PrideScape Blog Series- BOYeurism: Pride Through Performance Art at the Portland Pride Waterfront Festival 2026
Author & Photographer: Jax Lamont, Pride Northwest Media Team
On the Tuesday after Pride I found myself in a pole studio for the first time in a long time. It had been years since I had danced in a studio, as chronic illness and disability took that from me a handful of years ago. Recently, however, I found a dancers with disabilities class and joined. It felt like synchronicity that just two days prior I had watched an incredible exposition of talent from BOYeurism, produced by the Goliaths of Glam, IZOHNNY (Isaiah Esquire & Johnny Nuriel) at the 2026 Portland Pride Waterfront Festival that included a diverse array of performance art, including pole dance and circus arts, two forms of movement that have always resonated deeply with me. As I spun around the pole in my dance class I thought about the performances I had witnessed at Portland Pride and the role they played in inspiring me to connect with this form of movement again.
It meant a lot to see the type of performance art I had once enjoyed close out the South stage of Oregon’s largest Pride festival. There is something beautiful in honoring your body through movement practices as a queer person and testing its limits. Expressing yourself through movement as a queer individual can be therapeutic and healing as well as an act of joy, resistance and pride.
“We’re passionate about showcasing different types of art. We’ve been super honored to do Pride [South] stage for many, many years and to bring something different that you don’t always see at Pride,” explained BOYeurism producer Johnny Nuriel. “We don’t always see circus artists at Pride, you don’t get to see a handbalancer, you don’t get to see a tap dancer, or a pole dancer…you don’t get to see these types of artists at Pride and they’ve got pride, too!”
I watched in awe as pole artists Chai and Rain performed the most beautiful expression of both queer love and bodily love simply through movement around a dance pole. And while I have watched plenty of pole artists spin around the pole in a fluid fashion, I have never watched two do it together, their movements seamlessly synced and complementing one another. As Chai spun upside down, legs wrapped around the pole and hands free, she locked lips with her partner Rain below her, holding his neck while he spun with one arm around the pole. I was already blown away watching the two partners together, but the kiss quite literally sealed the deal.
What’s more, this was only the first act of BOYeurism’s performance at the end of the day on the second day of Pride. Certainly, many of us in the audience were overheated and fatigued from the two days of festivities, but you wouldn’t have known it by seeing the reactions of the audience in response to the energy on stage. We were closing out on a high note — quite literally, considering many of the performers incorporated circus arts into their acts.
Handbalancer Daniel Patrick wowed the audience as he balanced on one arm elevated on handstand canes. Belly dancer Juliano Wade showed off his Latin Pride dancing to Bad Bunny, his nipple tassels swaying to the beat of “NEUVAYoL”. Luna Lynn Day got the crowd thirsty with her tap dancing in her neon-clad margarita-inspired dance medley. And pole artist Raven Lynx yassified our favorite childhood show Teletubbies, suggestively dancing around the pole in their scantily clad purple Teletubby costume and joking around with their fellow Teletubbies on stage in a number that alluded to the 1999 controversy that claimed Tinky Winky, the purple Teletubby, was a gay role model and reclaimed the Teletubbies as gay cultural icons.
Four BOYeurism performers made their Portland Pride debut this year. “It’s just really beautiful to see people getting to have their first Pride experience, getting to feel seen and showcased because not all queer artists get [that] kind of visibility,” remarked Nuriel. “A lot of other Prides don’t book a lot of different talent so it’s a real testament to Pride Northwest for trusting us to bring in incredible performers and some of them who have never gotten to see or experience Pride.”
Nuriel mentioned that BOYeurism has been described as a “pseudo-religious experience” and considering my experience of the synchronicity of BOYeurism’s Pride performance with my return to dance and circus arts, I can attest that that was true. Not only did BOYeurism’s act at Pride exhibit an immense amount of Pride, it also got me seeking out more dance and circus arts classes as well as looking forward to the next BOYeurism showcase.
A Note on Community Resilience
-Julie B, Pride Northwest Administrative Assistant & Pride Northwest Media Team
This BOYeurism performance reflection is a powerful example of one of many moments that reflected the creativity, resilience, and talent showcased by our LGBTQ2SIA+ community, reminding us that there are so many stories, expressions of talent, and voices worth uplifting, celebrating and supporting.
As we look ahead to the upcoming Community Resilience Drive season, launching in October, this same spirit of connection and resilience remains at the heart of our work here at Pride Northwest.
The Drive was born during the pandemic to support our overall response efforts to the unhoused crisis that was exacerbated by the pandemic. Supplies and donated funds were collected and distributed to people living outside. Having an organized drive allowed us to be more intentional and strategic in visibility. In other words, doing it as a named drive turned it into a campaign that visibility could be focused around. Now, the Community Resilience Drive strengthens Pride Northwest’s connection to the Portland LGBTQ2SIA+ community by investing in and collaborating with the people and grassroots organizations closest to the issues facing our communities. As a conduit for connection, resources, and visibility, Pride Northwest helps amplify community-led work and the resilience of our communities.
Where do you plug in?
Learn more about the 2026-27 Community Resilience Drive: Community Resilience | PRIDE NORTHWEST, INC. Help us meet our $40,000 goal! Pride Northwest Inc DONATE - Community Resilience Drive 2026
Support LGBTQ2SIA+ art: Follow BOYeurism on Instagram and find tickets to upcoming shows at boyeurism.live.
Performance Gallery
