Under My Umbrella is a platform, founded in 2023, that supports queer and trans artists (of colour) from the ballroom scene in developing their practice in performance contexts beyond ballroom.
Makers Track is its choreographic development trajectory, running for the first time from October to December 2026. Four ballroom makers each develop their own solo work, while exploring together what happens when knowledge rooted in ballroom meets the theatre. Both worlds have their own codes, and their own idea of excellence.
What happens when those codes meet, and does it change the way we experience performance?
The makers
Bella Pattinasarany, “Bella Dolcé”
Bella is a performer, dancer and model with a background in commercial dance and a strong love for storytelling. In ballroom her categories are Vogue Fem and Face, and she made history as the first Femme Queen of the Year in Europe. Her work spans commercial productions, theatre shows, commercials and festivals. For an earlier Under My Umbrella event she created Time for T, a performance centring the voices and experiences of trans women in ballroom. Bella loves to dive deep into an idea and turn it into a performance that stays with you.
Deion Simon, “Deion Balenciaga”
Deion is a freelance dancer and performer who built his craft across several dance disciplines, with a strong focus on vogue. In ballroom he is known as Deion Balenciaga and mostly walks Butch Queen Vogue Fem. Within the scene he is seen as a mentor, inspiring many other Black and queer performers. He has performed in Project Fools by Robin Ninamong, connecting his dance experience with his love for vogue. In his own work he explores how movement, identity and creativity shape each other.
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James Parnell, “James 007”
James is a performer, choreographer and educator. His work looks at how communities grow and fall apart, through themes of conflict, apology, values and collaboration. Active in the scene since 2017, he is a staple of the Old Way category, which he also teaches to newer generations. In Hold Me Closer, made in collaboration with Korzo, he reflected on the tension between the individual and the community. His current work focuses on performances of masculinity within the Black transmasculine community, and on how ballroom ethics translate into theatre and dance.
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Venla Keskinen, “Miila 007”
Venla is a Finnish choreographer, performer and architect, active in the European ballroom scene since 2015. She walks New Way and was previously a member of the Legendary House of Prodigy and the Kiki House of Angels. Her solo CTRL+Z (2024), developed within Dansateliers' One Night's Dance and shown at Kunsthal Rotterdam and Theater Rotterdam, explores shame and control through the queer female body. Her practice connects architecture and choreography, looking at how bodies shape space and take on different meanings across contexts. Alongside her artistic work, she co-founded PLAYGROUND in 2019 and founded Under My Umbrella in 2023.
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The mentors
A movement coach and a dramaturg are working closely with the makers in their choreographic development trajectory:
Sarada Sarita Keilman (Movement coach)
Sarita is a choreographer, performer and leading voice in the Dutch dance and ballroom scene. She graduated from the Performing Arts Institute Amsterdam in 2008 and studied at the Peridance Center in New York in 2012 with a grant from the Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst. She specialises in Waacking and Voguing. In 2017 she was selected for the New Maker Trajectory of the Fonds Podiumkunsten, and her final work Q4: Quantified won the BNG Bank Dansprijs at DansClick21-Korzo in 2019. As a performer she received the Zilveren Krekel for Most Impressive Stage Performance for GRIMM (ISH and Het Nationale Ballet). In this trajectory she helps the makers deepen their movement language and performance quality, and encourages them to try new forms of expression with courage and awareness.
Aukje Verhoog (Dramaturg)
Aukje is a dramaturg, teacher and curator. As a freelance dramaturg she works with emerging and established artists across performance, dance, theatre and installation, including Nastaran Razawi Khorasani, Davy Pieters, Romana Vrede, Likeminds and Frascati. She was artistic director of the Amsterdam Fringe Festival and created the SPRING Academy for SPRING Performing Arts Festival in Utrecht. In this trajectory she supports the makers in shaping their research into work, and builds the dramaturgical line of the shared evening with them.
Dates
Showing at Lab Z: October 29th, 2026, Theater Zuidplein, Rotterdam. A first look at the makers' research, followed by feedback.
Final presentation: December 11th, 2026, Maaspodium, Rotterdam. Four new solo works in one shared evening.
Open Labs: January 2027, Rotterdam.
Under My Umbrella: Makers Track is produced by Ballroom Works, in partnership with Maaspodium and Theater Zuidplein, and supported by Gemeente Rotterdam and Fonds Podiumkunsten.
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