Tender City: The Silent Slow Dance Project

Kevin Jesuino's MFA Defence
Wednesday, October 23, 2024 | 5:30 PM
Room 4390 – 149 W. Hastings St., Vancouver

Tender City: The Silent Slow Dance Project is a socially engaged dance project inviting men to participate in partnered silent slow dances in public urban spaces. Historically, cities have been designed by men for order, efficiency, and productivity, reflecting a hetero-patriarchal capitalist desire that stifles natural instincts, tenderness, and community care. Homosexual men navigate this imposed system through cruising, seeking physical connections and engaging in private acts of sex in public due to having no other options in a city or world that rejects their existence. Tender City translates this intimate choreography into an urban public silent slow dance.

Engaging gay, bi, and trans men, the project hosted workshops with Health Initiative for Men (HIM) and facilitated dances at various sites, including local cruising spots and significant historical queer spaces in Vancouver like šxʷƛ̓ənəq Xwtl'e7énḵ Square, Davie Street, and St. Paul’s Hospital. The project continued with a performance installation exhibited at Simon Fraser University's Goldcorp Centre for the Arts, inviting male and/or masculine-identifying individuals to join the silent slow dances throughout the exhibition.  

Keywords: Queer history, Cruising, Masculinity, Cruising Choreographies, Site-specific Performance.