Runt Transgender Day of Visibility 31/3 anordnar Trans Fest Stockholm varje år en kultur och communityfestival. Årets festival hålls 29-31/3. Stockholm stad har valt att inte ge ekonomiskt stöd till festivalen trots tidigare stöd. Arrangörerna anser att festivalen är en så viktig plats för transpersoner att de arrangerar årets festival på i stort sett nollbudget. Två av festivalens medverkande, Kay Holmström Bradshaw och Zafire Vrba, skriver var sin text om behovet av festivalen och delar av programmet. Läs Zafires text här.

In our modern lives, most of the time, we forget we have a body. We treat it as a transportation device for moving our heads around from place to place.

And then, when we remember we have a body, we measure it and judge it. We think we have to DO THINGS TO IT: fix it, make it better, healthier, more attractive, a different shape… or make it yield some kind of pleasure for us to feel good.

But in my movement play-sessions I invite you to let go of all that, and let go of telling your body what you think of it. Instead, listen to your body for a while, tune into it, become fascinated with it, let it teach you what it wants to do and be.

I use simple, playful, awareness-building games and exercises from the acting world. I ask you to meet your body, yourself, and other people’s bodies in new ways. We explore confidence, dominance, and the difference between the two. We experiment with our own gender expression, and our responses to the gender expressions of other people. And we practice new ways of talking to each other about our bodies.

I love to offer this kind of session to the trans/queer community. It’s a human thing to judge your own body and think it’s wrong in small or big ways, and feel bad about yourself, hide bits, and try to fix bits. But we trans-queer creatures have an extra large helping of this particular human trait.

During the Trans Fest Stockholm weekend, I have just an hour to play with whoever shows up, so it will be just a taster – and I hope to do more if people want to go further and deeper. I’m calling this session: Feeling comfortable in your skin.  It will be an easy, playful session using body language and acting games. I invite you to let go of who you believe yourself to be, and move closer to who you really are. It’s a session for people of any age, physical condition, or experience to come and PLAY.

Programmet till Trans Fest Stockholm 2019 finns här. 

Toppbild: Kay Holmström Bradshaw