Personas (of Power & Pleasure)
Whether you seek to unveil a drag or burlesque character, a play party presence, or simply step into a more empowered state of being, this workshop is a space to explore the power of Personas. We will play with physical costumes and invisible masks that help us to move with more confidence and liberated creative expression. By shedding some of what constrains our expression, we will tap into what wants to be unleashed: be it animal, alien, amoeba, ethos, entropy or otherwise. Participants will experiment with Personas they may have already developed, or try on something brand new and may explore a name, backstory, motivation, way of moving, pleasure practices that drives this Persona. This workshop is for all genders and identities and centers queer and trans wisdom.
by Kelindah bee Schuster
Performance Night/ Exploratorium
co-producer with Shay Au Lait!
Kelindah bee Schuster

Kelindah bee Schuster

http://kelindahbee.art

Kelindah Bee is a draglesque artist known as Theydy Bedbug, reigning “Mx. Brooklyn”, and an queer trans educator. In performance, they use caricature, lip sync, embodied movement, poetry, and striptease to reclaim their body, reckon with belonging, subvert art forms and dissolve gender norms. In Lenapehoking aka Brooklyn, NY, they facilitate a “Drag Performance: Between and Beyond Gender” class at BAX and work as a freelance Gender Identity and Expression consultant. They value spaces that welcome our whole selves to be present, especially the messy, grotesque, hairy, queer, kinky, vulnerable sides we’ve been conditioned to shrink. They believe that when we connect, collaborate, and create performances that channel our authentic sexual expression liberated from gender norms, we make space for more ways of being: a pathway to new-world building.