What types of activities and classes were you involved in while attending Emerson?
I double majored in dance (back when there was still a BFA) and Political Communication. I was in dance shows on campus twice a year, and my senior year I produced the student choreography concert. I was involved with EAGLE, and served on SGA and as EAGLE president at different times. I was also involved in various social justice organizing, including union organizing on Boston campuses and anti-war work.
How has your experience at Emerson influenced your work and career?
Emerson gave me the flexibility to pursue the things I care most about and be self-motivated and independent.
My honors thesis project was a 45 minute dance piece about bullying and social aggression called “What Girls Do.” My work has evolved, but there are themes in that piece that I’m still working on – femininity, identity, performance. That show was a great chance for me to develop my ideas in a longer format and stretch as an artist. Looking back, I was already starting to break out of the “concert dance” mold in terms of props, costumes and music.
I also had some great experiences working with the Service Learning office as a peer educator – the friendships and experiences I gained there were so valuable.
What have you been up to since graduating Emerson?
My senior year at Emerson I was already working as an intern at the Freedom to Marry Coalition, doing statewide organizing to help high school and college students become involved in the marriage equality issue; and teaching dance at the Topf Center for Dance education, an outreach program based in Boston’s South End. Upon graduation I was able to increase my hours teaching dance and was hired as Assistant Director for the Religious Coalition for the Freedom to Marry. I was lucky enough to be able to take my college part time jobs and internship and create a schedule where I was working full time between those two things.
It seems very far away to me now, even as I’m planning my own wedding, but when the Goodridge decision came out in 2003, marriage equality was not a reality anywhere in the country. As the legislature was faced with implementing Goodridge or amending the state constitution to block it, there were virulent anti-gay protests, including bus loads of people from as far away as Virginia! We were in the national spotlight, and it became vital for us to win, not just for Massachusetts but for the country. Working on marriage equality took up a lot of my time and energy through most of college and after college as well.
In 2007 I moved on to teaching full-time at a number of schools and started the Femme Show.
You are the founder and artistic director of The Femme Show. What influenced you to create take on such a big project?
Sometimes you have no choice but to create your own opportunities. I was dancing for other choreographers and going on auditions, but I wanted an outlet for my work that would connect it to my community. Based on what I was seeing, in the queer community there were outlets for musicians, traditional drag kings and queens, comedians, and slam poets. I have no musical ability, I don’t think I should have to dress like a man to get on stage in front of my community, and I think we have enough comedians and slam poets.
I realized that no one was going to call me up and invite me to dance in a big queer show. If I wanted a big queer show to be in, I was going to have to make it happen.
Boston has a great femme community and I knew that it was a topic people were passionate about and interested in discussing, and I was at a point in my life where I was coming to own my femme gender.
What plans do you have for the future?
The Femme Show is going into our 6th year! My initial goal was five years – now that we’ve made it this far I think we can get to ten! We have a great group right now that’s excited to collaborate and stretch themselves artistically. I’d like to keep performing regionally and around Boston and I’m also always trying to start an additional event that would be lower-key and happen more frequently in Boston. It’s hard to find space in this town, but it will happen someday!