this is the seventh episode of the "it's always about race: a performance art podcast by frankie fingerling", featuring special guest takeover host mel vee x (a.k.a. blaq velvet)!

mel vee x (she/they), aka blaq velvet, is a spoken word poet, burlesque performer and visual artist based in mohkinstsis (moe-kinst-sis) aka calgary, alberta on treaty 7 land, the homelands of the blackfoot, tsuut'ina (sue tin-ah), stoney nakoda and metis region 3 nations since time immemorial. velvet has been a professional artist for over seven years and has shared their work locally and nationally, on pages and stages of all kinds. accustomed to centering black and equity seeking voices as a cornerstone of their work, taking a bipoc-only burlesque class in 2018 inspired velvet to explore the art and power of telling stories with their body; stories which are often silenced, demonized and dismissed. since then, blaq velvet has slithered, sashayed, and shimmied across stages embodying the joy, beauty and resistance of living in a black queer neurodivergent body (and popping a petty ass pastie or two along the way). smashing all your little notions about what black women and femmes can do, come and get some of this black velvet...if you please.

listen to mel vee x (a.k.a. blaq velvet) share her take on the past, present, and future of black burlesque!