- 250-585 Dundas Street East Toronto, ON M5A 2B7
- 416-531-1402
- Mon-Fri 10am-5pm
- For ticket inquiries, email [email protected].
Thursday, June 24, 2021
8:00 PM
Online, Free
We are proud to partner once again with Buddies in Bad Times Theatre to present the fifth edition of the
2-Spirit Cabaret!
The 2-Spirit Cabaret is a celebration of the strength, beauty, and talent of queer and 2-Spirit Indigenous people through music, dance, spoken word, drag, performance art, poetry and comedy. In previous years, this evening of live performance would coincide with Native Earth’s Weesageechak Begins to Dance Festival. This year, after a series of workshops with guest artists and mentors, nine artists take the digital stage as the cabaret makes its Buddies in Bad Times’ Queer Pride Festival debut.
Hosted by Mx Wolverine, with performances by Nina Boujee, Ronald R. Braman, Sophie Dow, Rebecca Hope, Seán Carson Kinsella, Roger Kuhn, Denise B. Mcleod, Raylah, Aqua Nibii Waawaaskone, and Weird Alice, plus a set by Deejay Jams.
Born in Lander, Wyoming, Ronald R. Braman is an enrolled member of the Eastern Shoshone Tribe, Wind River Indian Reservation, Fort Washakie, Wyoming. A lifelong resident of Idaho, Ronald studied voice at ISU, travelling extensively throughout Europe for performance. Ron advocates for the arts, producing classical concerts, and poetry readings, including US Poet Laureate, Joy Harjo. He has hosted events with the Rocky Mountain Writers Festival. He works with the Episcopal Church as a Director of Music in Fort Hall, Idaho. He creates tribal shell dress, beadwork, moccasins, and feather work. Tribal ceremony and song are highly regarded and a regular life way.
Heard of Nanaboozhoo? Say Hello to Nina Boujee!
Nina Boujee is your weird, extra, fabulous and over-the-top Two-Spirit Trickster friend.
Nina is your everyday glam drag-adjacent friend who sometimes appears as a rabbit, sometimes as a coyote, and sometimes as a fabulous human who just wants to strut their stuff down New York Fashion Week and is always ready to stir up chaotic energy in the room.
Winnipeg-born Sophie Dow is a multidisciplinary creator, inspired by dance, music, collaboration and her Métis-Assiniboine and settler roots. An avid adventurer, Sophie has a passion for busking, yoga and traveling on top of holding a degree in Dance Performance and Choreography. With a unique list of credits deeply impacting personal process and vocabulary, Sophie’s had great fortune of working with some of the country’s wonderful dance innovators, including Chimera Dance Theatre and Kaeja d’Dance. Presently Sophie is Artistic Associate of Chimera Dance Theatre, writes music with The Honeycomb Flyers and is a licensed practitioner of Traditional Thai Massage.
Seán is an Irish and Indigiqueer/2S êkâ ê-akimiht poet from the nêhiy(th)aw/otipemisiwak/Nakawé Nations who writes decolonial love poetry and imagines a future where Indigenous sovereignty and other relationship structures are honoured again on these territories.
Roger Kuhn is a Poarch Creek Two-Spirit Indigequeer artist and activist. His music has appeared on the Logo channel in the USA as well as on radio stations in the USA and Canada. When not making music and art Dr. Roger is a community organizer of the Bay Area American Indian (BAAITS) Two-Spirit powwow, psychotherapist, and college professor of American Indian studies. He lives in Guerneville, CA (Pomo territory) with his husband and two dogs.
Ojibway from Sagamok Anishnawbek F.N. A part of the last generation of the 60’s Scoop, D.B. was raised in the north west of Toronto by a non Indigenous family. Denise proudly defines herself much as Queer urban Indigenous cis woman, and is interested in the reclamation of language, culture and ceremony as that has been a large part of D.B. ‘s healing journey. D.B. along with her comedy sisters founded Manifest Destiny’s Child Comedy Collective. D.B.’s newly founded passion of Burlesque is about challenging dominant cultures stereotypes on Indigenous women, sex, sexuality and sensuality.
I am Raylah Moonias and my pronouns are She/her. I love to draw, do art, play chess, dance and I am a 2Spirited Anishnawbe OjiCree/Ojibway. I am from Eabametoong FN. Situated on the lake called Eabamet Lake, by Albany River, ON. The lake is also known as, the place of the reversing waters or, at the reversing of the waterplace. More recently, I am in a hormone treatment program. I live Toronto now since in the year of 2016.
Aqua Nibii Waawaaskone is a free spirit, interdisciplinary artist, and activist. Though she is a proud Anishinaabe Kwe~original life giver of the land, she is also of mixed ancestry; Aniishnaabe Métis with Irish and French heritage and identifies as a 2Spirit genderless being.Through this difficult time Aqua has continued to perform her original medicine music and lead circles for her community as she is an advocate for anyone who has endured violence and adversity. She provides a safe space in her sacred circles and performances so the community can grow together, stronger, forever as a whole, as music truly is the universal language of love.
Rebecca Hope is Algonquin First Nations, Irish, and an award winning singer/songwriter and guitarist. In 2019, she graduated from the University of British Columbia and now resides in Toronto where she works as a performer. She has won the Live Performance category of the Canadian Songwriting Competition, worked with Buffy Sainte Marie as an artist in residence for Ryerson University, written a play/musical for Paprika Festival and can almost always be found writing songs, singing, and playing guitar. Rebecca uses music and art as a tool to cope with ups and downs, and listening to her songs or interacting with her creations makes others feel less alone. Rebecca inspires and empowers others to tell their truth, own their power, and chase their dreams.
Weird Alice is a queer performance artist and drag queen whose work holds a mirror to their communities through curated pop culture references. Described as fabulous yet filthy, Weird Alice has brought their tongue-in-cheek work across Turtle Island and around the world including Australia and Aoetearoa with pieces like Drop Deadly Gorgeous: The Pageant, Failure the Game Show, and the League of Lady Wrestlers.
Also known as Midnight Wolverine, Mx.Wolverine [they/them] is Tkaronto’s midnight tease, trickster and shapeshifter. Originally from Treaty 8 territory in the Northwest Territories, they are a Dene/Métis indigiqueer drag and burlesque performer, writer, artist, creator, and storyteller working to decolonize performance spaces, challenge common Indigenous and gender narratives, and create much needed two-spirit representation. They have politicized and sexified stages nationally including the Fierce Queer International Burlesque Festival, Bagel Burlesque Expo Montreal, Asinabka Festival, Pride Toronto and Pride Yukon. They have also been featured on CBC Gem’s Canadian Screen Award winning Canada’s A Drag Season 3 which has recently been nominated for a Digital Publishing Award. Crispier than fresh frybread, they’re the native hottie with a little edge and a lot of sexy!
Deejay Jams is a Tkarónto based multi-racial, non-Binary, Queer DJ, poet, community artist and radio geek specializing in 90s and futurist hip-hop, house, electric powwow vibes and all music to move you.
Header graphic designed by Malik McKoy.