Today we’d like to introduce you to Whitney Guerrero.
Hi Whitney, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Cult of Queer Movement was created in 2022 to provide a safe space for queer folks to dance. We started off with a monthly free Latin dance event at Arcana, (one of NC’s only Lesbian bars where the event lives on today!) This event provided a low stakes environment where people could express themselves alongside other queers, doing what they were already doing everyday–rejecting gender-norms and heteronormativity and just being joyful! The only difference was that they were doing it while learning a new skill and holding onto another human. After that first party, we realized what a need there was for this specific space in Durham, and we kept on keeping on. We’ve partnered many times with Queer Tango Durham (another extremely important part of the queer microbiome of Durham) to create fundraising dance events and even social gatherings to get to know each other outside of dance! To be honest, Queer Tango Durham has exactly the right organizers that manage fun with fundraising and community building. They are a huge inspiration for CQM and without them as another resource, the growth of the dance community might not have been possible or nearly as successful.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
One great thing about this project is that it has moved at my capacity. Folks in the community have been kind, gracious, and patient as the project sometimes moves at a snail’s pace. Things that sometimes get in the way of progress are the world’s most infamous problems: time and money, and the fact that there is so little of it to go around. Because one has to work to survive, it can make it hard to commit to teaching weekly when you’re raising an 8 year old, working and trying to maintain some semblance of a social life. However, the current roadblock is ultimately finding floorspace at an affordable cost to teach dance. If the floor fee is upwards of $50/hr, it can make the classes more expensive, and can even be a financial risk as most dance organizers are paycheck to paycheck (definitely speaking for myself.)
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
For 4 years now, I have been working at Arcana Durham as a bartender, and then later promoted to manager. I have developed so many relationships in Durham because of who walks through its doors! I’m so grateful that Arcana gave me a place to land after some big changes in my life, and for giving dance a new home for me. Prior to that, I was a ballroom dance teacher alongside my then husband, with a completely different relationship to dance. I had left the dance studio (and my husband hehe) to become a mortician. Then suddenly I wasn’t either of those things- not a dance teacher nor a mortician! But that hard left actually brought me to a realization and radicalization that I’m proud I finally came to. I realized that the interests and hobbies that give me purpose, instead of commodifying, could be used as community building- which has always been something I’ve craved. I now get to be a part of Queer Death Club (thank you EO and Lara for inviting me in) and I get to use my little magic trick that is dance to do a little fundraising here and there, and ensure that any queer in Durham who feels like learning how to dance can do so in a safe space!
Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
I’m still learning so much, but what I can say is: get curious! Go to people’s events that inspire you and be brave- talk to the organizers that are creating spaces that you want to be a part of. If you all have like-minded ideas, invent ways to collaborate!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.cultofqueermovement.com
- Instagram: @cultofqueermovement
