been.
— Collective poem by Rainbow Refugee members
Post sponsored by New Works, with reflection materials from Kevin Jesuino.