Montreal-based trans artist Elle Barbara brings experimental theatre to Queer Arts Festival
In Ayibobo III: Little Dollhouse on the Prairie, Mother Elle of the House of Barbara incorporates contemporary dance and burlesque to retell Haitian voodoo tales
Elle Barbara, standing, with Syana O. Barbara and Chris O. Barbara. Photo by Jeffrey Torgerson
Queer Arts Festival (QAF) in collaboration with frank theatre, Danse Cité, and House of Barbara present Ayibobo III: Little Dollhouse on the Prairie on June 15 and 16 at 7 pm at the Roundhouse Performance Hall
ELLE BARBARA WEARS many hats: she is a Montreal-based singer-songwriter, speaker, performance artist, and mentor, running the House of Barbara, a group of Black people who compete together on the ballroom scene and who form a kind of family. All that, plus she also considers herself a community worker.
“My involvement in community work dates back to when I started my own gender transition back in 2015,” Barbara says in a phone interview with Stir. “My transition coincided with the creation of a grassroots project with two friends of mine in Montreal where we would throw fundraisers and give away discretionary funds to low-income trans feminine people in Montreal, and that became really popular.
“It gave me a lot of happiness,” she adds. “I realized that through community work and through solidarity action, I was able to feel grounded in my identity and in my life.”
Barbara is performing in Vancouver for the first time at the Queer Arts Festival. She directs Ayibobo III: Little Dollhouse on the Prairie and stars in the show with Christen M. Barbara and Syana O. Barbara with special guests Kim Ninkuru and Rony F. 007. (Tickets are available on a sliding pay-what-you-wish scale on Eventbrite.)
“I want to call it an experimental theatre piece integrating elements of contemporary dance and choreography, also burlesque and theatre and sound design all built in an impressionistic way,” Barbara says. “It has an expressionistic style. The show is sort of like a playful telling or sometimes not that playful retelling of four Haitian voodoo spirits in a contemporary context.”
Barbara is also referred to as the Mother of the House of Barbara. “I contributed to the relaunch of a ballroom scene in Montreal,” she explains. “My own house is a bunch of talented younger people in their 20s—gay, trans, queer, everything—young Black people in Montreal who come together and just dream together and evolve together. That’s what house of Barbara has been in the last few years. I always wanted to push my children to expand their horizons, push their practice beyond the competitive nature of ballroom, and they are all so talented. Some of them are DJs, some want to model, some go to school. I push them to do what makes them happy. We went from doing really punk DIY performances into a sphere of professional theatre with more expertise in lighting and costume design. It’s been a ride.
“People call me the queen of Montreal,” she says. “I’m the arty trans woman about town in Montreal, and I’m so happy to rev things up in Vancouver. It’s my first time here and it’s beautiful. I always dreamed of coming here. I hope that people enjoy the show.” 
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