Philly choreographer goes viral with dances celebrating Black queerness
Citizen of the Calendar week: Kemar Jewel
The Philly native and Temple-trained choreographer has gone viral with dances that celebrate the Black queer experience—and offer hope for all of united states
Aug. 03, 2021
Kemar Jewel knows what information technology'south like to be totally alone, completely alienated.
Merely before his 16th birthday, he was kicked out of his W Philly abode when his mom discovered he was gay. He spent the next two years without a permanent abode, couch-surfing, performing sex activity work, riding SEPTA for a warm place to stay.
Even so, while his mother'due south values are what led to Jewel's expulsion from habitation, he credits so many of her other values with giving him the survival skills he ultimately needed.
"I definitely got my drive from my mother and grandmother," he says. "They both immigrated from Jamaica, and it'due south no surreptitious that near immigrants and children of immigrants have that fire to succeed and do well."
Now nigh 30, Jewel has been channelling his experiences of beingness a immature, gay Black man in Philly into his work every bit the choreographer and director behind digital trip the light fantastic pieces that have gone viral, with more than fourteen million hits worldwide.
He cringes at the corniness of a phrase a friend uses to depict his piece of work—"artsivism," the spirit of using art as activism—but his work lands decidedly at that intersection. "It really does mean a lot to me when I tin can have my pain, and other people'southward hurting and experiences, and plough it into something cute," Gem says. "Considering I've realized that my art can be more just fun. It tin can be entertainment just also education. It can represent communities in different means."
He'south committed to showing the multidimensionality of the Blackness queer community. "I just actually want people to know that Blackness queer people, Black trans people, are three-dimenstional people," he says. "I really enjoy creating art that shows Black queer people in these actually multifaceted ways, so that you can know that they're non a monolith."
1 of his most popular videos last twelvemonth focused on Black queer and trans people vogueing—that style of trip the light fantastic toe that incorporates model-similar posing—as a form of both protestation and joy in this political climate. "I was and so touched past and so many messages I was getting from people around the world saying they saw themselves in the video, that they could chronicle to information technology, that information technology was educational and engaging," he says.
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Jewel's latest piece is chosen Soft: A Honey Alphabetic character To Black Queer Men, and it, too, was created in the spirit of letting people know they're not alone. "It'southward about Blackness queer men who are using the language of contemporary dance to heal from homophobia, connect equally a community, and also just serve equally a reminder to exist soft with yourself and others," he says. "Among Blackness men, there'south a stigma that you have to be masculine and hard, and ofttimes nosotros chastise men, especially Black men, who show emotions and cry or are openly injure."
He says the slice was inspired by his feel of existence kicked out, feeling useless, and and so finding a community who rallied to uplift him. All only ii of the dancers in the piece are from Philly, and he regularly taps Philadelphians for his work, people he knows from Academy of the Arts and Philadanco, the PA Ballet and Temple. "Information technology's definitely very, very, very Phily all up in through in that location," he says with pride. "Philly is e'er gonna be my dwelling house. I've toured Europe, I've worked in DC and NY and downward South. I've been so many places, just Philly will always be my favorite identify."
Having done sex work himself, Jewel is currently working on a piece that's a modern take on "Hey, Big Spender," looking at how sex piece of work is work. He'south hoping to cast all or mostly Black trans women, because he feels that their narrative is oftentimes taken out of the conversation virtually sexual activity work; becauase he's non a Black trans woman, he'south currnetly looking for a co-director and other production folks who are, to make sure that the piece is accurate. "Doing sex activity work was a very hard matter for me, and I know about the actual story," he says. "But if I desire to talk about a very specific community, I want to brand sure they're really involved with it."
Even before he was on his own, Jewel had discovered an early love of, and escape in, the arts. "Art was my happy identify," he says. As a pre-teen he'd write 50-folio brusque stories, and he always relished the dance and music and festivals that were a part of his Jamaican heritage. "For me, art was a identify where I felt safe."
He went on to graduate from Penn Woods High School in Lansdowne—no affair what befell him, he'd had the value of education instilled in him by his grandmother, who raised him in Yeadon until he was 12—then graduated from Temple with a degree in theater.
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Along the manner, he embraced Philly's arts scene and its gay culture. "Growing upward, I was always effectually the Gayborhood and Avenue of the Arts. I met then many singers and designers and artists just from being downtown and being around other gay folks," he says. And he credits and so many of Philly'southward free resources in the gay community with getting him through: The Attic Youth Middle; Mazzoni Center; William Manner LGBT Customs Centre; Colours; GALAEI; and Philadelphia FIGHT.
While he supplements the cost of his work through GoFundMe, the pieces are otherwise self-funded, with each 1 costing about $3,500 to $5,000. He's taken out loans to pay for a video, he'southward put charges on his credit cards—all in the name of artistic control. "When yous control the money, you lot control everything," he says.
And frugality, he says, is yet some other lesson he learned from his mother and late grandmother. "My best friend and I joke that 'if information technology's gratuitous, it'south for me.'" That attitude is what led him to seek out complimentary local mental health support that has changed his life and allowed him to pursue his art in earnest.
"I cannot imagine being in this world without my best friend and my therapist," he says. "If you're reading this, delight do yourself a favor and look into mental health services." He wants young people who might be struggling like he did to know that the manner your life is at present is not going to be your life forever; that being mistreated is non your fault; and to find merely ane person who you can really confide in and be 100-percentage honest with.
And along the way—along whatever journeying you may be on—y'all can find a sense of hope, of belonging and community, in Precious stone's powerful work.
Source: https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/kemar-jewel/