MOBILISE from Fatt Projects to lead Birmingham Pride 2022 with protest performance

Pic credit: Emma R Jones

MOBILISE, the sober dance party produced by Fatt Projects and presented by the Birmingham 2022 Festival, is to lead the iconic 2022 Birmingham Pride Parade on Saturday, September 24.

These events aim to empower people to dance, take up public spaces, feel confident and celebrate themselves – with a particular focus on trans, disabled, PoC, fat and other marginalised bodies.

*L-R: Ginny Lemon, Jaii Andrew & Mama Mamba, Fatt Butcher at MOBILISE. Photo by Emma R Jones*

Building on the historical significance of dancefloors as LGBTQ+ meeting places, MOBILISE takes the form of a silent disco allowing participants to disconnect from the immediate outside to dance more freely.

These exuberant, queer social dance parties also feature a range of performances from local LGBTQ+ artists, including Ginny Lemon, of RuPaul’s Drag Race fame, and Jaii Andrew.

At Birmingham Pride, a team of 25 queer artists will work with a recruited LGBTQ+ community dance ensemble of up to 50 participants to create a once-in-a-lifetime processional protest performance, marking the first time ever the Parade is led by a group of performers. It will be an act of collective resistance, mobilising the bodies into a force for joy and transforming the city into runways and discos, in a riotous act of celebration.

Adam Carver (they/them), Director of Fatt Projects, said: “We are so overjoyed to be able to create this project here in Birmingham. Dance floors have always been essential spaces for LGBTQ+ communities, they have often been the only places we have felt safe to meet one another and celebrate ourselves.

“MOBILISE is about ensuring that our city has a queer dance space that prioritises accessibility in the widest sense possible and provides a much needed sober environment for people to come together and experience the transformative power of dancing together as a community. MOBILISE is a space of joy, a space of power, and a space of resistance and we are extremely proud to get to work with this incredible team of artists and community members to make it a reality.”

MOBILISE is presented by the Birmingham 2022 Festival and Fatt Projects and is generously supported by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and Arts Council England.