Ep. 78 - The Edges of Drag (TESTO)
PuSh Play
PuSh’s Artistic Director, Gabrielle Martin, speaks with Wet Mess about , coming up at the 2026 PuSh Festival: February 7 and 8 at Performance Works. Show Notes Gabrielle and Wet Mess discuss: The origins of TESTO, particularly in what it meant to take hormones like testosterone Drag as a tool to discover oneself onstage Drag as a devising tool to generate choreography, narrative, etc. The historical aspects of drag Making gender explorations joyful The different personas that Wet Mess explores The oscillation between comedy and vulnerability The origin of the name “Wet Mess” What...
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Ep. 77 - Ballroom! (The Motha’ Kiki Ball)
PuSh Play
PuSh’s Artistic Director, Gabrielle Martin, speaks with Mother Bee Gvasalia, Savannah Sutherland, Ihomehe (“Legs”), and Menace Gvasalia about , coming up at the 2026 PuSh Festival: February 7 at the Birdhouse. Show Notes Gabrielle and her guests discuss: How did Blackout Collective begin and what was that specific moment that compelled it? The significance and meaning of ballroom as gathering and performance Balancing competitive fire with fierce tenderness with honouring roots How chosen families show up, especially in ballroom How ballroom judges work and what they are...
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Ep. 76 - From the Marrow (WAIL)
PuSh Play
PuSh’s Artistic Director, Gabrielle Martin, speaks with Vanessa Goodman about , coming up at the 2026 PuSh Festival: January 26 and 27 at the Scotiabank Dance Centre. Show Notes Gabrielle and Vanessa discuss: Vanessa’s current work and process on tour across the continent with BLOT The original impulses and images that inspired WAIL How the complexity becoming a parent today requires one to find joy in work What does it mean to navigate joy within community? How can joy be a regenerative force? The power of physiological change from performance How compression can be used in...
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Ep. 75 - Women's Words (Rainbow Chan Live at the Dream Factory)
PuSh Play
PuSh’s Artistic Director, Gabrielle Martin, speaks with Rainbow Chan about , coming up at the 2026 PuSh Festival: February 4 at 7:30pm at the Chinese Canadian Museum. Show Notes Gabrielle and Rainbow discuss: The unique collaboration and context of Rainbow Chan Live at the Dream Factory The influence of Cantonese pop on Rainbow’s work Voice as both instrument and archive Processing grief through song as an individual and collective The original sparks of interest to perform these particular songs The category of ritual song and music The fusion of folk with pop and electronica, and...
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Ep. 74 - Human Costs (Invisibles)
PuSh Play
Am Johal, Executive Artistic Director of the , guest hosts this episode! He chats with Rakesh Sukesh about , coming up at the 2026 PuSh Festival: January 26 at the Vancity Culture Lab (the Cultch). Show Notes Am and Rakesh discuss: The trajectory and transitions of Rakesh’s artistic and professional life Rakesh’s Bollywood background How Rakesh dealt with his early social anxiety through dance and performance The challenges of creating art after strict Bollywood training The various traditions woven into Rakesh’s work, including yoga How Rakesh situates his work globally, and how...
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Ep. 73 - Mythmaking (Trouble Score)
PuSh Play
PuSh Artistic Director Gabrielle Martin chats with Luanda Casella & Pablo Casella about , coming up at the 2026 PuSh Festival: February 7 at the Vancouver Playhouse. Show Notes Gabrielle, Luanda and Pablo discuss: Discussion of Indigenous peoples and their struggles in North and South America Returning to the storytelling concert form, and how the project began The importance of experiencing everything that occurs on the stage Incorporating ritual into practice and performance Research threads of misleading discourse, cult of story, the unreliable narrator and how they evolved...
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Ep. 72 - Navigating Authenticity and Distortion (JEZEBEL)
PuSh Play
Guest host Chipo Chipaziwa chats with Cherish Menzo about , coming up at the 2026 PuSh Festival: January 22 and 23 at the Scotiabank Dance Centre in Vancouver, BC. Show Notes Chipo and Cherish discuss: How Jezebel was developed Representation and presentation of black women in western culture, including tendencies of visual hypersexualization Use of various elements to highlight juxtaposition of beauty and the grotesque Negotiation between performance and how it is consumed by the audience How to be careful not to misrepresent anyone in performance work through stories or images How has...
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Ep. 71 - After the Silence (Wayqeycuna)
PuSh Play
Gabrielle Martin chats with Cecilia Kuska about her work as a producer as well as , coming up at the 2026 PuSh Festival and co-presented by Latincouver: February 6 and 7 at the Roundhouse in Vancouver, BC. Show Notes Gabrielle and Cecilia discuss: The work of Tiziano Cruz and how Cecilia’s understanding has been shaped by his process and artistry How performance can be political without losing its complexity of creativity What it means to hold the space with theatrical work How community engagement is realized and makes sense of each locality Previous times at PuSh Cecelia’s own...
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Ep. 70 - Dancer Magic (Catching Up to the Future of Our Past)
PuSh Play
Gabrielle Martin chats with James Gnam and Natalie LeFebvre Gnam of Plastic Orchid Factory about , coming up at the 2026 PuSh Festival: January 30 and 31 at the Scotiabank Dance Centre in Vancouver, BC. Show Notes Gabrielle and Renae discuss: The ways in which interdisciplinary fluidity shapes choreography How trust and dialogue forms the core of collaboration The power of “dancer magic” and its ability to pull together a performance The development of Catching Up with the Future of Our Past The use of the physiology of memory as a choreographic tool How do we remember and embody...
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Ep. 69 - Access and Excess (SKIN)
PuSh Play
Gabrielle Martin chats with Renae Shadler about , coming up at the 2026 PuSh Festival: February 4-6 at the Annex in Vancouver, BC. Show Notes Gabrielle and Renae discuss: How did this project first begin? What did you discover about your own assumptions and movement in this process? How did the presence of caregiving and support structures change your thinking and development of the show? How did this project deepen or challenge the framework of modern life, including the textures of the anthropocene? How did the image of sea amoeba influence the show, and allow for merging without...
info_outlinePuSh’s Artistic Director, Gabrielle Martin, speaks with Mother Bee Gvasalia, Savannah Sutherland, Ihomehe (“Legs”), and Menace Gvasalia about The Motha’ Kiki Ball, coming up at the 2026 PuSh Festival: February 7 at the Birdhouse.
Show Notes
Gabrielle and her guests discuss:
- How did Blackout Collective begin and what was that specific moment that compelled it?
- The significance and meaning of ballroom as gathering and performance
- Balancing competitive fire with fierce tenderness with honouring roots
- How chosen families show up, especially in ballroom
- How ballroom judges work and what they are looking for
- The stories that ballroom tells
- Waves of new talent entering the scene
- The challenge of learning technique vs. competing
- The Ballroom 101 Rapid Fire Round!
About The Motha’ Kiki Ball
From vogue to runway, The Motha’ Kiki Ball crowns motherhood as the origin story, legacy, and creative force behind Ballroom. Black Out, a collective centering Blackness in the local Kiki scene, leads this year’s winter ball co-presented by PuSh and Van Vogue Jam. This Black History Month spectacular celebrates the power that gives life to cultures and movements. Expect looks that radiate iconic energy and a runway filled with matriarch moments.
About BlackOUT Collective
BlackOUT is a Vancouver-based Collective that centers Blackness within the Vancouver Kiki Ballroom scene. Our mission is to make Ballroom accessible to Black folks in Vancouver by creating entry points, fostering belonging and celebrating community. Since our inception in 2024, we’ve hosted several open sessions and produced “The Cookout Mini Kiki Ball”, Vancouver’s first Ball featuring an all Black production team and judging panel.
Land Acknowledgement
This conversation was recorded on the unceded, stolen and ancestral territories of the Coast Salish Peoples: the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and Səl̓ílwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), colonially known as Vancouver.
Savannah Sutherland joined the conversation from Accra, also called Ga, Ghana.
It is our duty to establish right relations with the people on whose territories we live and work, and with the land itself.
Credits
PuSh Play is produced by Ben Charland and Tricia Knowles. Original music by Joseph Hirabayashi.
Show Transcript