Margins Magazine - Volume 4 Issue 4

VOL. IV | ISSUE IV
MARGINS
Kristina Soliman
LM: Honestly, I don’t think Co.Lab would be
alive today if it weren’t for the experiences
I’ve had. As I said, I kind of grew up [with a]
studio technical background. The studio I
grew up at was actually family-run and the
studio director was female. She’s one of the
strongest, most determined, most resourceful
individuals that I know. She was a mentor
of mine growing up and she’s actually
my boss now because I work at that studio.
So, I think growing up with having her
as a mentor really shaped me as a woman
and kind of allowed me to believe that
I could do anything, as cheesy as it sounds.
She started her business in a church basement...
it was the smallest studio and now
she’s one of the biggest studios in Toronto.
I was exposed to the real Toronto dance community
in the industry. Taking my first classes
when I was seventeen, it was an interesting
time for me. I was definitely discovering myself
a lot, which we all are at that age. When I was
taking classes, I recognized that there [were]
no instructors that I could directly relate to or
connect to. As a Filipina-queer artist, it was
hard for me to find someone that took on
those same identities. As I continued to search
for that kind of connection, I was welcomed
into the HEELS community which I mentioned
before. I trained a lot under Kaela Faloon, a
big HEELS choreographer in Toronto. I was in
her sensual healing company and even then,
in a room full of women, I found it hard to
find connection with myself and my identity.
Studio Director
ZH: Wow!
LM: It just really inspired me. As long as
you have a start, that’s all that matters. As
long as you have that beginning, no matter
how big or how small, that’s all that matters
and it grows from there. I think that she
has been a huge inspiration in my life. That’s
why I feel like it’s so important to highlight
female power. I can’t even name more than
five dance studios in Toronto that are femaleowned
and run. Which is sad because I know
so many powerful females in my own life, I
can’t imagine how many other female powerhouses
there are in the city, you know?
She’s been a huge influence to me as a
female. If I skip down the line a little bit,
when you’re a studio kid [and] reach the
age of like seventeen, eighteen... that’s when
you’re technically graduating from the studio
so [you can go] out into the big world
[and] get into the industry [to] chase those
dancer dreams. That’s when I started taking
drop-in classes and I got into the dance studio/drop-in
studio culture [which is where]
LM: There’s one really pivotal experience I had
[that] I bring up whenever I talk about Co.Lab.
There was one workshop in Toronto [with a]
choreographer from LA. He’s a HEELS choreographer
named Yanis Marshall. He is a huge
HEELS dancer. Every HEELS dancer in Toronto
took his class and I [attended] with all my
mentors [and] classmates. It was huge, [there
were] almost 100 people there. At the end of
class, he called out different groups to come
[and] do the choreography. He would say
“okay, any five, any boys and girls…” and then
it came to a point when he said “anyone that
identifies as LGBTQ+, come out on the floor.”
There [were] probably less than ten people
that went out on the floor and to me, [being]
maybe eighteen at the time, I went into like
a full panic attack, as crazy as [that] was. [I
knew] he was also a queer artist as well [so to
me, that was a] perfect opportunity [to] come
out in my true colors and I couldn’t do it. I
didn’t end up doing it and that’s one of the biggest
regrets I have in my life. Now when I think
back to it, the reason why I [didn’t do it] wasn’t
because I was intimidated by him, I was scared
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