Pilots Take Flight - In Conversation with Baby Blue
“With an array of performances and art from an all queer POC cast, it will focus on the queer diversity of all POC artists and showing our true emotions of femininity within our art forms.”
In 2022, Backbone welcomed three young artists into our Pilot Artists in Residence program. The offer was simple, but life changing: work with Backbone for 6 months as an artist in residence and get paid to create the first development of a brand new idea. Now all of that hard work is coming to fruition with the opening of Backbone Festival this Friday the 28th of October, where our Pilots take centre stage.
Dakota Hannington, also known as Baby Blue, is one of our Pilots, taking this opportunity to develop their dance practice into immersive performance work in Sad Boys Luv Art.
We had a chat with Baby to hear more about his experience creating Sad Boys Luv Art as he prepares to open on the 28th of October…
Tell us more about where Sad Boys Luv Art came from…
Knowing the struggles of being born a man and being feminine and finding where to sit is exhausting and painful. Showing a fantasy, a moment or a feeling that one has felt during finding themselves in life, not many people can come by.
How do I sit comfortably knowing I'm a man but acrylics look good on me? There isn't much representation of feminine men out there and we deal with the struggle everyday. Feminine figures are always looked down upon on as weak and wimpy and only desired for sex, somebodies property, or dehumanised in religion surprisingly when it was honoured over 300 years ago before colonisation began. Binaries have always been a part of this world and it's time to remind the world that we are still here. Most modern cultures within POC cultures, feminine men are now looked down on. Many men struggle with finding themselves sexuality because it doesn't fit the modern agenda or it doesn't fit the social standard. With an array of performances and art from an all queer POC cast, it will focus on the queer diversity of all POC artists and showing our true emotions of femininity within our art forms.
What has the Pilot experience been like for you?
Oh mate let me tell ya…. I have received nothing but genuine love and support from Backbone. The knowledge I have gained in the short amount of time of being a Pilot has been beneficial. Not only have they helped and mentored me through this whole process, they have helped me develop a game plan for my future and clear my vision on Art, in any type of form. Nothing but gratitude and appreciation for Backbone and what they still continue to do.
What are you most excited for at Backbone Festival?:
Being in and amongst the conversations, process and development of this festival, I can not wait but to see each show premiere. As it is my first production, really seeing everything broken down and picked at is anotingushing , it really is inspiring to see how it all flows together.