PuSh Festival forced to cancel collab between Belgian-based Indian dance artist Rakesh Sukesh and Vancouver playwright Marcus Youssef

because I love the diversity (this micro attitude, we all have it) will not run at the 2023 fest due to delayed VISA processing

Rakesh Sukesh. Photo courtesy Panorama Dance Theatre

BELGIAN-BASED INDIAN DANCER-choreographer Rakesh Sukesh was to be collaborating with Siminovitch Prize-winning Vancouver playwright Marcus Youssef at this year’s PuSh Festival. However, because i love the diversity (this micro attitude, we all have it) has been cancelled due to what festival organizers describe as “unreasonable delays in the approval of artist visa applications”.

Sukesh was due to arrive on January 8 for a two-week residency during which he would have been working with Youssef.

“Sadly, despite government officials advocating for the Festival and Rakesh, IRCC (Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada) has yet to approve his visitor visa, which he applied for in August 2022,” PuSh states in a release. “We are saddened by these circumstances, especially for Rakesh who would have offered a beautiful new work to Vancouver audiences.

“Despite PuSh's interests in programming works from the Global South, Canada's immigration policy is blocking opportunities for international exchange and collaboration,” the release continues. “The Festival has had similar issues this year with other artist visas, which came in at the eleventh hour (including artists from Africa and South America). This isn't an anomaly and speaks to the power and privilege that Global North countries hold and enact.”

PuSh notes that it’s confident that it will be able bring Sukesh to Vancouver for a future festival.

For information on the 2023 PuSh Festival’s 19 other presentations and events, see pushfestival.ca.

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