Out musician and choreographer Sebastian is rallying all of his creative talents for his upcoming show, “Sorry, I’m Just Human,” Feb. 22 at Underground Arts’ Black Box.
The queer performance-art show imagines what the world would be like if people didn’t see race, gender or sexual orientation.
“I want people to realize that we all have our problems and struggles,” Sebastian said. “We’re all just human here. The problem in the world right now is people focus so much on their interests. They’re looking after themselves. If everybody cared about each others’ interests and not just themselves and realize that their neighbors, even though they are different from you, are human beings just like you are with problem that make them feel the same way, then the world would be a better place. It sounds kind of corny but that’s my main thing. We’re all the same. Let’s unite instead of dividing.”
“Sorry, I’m Just Human” aims to distinguish itself from other popular queer shows in Philadelphia by expanding its focus beyond elements of drag. Sebastian spent a great deal of time composing and recording music that speaks to the experience of being gay in America and choreographing the dances to accompany the sounds.
“I’ve been working on the music since late 2012, but I was developing and learning and changing my style,” Sebastian said. “So all the music was made between January 2013 and now. I wanted to do things myself. Mostly when I perform, it’s a group effort. But because I organized everything and it’s all my music, I just wanted to put the whole thing together myself.”
Sebastian added that, even though he wrote, choreographed and conceptualized the show, he gives the other dancers performing in the show their individual moments in the spotlight, and in the process it helped him widen his understanding of the show’s message.
“The compromise is that the dancers have their own solos in the show,” Sebastian said. “During their dance solo I have taken interviews with them and I play their interviews over my music, so they are dancing to the music while their story is being told. That’s my compromise in trying to include others than myself. Every dancer that I have is a male who identifies as gay. We’re all very similar in that way. But their stories are all very different. I was surprised. There were things that I never even thought of someone having to deal with. That was kind of touching in that way. My eyes opened up a bit and I became more aware of people’s potential problems.”
Catch “Sorry, I’m Just Human” 9 p.m. at Underground Arts’ Black Box, 1200 Callowhill St. For more information, visit www.undergroundarts.org.