DANAH ROSALES ~ GRAND PRIZE (WORKING TITLE) - 2020/21
April 26 to May 15, 2021
Curated by Natasha Powell
Created in collaboration with Matthew Cuff, Stephanie Caldeira, Samantha Messam, Sebastiao Dinguana-Sivuilu, Josh Rill, Diséiye Thompson, & Nolan Vancooten
Image: Danah Rosales | Photo by Josh Rille
“During this residency, the collaborators and I will explore themes of competition, judgement, conflict, and confrontation. Playing and working with sound, voice, fabrics and movement, the work draws inspiration from the individual and shared experiences of existing in a complex juxtaposition of the underground queer and aboveground heterosexual worlds.
Honoring and celebrating the complexities of queer existence, identity, relationships in the ballroom community, GRAND PRIZE (working title) is a collaborative work with artists from the Toronto Ballroom Scene.”
ABOUT DANAH ROSALES
Danah Rosales (She/Her/Siya) is a Toronto based cis-queer millennial; second-generation Canadian-Filipinx; a daughter; a dawta; a sister; a sis; a mother of two little humans; a mutha of a kiki house; and an artist in which her work encompasses interdisciplinary performance, performing, choreography, collaboration, teaching, and active community participation and organization.
Growing up in Toronto, hip hop culture was a large contributing part of her initial understanding and fascination of expression that led her passion, interests, and pursuance of dance and culture. Danah was a music and dance major at the Etobicoke School of the Arts and is graduate of the School of Toronto Dance Theatre.
She has worked alongside various artists such as Kent Monkman, Andrea Spaziani, Francesca Chudnoff, Annie MacDonnell, Tanya Lukin Linklater, Ballet Creole, Blank Canvas Collective, Mix Mix Collective, Rude Collective, Toronto Dance Theatre, Jennifer Laiwint, Dorian Electra, Hollywood Jade, Matthew ‘Snoopy Lanvin’ Cuff, Scott Fordham and more.
Vogue was introduced to Danah back in 2006 during her early high school years and was introduced her to the ballroom scene by Snoopy. She attended and walked her first ball in 2014. Since that first ball, Danah has been walking balls ever since. Danah was a 007 up until July 2018, where she joined The Supreme Kiki House of Christian Siriano. She became Maldita Siriano, became fully immersed in the Toronto Ballroom Community, and then became the Mother of the Toronto Chapter in December 2018. She has developed in Toronto and Montreal under Snoopy Lanvin, Twysted Siriano Miyake-Mugler, and in New York City under Danni Ninja Polanco, Prince Miyake-Mugler, Arturo Miyake-Mugler, Leiomy Amazon, Slim Eon Xtravaganza, and José Xtravaganza.
She has walked over 20 balls in Toronto, Montreal, and New York, has won multiple mainstream and kiki grand prizes for performance and women's performance, was part of the Top 10 List for Canada’s Performers, as well as being awarded and recognized as Mother of the Year for 2019.
As an active community leader, Maldita Siriano 007 contributes to the Canadian scene as a choreographer, and vogue teacher in pursuit of increasing the awareness of the ballroom scene, its history, major contributions, relevance and presence within today's time. She continues to develop herself as a ballroom artist in the mainstream scene, develop her Kiki house in her leadership role as a House Mother and active community member within the Toronto Kiki Ballroom Alliance.
Danah likes to dance while eating, think out loud and laugh at herself, create and try new things ethically, move and sweat, get her 10's and battle, question questions, rest and practice self-care, un-learn and dismantle, dream and hope for a better world, live and learn... not in that order/sometimes in that order.