About the Show

Slanted is an experimental show/short film that blends contemporary circus, theatre and drag. It explores the East and South-East Asian diasporic experience in westernized countries where we straddle identities that we did not ask for, as both model members of the community and as perilous invaders. 

 

In 2020 and 2021, catalyzed by intersections of polarizing political rhetoric and the COVID-19 pandemic – yellow peril reared its ugly head again. By all accounts and perceptions, it was dormant, or even extinct. But we in the community have always known it never went away. It took mass shootings and violent hate crimes for the world to start to take notice, yet even still there are instances where yellow peril isn’t taken seriously with rampant rhetoric being that anti-Asian racism is a hoax.​

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In the spring of 2021, Bloomberg released a report with data indicating that "Vancouver" is the anti-Asian hate crime capital of North America. In response to this, Slanted is a celebration of who we are, an analysis of the impacts of colonization and our own intercultural struggles and our forging our own identity in the BIPOC community. 

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For this show, we acknowledge the following:

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1. This experimental, short film is but a light touch on the diasporic experience. For the timeline of this work, we chose to focus on the East and South East Asian diasporic experience but we recognize that many voices are missing in the development of this show, including Pacific Islanders, Indigenous Asians and West and Central Asians. We hope to continue this work to explore and uncover the voices unheard.
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2. With the deep history of Indigenous and early Asian (primarily Chinese) migrant allyship, we are honoured to have developed and to be able to host this show on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh and the Sel̓íl̓witulh First Nations.
   
   Learn more about this history with this shortlist of resources:
    

• Untold histories of the Chinese and Indigenous relations in Canada

• A forgotten history: tracing the ties between B.C.'s First Nations and Chinese workers

• Touring BC’s ‘Hidden’ History Shared by Chinese and Indigenous People