Ivan Coyote has been pushing boundaries for years; blurring the lines of gender, the written word, storytelling, and music. As one of Canada’s only transgender household names, Coyote’s body of work has long provided a space for discussion surrounding all things queer and gender-related.
This time out, Coyote is collaborating with fellow music makers Alison Gorman, Pebbles Willekes and Sally Zori to bring Tomboy Survival Guide to the PuSh Festival stage.
“There is just simply nowhere near enough positive expressions of trans and gender non-conforming and butch and questioning peoples lives out there,” says Coyote of the impetus for the project.
For these four, each having navigated their own very different gender journeys, Tomboy is a retrospective of sorts. Featuring personal tales of triumphs and terrors when each performer was just a budding tomboy, the production is described by the PuSh Festival guide as “part anthem, part campfire story and part instructions for the dismantling of the gender stories we tell.”
Taking the audience through this dialogue using music was a natural progression for the four. Their musical paths have crossed on various projects, most notably, the East Van powerhouse funk outfit, Queer As Funk.
“We are interested in having a creative conversation employing the mediums we can all speak in, and using that conversation to create from.” says Coyote. “I like to find the medium that will best say or express what I am trying to say, and, in the case of this show, what Alison, Pebbles and Sally also bring to the table.”
As the discussion surrounding gender grows, what it means, what it does or doesn’t look like, there is a misunderstood idea that only trans people are limited by the gender binary. In reality, “we all suffer from these really rigid gender boxes,” Coyote points out, making Tomboy relevant to those outside the LGBTQ community.
An interpretation of the word “tomboy” is not the point of the work here, Coyote is quick to impart, but rather an expression of Coyote’s own connection to it. Leaving behind the attachment to being defined by these, or any other terms, may just be the key to a more comprehensive understanding of how, and why, gender leaves so many behind.
• Tomboy Survival Guide is at Performance Works (1218 Cartwright) as part of PuSh Fest Feb. 6 at 8pm and 10:30pm.
