Queer Mvmnt Fest: Variety Show

Friday, June 5, 2026

Doors Open & Pre-show Starts: 6:40pm

Show Starts: 7pm

Malashock Black Box Theater

2650 Truxtun Rd Studio #200, San Diego, CA 92106

We’re pleased to showcase a beautiful array of queer performance by local and visiting artists. Join us for a special performance of works by our variety show artists, Shraesht Chitkara, Jesse Greenfield, Ilyana Carlee, Rowan Janusiak, Azul Lopez, DeVante Love, allie miks and julietta magaña pérez, Winter Sinclair, Cameron E Velazquez, Meesh Herd and Toni Brianna Guida Wendel. Join the artists for a Meet & Greet in the hallway following the performances.

This event is made possible in partnership with Malashock Dance thanks to the Prebys Venues Grant.

Learn more about the artists and Queer Mvmnt Fest at https://discoriot.org/qmf2026/

Seats are $25 for general admission, $15 for Artist/Student/Low-Income, and $40 for pay-it-forward.

Access

No one turned away for lack of funds. This event is ADA accessible. DISCO RIOT is committed to accessibility and holds with great care the needs of our entire community, especially those who are disabled and economically marginalized. We encourage you to contact Marty Dorado (email: queermvmntfest@disoriot.org) regarding any specific accommodation needs or waiver of admission fees.

Location: The theater is located on the second floor of Dorothea Laub Dance Place (accessible by elevator). The building has four entrances. The entrance from the lot closest to the movie theater and restaurant has a wheelchair ramp. Signage and DISCO RIOT staff will be there to help guide you to the theater on the second floor. Please email Marty (at queermvmntfest@discoriot.org) or Nicole (at education@discoriot.org) if you run into any issues.

Parking: There is free parking on the street and in the lot around Dorothea Laub Dance Place. There is also a free parking lot on the corner of Truxtun Rd. and Dewey Rd. Please reserve 15-20 extra minutes of your commute to find parking and make your way to the building. If you are able to, consider carpooling. 

 Meet the Artists: 

Shraesht Chitkara (any pronouns)

@sure.ayy.sht

I am a LA based movement artist exploring themes of fluidity in gender, tradition, and modern movement. My work encompasses global influences through dance, drawing from kathak, street styles, vogue fem, contemporary forms, and lived experience. I am deeply interested in how movement becomes a site of global storytelling, self expression, and progress.

Jesse Greenfield (they/them)

@gentlecowboy_

Jesse Greenfield, MPH, CHES (they/them) is a public health educator, dancer, and professional goofball living on unceded Kumeyaay land. Jesse is deeply inspired by their teachers, some of whom include: the ground, the moon, lovers, long pauses, bio and chosen family, dreams, community organizers, and a long lineage of dance artists.
As co-founder and lead facilitator of Kaleidoscope Training Center, Jesse facilitates applied improvisation workshops to support communities, medical professionals, youth, and more in improving their spoken and unspoken communication with others, creating joyful connections, and being effective advocates for themselves and their communities.

Jesse is a disabled artist and, until now, has not performed since 2021. They bring the heartache of FOMO and the magic of crip brilliance –sourced from their body and their community members + ancestors– to this present work. Jesse is grateful to Disco Riot for a platform to dream with you.

Ilyana Carlee (she/her)

@ilyanacarlee

Originally from Dayton, Ohio, Ilyana Carlee is an active performer, choreographer, and teacher in San Diego, California. Since a young age, she has trained at various studios, her most influential training being under DeShona Pepper Robertson at Stivers School for the Arts. Ilyana continued her dance training and choreographic exploration at Howard University, earning a BFA in Dance. Since moving to San Diego in 2023, she has trained at DISCO RIOT, Malashock Dance Company, and San Diego Dance Theater, and has performed with DISCO RIOT, San Diego Dance Theater and NACHMO. Most recently, she was an intern in the (R)Evolution Artist Program with DISCO RIOT, and is currently a founding collaborator with Negative Space Dance Collective and a dance instructor with Tippi Toes. Her art is deeply influenced by her experiences as a Black woman. Her culture is something that is so deeply embedded into who she is that it shines through in every work she creates. She is inspired by both her ancestral lineage and surroundings, creating work inspired by love, grief, community, and the Black experience.

Rowan Janusiak (they/them)

@howdyrowan https://rowanjanusiak.wixsite.com/howdyrowan

Rowan Janusiak is a queer, interdisciplinary artist creating work that stimulates audiences to question societal standards imposed around pleasure and play. Recent endeavors include drag performances with Chappel Roan and Alaska Thunderfuck; choreography residencies with Aimed Dance, Young Dancers Initiative and the Croft; and leading Dance Church classes in Chicago.

Azul Lopez (they/them)

mariposxhealing.com @MariposxHealing

Azul Lopez (they/them) is a queer, gender expansive, Indigenous, deathworker, artist, somatic practitioner, and facilitator. Azul hopes to create art that reminds people of the infinite nature of their soul and mortal nature of their body, and to inspire them to be themselves and fulfill their desires. Azul desires to empower their community members through their workshops and offerings.

Azul engages in movement practices intentionally as a way to connect to their Indigenous Yoeme roots and spirituality. Azul was born and raised in Sonora, Mexico and this informs a great part of their identity and how they express themself artistically. Azul comes from a long line of cowboys and people who dance by stomping their feet to the earth. Azul prays for blessings to rain on their queer community every time they dance.

DeVante Love (they/them)

@avatardevante https://devantelove.my.canva.site/

DeVante Love (they/them) is a queer dance scholar/artist, Olympic martial artist, and two spirit medicinewoman on a mission to spread inner peace through movement. They are a PhD candidate in Performance Studies exploring how vogue dance serves as a means of worldbuilding and liberation for queer people of color.

Through their Inner Peace Dojo, DeVante hosts performances and workshops demonstrating the healing and liberatory potential within dance, meditation, and poetry. Their debut choreoplay, Healing the Father Wound, received glowing reviews and community acclaim. They are currently developing Healing the Brokenheart, a new piece about embracing queerness and finding liberation by reconnecting with the elements.

DeVante is codifying a kung fu dance system that helps queer people connect with and express their true nature while teaching self-protection skills. They have studied, taught, and performed healing movement practices internationally, including in China, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, Egypt, Greece, France, and Mexico, and have had their work featured on TEDx, CBS News, SF Chronicle, Out Magazine, Amazon Prime, The Trevor Project, Creating Change, and more.

allie miks (they/she/he) and julietta magaña pérez (they/them/elle)

alliemiks.com @alliemiks @juliettabmp

allie miks (they/she/he) is a Queer, Neurodivergent, Japanese-American performing artist, mover, and teacher from Los Angeles. they began dancing at a young age, and continued their dance education by attending Santa Monica College before transferring to California State University, Long Beach where they graduated with a BFA in dance in 2019. allie creates art in a process-based method that a true collaborative process as inspired by radical Queer and BIPOC community organizing principles; to allie, it’s imperative to lead with the possibilities presented by the people in the room. allowing for the piece to change shape over time, process-based work leads with grace and focuses less on how the work will show in the end; creating space for heart-led creativity. their work often follow stories that are Queer, nostalgic, silly, rooted in the current socio-political environment we find ourselves in, or all of the above. to allie, movement and the creation of art in community with others is the most liberating experience, and it is to be shared.

julietta magaña pérez (they/them/elle) is a non-binary chicané artist and aspiring DJ from Kirkland, Washington. they hold a BFA in Dance from Columbia College Chicago (’18) and a Master's in Arts Management degree from Claremont Graduate University (’23). julietta embraces a process-oriented & collaborative approach in their choreography, ideas that are often sparked by dreams and stories of their ancestral lineage, land displacement, and queerness.

Winter Sinclair (she/her)

@wintersinclair

Winter Sinclair is the Ice Queen of Your Queer Dreams; an internationally touring burlesque artist based in San Diego whose work blends camp glamour, musicality, and richly creative storytelling. A high-femme shapeshifter, Winter fuses classic burlesque, pole dance, and drag-lesque into sultry, character-driven performances celebrated for their polish, humor, and visual excess.

Since debuting in 2019, Winter has performed in nearly 50 burlesque festivals across the United States and Canada, with international appearances in Germany, Finland, and Panama. She has been featured and headlined multiple times and is widely known for her Elvira tribute act. Winter won the Elvira Look-Alike Contest, selected by Cassandra Peterson herself, and the act has become one of her most requested performances.

Winter is the founder and producer of CatHaus Revue, San Diego’s only burlesque and pole dance show, and the creator of Barely Scripted, a burlesque-comedy-improv variety spectacle. She is also the co-creator of the upcoming Stay Classy San Diego Burlesque Festival. Notably, Winter was the first artist to bring burlesque to San Diego CityFest, performing her Elvira act alongside her two burlesque sons.

A proud queer artist living with invisible disabilities, Winter is known for advocating for minimum burlesque pay rates, safe performance spaces, and diversity at the forefront of all programming and production.

Cameron E Velazquez (he/him)

@vndead.cam121

Born and raised in San Diego County, I have been performing for roughly fifteen years of my life. I've always found comfort in performance, both onstage and off, including theatre, choir, and my main passion: dance. Performing, specifically dancing, has always allowed me to feel not just included, but also given me the space to show my true self to others. As a neurodivergent, transgender, queer, and mixed dancer, I've always struggled to find other dancers- let alone choreographers- like myself on stage. Being the only one like me in studios and classes has made me feel isolated and desperate for connection with my communities. I would love to showcase my movement that fosters connections and inspires others to be their authentic selves.

Meesh Herd (they/them) and Toni Brianna Guida Wendel (she/her)

@tonibriannaguidawendel @meeshthehuman

Toni Brianna Guida Wendel (@tonibriannaguidawendel) (she/her) is a writer, mixed media creator and somatic artist with over a decade of experience as a practitioner of shibari and founder of the educational and performance organization The Rope Collective - where she found Meesh Herd / Minx (@meeshthehuman) (they/them), a life-long performance artist, poet, classically trained dancer and modern philosopher with over another decade in teaching and movement building experience. Together they found the freedom of movement, within the discipline of binding, to build workshops and performances that shake the bodies , ideas, and rooms they are in together. Bringing the multi-faceted talents of their many artistries to every production, they offer deep soul transformation to participants and an invitation to come home to the magic of our bodies through friendship, art and presence.

Amber St. James (she/her)

Amber St. James is the African Bearded, death dropping & dipping, cartwheeling, split queen known for her revolutionary activist work in and out of drag and her entertaining high energy performances. She is also the First Ever San Diego Mx. Gay and the first ever Mx. International Pride, both of which being gender neutral titles in the International Imperial Court System and the Imperial Court De San Diego. Outside of performing, Amber has been recognized for her amazing work building and sustaining the drag community at San Diego State University along with many other colleges across Southern California.