Hello everyone! Hello Spring time in Winnipeg… finally!

The first part of the year has been a busy one for me, as I am going through several major life transitions.

After taking two years off to finish my MEd and recovering from burnout, I had mixed emotions returning to teaching full-time in September 2025. I was starting at a new school, teaching new curricula, and preparing to teach only middle years for the first time. After the first few days of school, I began to have major anxiety and panic around my workload and decided it would be best for me to take time to think about whether teaching in the school system was still a fit for me. I had been lingering on this question ever since the summer of 2023, when I had moved to Toronto and left my lifelong home in Winnipeg.

Since then, I’ve been on half-time leave from teaching. It’s been a challenge but also a joy to teach the youth in the schools I work at. Facilitating three-hour dance classes and a two-hour Hip Hop Culture class every week for youth aged 10-13 is no easy feat. I’ve basically been running on matcha and dreams this year haha. I’ve enjoyed getting to know the students and my co-workers, and I look forward to continuing to develop my relationships and courses at the schools I have the opportunity to work at.

*Graffiti Name projects with my Hip Hop Culture students / photo by Maribeth Tabanera.*

So what have I been filling the rest of my days with? Well, besides time for taking care of myself, my family, my partner, and my dog, I’ve been spending my hours on relationship building and professional development. It’s no secret that I do a lot of things: teach, dance, DJ, produce events, mentor, and lead Winnipeg Kiki Ballroom. In October 2025, Danté, Organza, Topé, myself (and later Baby Vice) made our debut as The Iconic International Kiki House of PinkLady Winnipeg Chapter at the You Betta Werk Kiki Ball. I was also asked to serve as Princess to my chapter, a role I do not take lightly. How might all my practices shift if I gave more time to my artistic endeavours? That was a new question I was faced with in September 2025.

The Iconic International Kiki House of PinkLady/ photo by Hugo Contreras — The Iconic International Kiki House of PinkLady at the Winnipeg Art Gallery, October 2025 / photo by Hugo Contreras.

Another major change in my life is my housing situation. My condo building went to market last April, was bought, and will now be apartments at the end of this month. So I’ve been spending the last few months in search of a new home to house my entire family. One of the major reasons I started full-time in the fall was because I was scared of the financial situation I’d put myself in if I didn’t. With 30K student debt, I’d need to begin paying and securing new housing, so I thought it made sense for me to return to my salaried job. But my nervous system was telling me otherwise.

I’m glad I listened to it, because this year has shown me that sometimes other opportunities in life deserve our attention when it comes to our peace and happiness. Two major milestones I’ve been able to accomplish since September were: completing a four-month business incubator for marginalized founders through Social Entrepreneurship Enclave, and being an artist-in-residence with Young Lungs Dance Exchange.

*Maribeth Tabanera and Dammecia Hall performing ‘Breathing Between’, supported by Young Lungs Dance Exchange 2025-26 Artist Residency / photo by Pablo Riquelme.*

The residency, Breathing Between, was a collaborative movement and sound research project led by me in collaboration with Dammecia Hall (she/her). We first worked together in Define Movement in 2007. After more than a decade apart, we reunited to explore how the body remembers collaboration, how rhythm and silence carry emotion, and how communication itself can become an art form. Drawing from our shared roots in Hip Hop culture, street and contemporary dance, DJ culture, and community-based practice, we explored how co-creative experiences and languages could become expressive tools that shaped choreography and sound. Alongside Deaf, Low-Hearing, Blind, and Low-Vision consultants, ASL artists and visual describers, we created a multi-sensory dialogue between artists of differing abilities, listening and responding to each other. The project asked what it meant to gain access to one’s voice—and whose voices have been historically silenced in artistic spaces. I’ll share more about this project in the following blog, so stay tuned. In the meantime, you can check out an interview I did with Classic 107 Radio on YouTube.

I’ve grown immensely as an artist, educator, and founder. I am beyond grateful for these opportunities to be in a circle with like-minded folks working towards similar goals of making our communities better for future generations. With that being said, I’d like to formally announce that I will be teaching half-time next year and taking on new projects through Kilusan Productions.

So, whether you need a seasoned educator, coach, dancer, choreographer, DJ, event organizer, judge, or consultant, I’m here for you! Let’s connect and dream big!

Redefine Success