Kevin Fraser and Immigrant Lessons bring dance to BIPOC youth
The team is hosting ongoing workshops out of the Massey Theatre
Immigrant Lessons
Kevin Fraser
KEVIN FRASER is changing the local arts scene, one youth at a time.
The artistic director of Vancouver-based multidisciplinary company Immigrant Lessons has joined forces with the Massey Theatre to bring free dance workshops to BIPOC, refugee, and immigrant youths.
As a part of the historic New West venue’s We Are Multitudes program, Immigrant Lessons aims to use Fraser’s experience in dance, theatre, fashion, music, and visual arts to create a safe space for our youth to express themselves artistically.
As part of a residency at the theatre, Fraser and his Immigrant Lessons team crafted the program to consist of four classes, each of which is held on a weekly basis from mid-March to early August. Their Salu/Salo workshops invite participants to embrace their Filipinx roots through folklore, language, and history, while the Breaking Lessons and Sessions and Grooving Foundations classes act as introductions to breakdancing and hip hop, respectively. In the Philosophy and Dance workshops, participants learn about the history of movement practices. All workshops are free and catered towards BIPOC and marginalized youth, but are limited to 10 people per session for COVID-19 compliance.
Immigrant Lessons was formed by the queer Black interdisciplinary artist in 2016. The company currently consists of Fraser and seven emerging artists aged 17 to 26, who are called Fraser’s “kids”: Sharon Lee, Sophia Gamboa, Josh Cameron, Sevrin Emnacen-Boyd, Tegvaran Singh, Simran Sachar, and Hayden Pereira. For the artists, the collective is more than just a group to collaborate with—it’s a continual mentorship, where Fraser supports the artistic growth of the company’s members.
“The initial catalyst for creating Immigrant Lessons was me really wanting to give BIPOC artists more visibility,” explains Fraser, who didn’t have easy access to studio classes and mentorships as an emerging artist. “I felt that there was something more that could have been done. How else can we create art outside of an institutional lens, or in a way that doesn’t placate to more notable forms like ballet, contemporary, or modern?”
The opportunity to partner with the Massey Theatre came when We Are Multitudes artistic associate Justine A. Chambers approached Fraser last fall. “Justine asked me what I’m interested in doing, and that felt really beautiful because I don’t really get that question a lot,” Fraser says. “This came at a time when I was sitting on panels to talk about Blackness, and Black art, and I forgot that Black is only part of who I am. It was nice to be spoken to as an artist, and not just as a Black artist.”
Fraser says that being in the position to mentor the Immigrant Lesson “kids” and Vancouver youths through these workshops has been a truly rewarding experience.
“The classes we’ve built stemmed from me asking my kids ‘What would you like to do in your wildest dreams?’ The seven of them interpret my work, but the beauty of Immigrant Lessons is that I also get to see them become more and more immersed in their own interests,” the dance artist adds. “Putting this program together is part of my mentorship. I want to teach my kids that they can start their own thing and soar with it.”
The company’s artistic director explains that, while the workshops will teach the forms of dance, the real goal is to show youths that a future in art is possible.
“Sometimes teenagers and adolescents aren’t taught that they can have a career in art,” Fraser says. “My hope is for the youths who take the workshop to feel reinvigorated, supported, and heard through their work.
“Immigrant Lessons was birthed out of yearning to give a platform and community to nurture BIPOC artists and youth,” Fraser explains. “And that community is such a special thing to lean into.”
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