I am a dancer because of Janet Jackson, for so many reasons. True story! When invited to curate this event it was obvious that the show’s underlining curatorial concepts should springboard from Janet Jackson in some way. Taking the lyrics “my body’s an exhibition baby” from the song Feedback (2008) as inspiration, I am exploring the role of the spectator when observing the body as an object, as well as how bodies are seen, and what it means to be seen. As a choreographer/curator, I started to investigate how the image of the body plays a central role in how the movement is interpreted. This question comes from being a dancer and finding my career dictated by my body image, not my technical skill. Ideas, thoughts and provocations:

• Codified dance (ballet and modern) is a camp or queer version of people, society, historical moments anyway; why not acknowledge it?

• Researching dance history, I acknowledge the bodies don’t represent us but we are representations of questioning those bodies.

• I have no judgement on wether a person is “queer enough” as queer is about openness and relies more on questions than definitions.

• Can we love dance? Love pop culture? Love things and not be embarrassed?

• Historical dance works I felt are systematically heteronormative even when they were not overtly asking for it. “How to queer dance history?” 

• Not all the works are made by queer identifying artists but I see the works as queer through the ways they use the body, or place the representation of a body at the centre. 

• Having ADHD, I make an over-stimulating experience for the viewer that reflects my everyday lived experience. One topic. Multiplicity of perspectives. A few distractions. Hoping to continuously stimulate with constant movements and a plethora of colors.

• It is a dialogue between performer and viewer and those roles are not stable. At times flipping the experience of the audience to being on display, in sense queering the theater or theatrical experience.