Thi Bogossian Porto & Arevik Bogossian Porto
Teaching Fellow, Postgraduate Student and Clinical Psychologist
University of East Anglia & Universidade Federal da Bahia
Thi Bogossian Porto is a Brazilian trans non-binary early career researcher based in the UK. Their work explores migration, identity, belonging, and education, with a focus on marginalised communities. Thi’s interdisciplinary research spans national contexts such as Brazil, Malawi, England, and Portugal, addressing issues such as gender, race, childhood, and transnational mobility. Their projects blend research with activism, aiming to amplify voices of vulnerable groups while advancing critical perspectives on inclusion and equity. Pronouns: they/them/ela/ele.
Arevik Bogossian Porto is a trans non-binary individual, pole dancer instructor and psychologist. Arevik's research blends psychology and sociology of culture to focus on the unique ways body appearence and performance shape subjectivities. In the context of trans individuals, this intersection facilitates or limits access to social rights, to a sense of belonging and identity, provoking new ways of dealing with society, with oneself and with one's own body. Pronouns: he/him/she/her/ele/ela.
Dancing communities: uniqueness and belonging for a non-binary trans migrant
Keywords:
Transgender, Belonging, Creativity, Salvador (Brazil)
“This is such a brave thing to do. Do you feel brave?” questioned the pole-dancer by their side. “We should hang out one of these days!” she said, although Arevik thought maybe they wouldn't and, in fact, never did.
Upon first arriving in Salvador from their hometown in Rio de Janeiro, Arevik felt they were now free to seek practices to align their body with their vision of self-transformation towards a trans-non-binary individual. Migration was firmly intertwined with gender transition and belonging: in a new territory a new self could rise, accepted by their community. Reflecting on their childhood as a “criança viada” (a queer child performing freely with a towel on their head), they turned to dancing to reconnect with this playful, unapologetic self. Pole dance, alongside belly dance and voguing, allowed them to embrace femininity while avoiding hormonal and medical interventions within bureaucratic and normative gender-affirming procedures. Through dancing they experienced a profound sense of freedom, sensuality, and joy, finding pleasure not just in performance but in the act of reclaiming their body and narrative.
However, their journey was not without challenges. These pole dance and voguing communities while body-positive and diverse in some respects, upheld “femme queens” or cisgender women's bodies. Arevik navigated these spaces with a dual awareness: feeling somewhat welcomed, yet distinctly different. Their body was not curvilinear nor did they have long hair or nails. Favouring the beauty of their own body, Arevik sought to develop a personal dancing style inspired by extensive research into expressions of masculine sensuality, such as funk and pagode, prevalent music and cultural genres both in Rio de Janeiro and in Salvador. They sought empowerment by embracing their own sensuality, so people could understand who they were and where they had been.
However, trying to openly communicate their new identity also felt very vulnerable as a gender non-conforming individual. In Salvador, Arevik’s body became a site of public attention, objectified in ways that mirrored societal perceptions of femininity. Pole dancing, although sensual and joyful, led to online harassment, leading them to fear and avoid sharing pole dance content on social media for some time. These experiences highlighted the precarities of being marginalised upon publicly celebrating themselves.
Although feeling brave due to their migration and gender transition, Arevik says these new territories may never truly be their own. Their unique embodiment in the places and groups they chose to integrate is a celebration of their singularity, but brings an ambiguous sense of belonging further compounded by migration.