2021 Cabaret

Babia Majora

Babia Majora is a bisexual trans non binary artist who saunters all the way along the gender spectrum. They are a proud member of Canada’s first BIPOC centered burlesque troupe, Les Femmes Fatales: Women of Colour Burlesque Troupe, and drag haus Rebel Gen.

Photo credit: Sly @slyplaystudios

Bianca Boom Boom

The ‘Triple B With The Double D’s And A High C’ is a curvy, campy, queer cutie with a fever for glamour and a fetish for beauty. A true triple threat treat, this award-winning genderfluid femme has dazzled stages from Montreal to Vancouver, from New York to L.A, and many places in between. In addition to their onstage escapades, Mx. Boom Boom is a tutor of tease an self love sorcery. They also serve on the committee of the annual Bi+ Arts Festival.

Photo credit: Kristy Boyce

shn shn

shn shn (she/her) is a queer Black electronic producer, singer-songwriter and creator based in Toronto, Canada. Her music is an ever-changing experience, bending genres as she brings experimental elements from electronic, ambient, world music, folk and pop into her practice. Her work allows exploration, contemplation, reckoning with duality and the spaces in between. shn shn’s upcoming EP e.strange.d, follows her debut 2020 self-produced and released EP structura. E.strange.d is about being untethered and the full gamut of emotions that encompasses (the strangeness, liberation and the fear of the unknown). This album sounds like otherworldly electronic soundscapes, layered guitar riffs, pulsing percussion, spoken word poetry and stacked harmonies from her lush folksy voice. It features singles “maladaptive daydreams”, “taking time” and “divine.”

El Toro

Toronto’s LatinX Lover. They will steal your heart with their blend of high energy dance, theatricality, and face for days. Monarch of Burlesque/ Lili St.Cyr winner of the 2018 Montreal Burlesque Festival.  A member of Boylesque T.O. (Most Comedic: BHOF 2018) and the Gentleman’s Club. Toro has featured and headlined in shows/ festivals across 3 continents.

Photo by: Mitchel Raphael Photography

I Furioso

I FURIOSI Baroque Ensemble is one of the world’s most innovative Baroque ensembles, comprised of four of Canada’s leading early music specialists: soprano Gabrielle McLaughlin, violinists Aisslinn Nosky and Julia Wedman, and cellist/gambist Felix Deak. About Felix As well as being a founding member of I FURIOSI Baroque Ensemble, baroque cellist and viola da gambist, Felix Deak showcases his career as a freelance musician with orchestras and chamber ensembles, including Toronto’s Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Les Voix Humaines and Opera Atelier. Felix instructs orchestral classes and private students in and around Toronto. He can be heard on CBC Radio Two and elsewhere. Felix, a pansexual and transgender cellist/gambist, appeared at the Bi+ Arts Festival’s Men’s Showcase in 2019 held at Buddies in Bad Times.

Dainty Smith

Dainty Smith is a Toronto based actor, burlesque performer, playwright, producer, and speaker. Dainty believes that through the art of storytelling and a willingness to be exposed that genuine human connections can be made. Her performances often tell deeply vulnerable stories regarding race, religion, sexuality and challenging social boundaries.  She is the founder of Les Femme Fatales: Women of Colour burlesque troupe, the first burlesque troupe for women of colour in Canada.

Photo by: Saajid Motala

Rich Aucoin, dir Hanlon McGregor, Mihaly Szabados

Rich Aucoin’s The Change (directed by Hanlon McGregor and Mihaly Szabados) invites us to surrender to change, “let go to it all,” and dance freely without limits or fear. This video is grounded in the experiences and stories of many trans people, and sees McGregor reflecting on a past “before he had language or understanding for that difference he saw in the mirror.” His daughter plays a younger version of himself, conveying the moments in his life “before he was free to dance and to swim without limits or fear.”

Robin Yukiko

Robin Yukiko is a bi, non-binary visual and performing artist living in Arlington, Mass. They joined the Bi+ Arts Festival two years ago to feature their Pride-themed landscape paintings. A neurodivergent graduate of Berklee College of Music with two albums as a singer-songwriter, Robin is always looking for a new means of expression.

http://www.robinyukiko.com

Deep Blue Honey

Deep Blue Honey is Owen Sound Poet Laureate Richard-Yves Sitoski (he/him) making sounds on the guitar not heard since the Cretaceous, and his wife Mary Little (she/her) on vox seducing King Kong away from Fay Wray. He is a performance poet with three books of verse out, the latest being No Sleep ‘til Eden, which features augmented reality, while she is a visual artist and environmentalist who loves to bake desserts at 3 a.m. They live with an impossible cat.