Last May, Tati Lessa braved the Broadway Street construction to meet with Monday Dearest at Five Corner’s Cafe. Tucked to the right side of the till with an iced drink in hand, Lessa discussed her femininity, how she came into dancing, her role as a co-founder of the Cozy Party and her first year as a heels dance teacher.

Levesque: Are you close with your extended family?

Lessa: Yes with my aunt, just because not a lot of my family lives in Canada. My mom, her sister and her mom all live here so we’re pretty close. I was the first one born here so I feel like I’m almost their sister as well.

Levesque: Are you Brazilian?

Lessa: Half on my mom’s side.

Levesque: Have you visited recently?

Lessa: Yeah we just got back beginning of March. We went for end of January and all of February so we spent the winter there and then we left just before Carnival was starting so it wasn’t too crazy.

Levesque: How did you like Carnival?

Lessa: I love it and I love the party culture there because everyone’s involved. Whereas here you find it’s just kind of like 19 to maybe 30 year olds in the club. Whereas like there everyone’s on the street; your granny, your granddaughter, your dog. Everyone’s at the party.

Levesque: Did you bring back any [dance] moves?

Lessa: Well I always did Latin dancing and stuff growing up because my mom did it and taught it a lot, but it’s a lot more normal there to bust out breaking a move whereas here people look at you twice. We’re trying to change that here and we’re slowly getting better.

Levesque: Where do you notice that changing?

Lessa: I feel like specifically in club settings people are trying to revive the dance floor and such, but also things like Buskers and the Jazz Festival and things like that it only takes one person to start a dance floor and then someone else is not ashamed to come up and join until it slowly gets bigger.

Levesque: Have you noticed any struggles with people entering the [dance] scene?

Lessa: I think that something I tell people all the time is that nobody is looking at you because everyone else is just as worried about themselves and if they are looking at you it’s either in a “Wow I wish I could do that and be a part of that in the way they are,” or in a hater way which is something that they need to self-reflect on and figure out, and you were probably like that at some point too so you know what it’s like to look at someone [and] think that you’re looking at them in a negative way but realize, “Actually, I wish I could do that too.”.

Levesque: Is that the vibe you bring to your classes?

Lessa: Yeah I try to. I also really try to get everyone else to encourage and hype each other. I find that it’s really common in other places to be silent and serious and only the teacher’s talking and nobody else is really contributing besides a question here or there. Whereas I really try to encourage people to interact with each other and hype up each other and shout and yell and move. Yeah, a little bit more free, relaxed style of teaching.

Levesque: Have you been teaching for long?

Lessa: So I was assisting for about a year and then I was doing my own kind of classes for about a year here and there. Then I took a long break and I just did performance work and now I’ve been teaching under my own name by myself since August [2024].

Levesque: How have you noticed growth?

Lessa: I noticed it's an entirely, almost entirely there’s a few OG’s, but entirely different community and group of people versus when I worked at a studio. Which makes me just feel really proud that I’m able to curate an entirely new and diverse group of people in my classes.

Levesque: Who are the people that usually come in?

Lessa: There’s all kinds of people. We have some new moms, some older moms, there’s a few drag queens, I have a lot of people who have some self image issues that come to work it out through class, there’s people in the EDM scene that just want to get better at flow art, there’s a lot retired dancers that just need to be able to still move in a more relaxed environment… I also try to keep everything I do labelled open level and give easier options and more advanced options for other people just because I find that I don’t want to baby anyone and I don’t want to hold their hand too much. We’re adults, I believe in your ability to figure it out and I find that the more you nitpick and try to break things down people get more in their head about it. Whereas like I’m going to show you a few times, if you have any questions ask, but I trust in your ability to figure it out. And even if you don’t figure it out do whatever the fuck makes you feel good as long as you end up on this count at this time.

Levesque: Dance is very much so about community and not just bringing in new community members but making it accessible and building your own learning space. How do you practice that in your classes?

Lessa: We do some freestyle exercises and stuff with emphasis on touching the body cause I find that a really big thing especially once you put a high heeled shoe and some sexy music on, people feel really scared of their bodies so we try to do a lot of things [with] touching your body and not losing contact. Because you don’t even realize that you're hover-handing yourself. Something I tell everyone over and over and I try to repeat in a lot of classes; “You are the only one who has full consent of your body 100% of the time. So if anyone is allowed to be touching it right now, this is the right place and you’re the right person, so touch your body.”.

Levesque: I know a lot of people can be scared of themselves when they get on the dance floor and go, “I don’t know what to do.”.

Lessa: Yeah exactly, it’s a really common thing. People are like, “I don’t want to come to dance class because I don’t know how to dance,” and I’m like, “Girl this is a class, that’s the point of coming.”.

Levesque: Are there any actions you take to actively break people out of that mindset more?

Lessa: I think that it’s almost that everyone helps each other more than me directly one on one with anyone. I try to leave everything relatively open-ended and not give too specific of directions a lot of the time because just by looking around and connecting with other people I find that a lot of those things don’t even matter. A lot of heels classes that I’ve been to in the past there was always a kind of big monologue that came partway through class about how this is so empowering in here, feminine blah blah blah. And that’s fun and empowering the first or the second time, but I think what’s even more empowering is not having to bring that stuff up at all and it just being around you and happening actively and we don’t have to talk about it.

Levesque: What advice do you have for beginners that are entering your class?

Lessa: I think that a lot of people come to me and say, “Oh I’m nervous, I scared about coming,” and I just tell them that not everyone that comes to class is the kind of person that posts a video of their class or is the type of person who’s publicly talking about going to this class. There are people here who come here as an escape, there are people who come here to improve the other creative arts that they’re doing, there're some people who come just for the physical aspect. So I think I would tell people to have a really open mind and know that everyone who’s there right now has been in your shoes at one point so they all know what it’s like. No one’s looking at you weird, no one’s feeling any type of way, they’re more focused on supporting you.

Levesque: Dance is a language that’s meant to help uplift others.

Lessa: The classes I do are just for fun and I try to make that very clear. If you want to take professional heels training and get into commercial work this is not the place to be… What we’re doing are things that make you feel good, feel sexy. You’re levelling up, you’re still learning but mostly just for fun.

Levesque: There must be a lot of balance between heels [class] and a full time job.

Lessa: Actually I like it because they’re so the same but also so opposite. During my day job I’m in complete silence just cleaning and talking and making people tea, and then at night I’m screaming, running, jumping and yelling. So I find that it’s actually a really nice balance that I get to do both and have both.

Levesque: Do you find that you need that very obvious balance in your life?

Lessa: Yeah, I think that I am very extroverted. I like dancing and I like going out and I like going to shows and supporting other people’s shows. I feel like I could do that all day every day if I could.

Levesque: Have you ever paired up with a club before?

Lessa: So I was actually a promoter for a bit and now I do events with the Cozy Party. So the three main people that run Cozy Party are me, [Lucci Solis and Reybones]. We started it in November of last year but we’d been talking about it since the summer before. We had created the Cozy Party as a way to include arts in the club experience. So at Cozy Party’s there’s people rapping, people singing, we usually have some visual artists who come and display and sell their art as well and then also me. [There’s] some people I decide to bring as well and we’ll dance and start things off and hype up the crowd and get things going for other performers.

Levesque: How did your first time performing as a soloist feel?

Lessa: It was really cool. It was nice to not have to worry about coordinating things with a lot of other people. And I always loved doing solos as a kid growing up and stuff, so it was nice to feel like, “Oh, I’m not just worried about choreography. I’m not trying to hype up a whole group and make sure everyone feels great and confident in what they’re doing. I just have to worry about me and I’m the only one out there.”.

Levesque: How are you treated by the crowds at events?

Lessa: So loud, so hype, so nice. I also really like a raised stage… It makes you feel a little bit removed from the crowd in a positive way, in a way that I know they can fully see everything that I’m doing. Whereas if you’re just on the floor or I try to do floorwork, it’s only just the front row and they’re also looking down at me. It just feels kind of icky.

Levesque: What’s the atmosphere of the Cozy Party?

Lessa: They get pretty packed pretty quickly. I would say earlier in the night is where more of the arts and stuff takes place. We have a guy… he actually sells fragrances there and he’s created a custom Cozy fragrance, it’s through a diffuser in the place. So when you walk in, you’ll smell that right away. It’s kind of like a fresh and clean smell and creates a bit of fog since it’s through a diffuser but there’s no big fog machine. When you first walk in the art displays are right there, so you’re immediately seeing all of the art and then as you keep going there’s the photobooth. So it’s chiller as you enter and then you turn and there’s the drinks and the DJ booth and the party.

Levesque: Do you have a favourite memory from one of those parties?

Lessa: The one we did for my birthday. I did a really huge group dance with four of my friends, one of them being my sister. I got a custom music mix made to have Drake saying my name, and they got a big cake for me with a picture of me, and my girlfriend somehow planned to have all my friends have individual roses and walk them up to me through the audience. And I was like, “I feel so famous right now.”.

Levesque: Have you ever thought about filming one of your stage performances?

Lessa: I feel like it’s important that the videographer is a dancer or has some dance knowledge, just because it’s so different than filming other stuff… I feel like I have such a lack of professional content and it’s not like I haven’t been doing this for a long time because I have. It’s just so hard to get a video that doesn’t cut off your foot sometimes, so like is it moving with you as you’re moving?

Levesque: Do you notice that your crowd is queer or queer-friendly?

Lessa: I do think so. And I think it helps that I’m one of the main people who put [Cozy Party] on, so I’m in most of the ads. I made most of the posters, my name’s on things so people know I’m there and if they’re queer it’s safe for them. And the people who are not cool with that know that I’m going to be there and there’s people who are cool with me there, so they know not to come… The crew is also very quick to listen to me and listen to my partner or anyone that has an issue, and [the crew] handles it very quickly and efficiently.

Levesque: Do you find that there’s more queer spaces popping up in Saskatoon?

Lessa: I do. I have a really really sore spot still for missing Drift Cafe. Yeah I believe it was the only queer daytime space that advertised they were a queer space and that it was open all day. So it’s really sad that that’s gone… Now we kind of only really have Art Bar that says they’re queer and Divas. The rest have flags but don’t really outwardly advertise.

Levesque: Do you have a favourite outfit you like to wear when dancing?

Lessa: I have a pair of boots that I definitely need to throw in the garbage. They’re suede, I think they’re from Aldo from maybe 2017 or 2018. They’re thigh high boots and I still wear them to class every single day. They have holes in the toes, they have holes in the knees, they don’t even stay up anymore unless I put kneepads underneath and even then they still fall down. But I love them. They’re my second pair of dance heels that I ever wore and I’ve gotten other ones but I always go back to them. I just love them so much, they make me feel so cunt.

Levesque: What does your creative process look like when you’re choreographing?

Lessa: Well it involves a lot of [playing] the song over and over and over again. I like to watch and draw from a lot of other people’s videos, Instagram, YouTube, attending classes myself… I also want to include if I didn’t say this to you already that my creative process is mostly freestyle. I listen to the songs over and over and over and record myself freestyling then take the bits that I like or feel the most natural and fill in the blanks. Trying to plan too much never works for me.

Levesque: When you go to create your choreo do you go to a specific studio?

Lessa: I wish I had a studio. That’s something I’ve been looking into finding. It’s still been pretty fresh because I’ve only been doing my own thing teaching since August. But usually I have a giant mirror that I bring into my kitchen and I use it to cover up the pantry so I have lots of space, and then I tuck in all the chairs and I dance in my kitchen. It’s nice because I have the natural light on one side, I can turn the [kitchen] light off instead and vibe. My mirror’s pretty big, it’s definitely nothing on the studio, but I make do with what I have.

Levesque: What are some challenges you’ve had to face being a Saskatoon artist?

Lessa: Yeah there’s not a lot of opportunities and a lot of them don’t involve me actually performing. Which I still love choreographing, I love choreographing. I love getting other people ready for their events and feel like I’m still putting my art out there but my heart is with performing. I feel grateful and proud of myself for helping create the Cozy Party, and that has created an opportunity for me to perform super often. I feel like it’s only going to grow from there, we’re hoping to get to a bigger venue, have the raised stage and maybe be able to perform a few times a night. And I’m kind of in the works of figuring out how to get more go-go at certain spaces, like go-go dancing. It’s kind of like freestyle that happens all night.

Levesque: So you’d like to bring that to Saskatoon?

Lessa: I think the biggest barrier for that right now, besides gathering dancers who want to do that and would be interested in that and training them on freestyle and things like that, is venue. Because venues want it, they just don’t have anywhere to put you because it wasn’t built for that. So it’s like, “Yes I’d love you to go dance and freestyle all night on the floor,” [but] you have to be sorted of removed for your safety and for the illusion that I’m not just a club goer, I’m part of the experience.

Levesque: So if you were able to incorporate the go-go dancing, would that just be with Cozy Party or would you want to extend past that?

Lessa: I think Cozy is probably a good place to start because I can have full control and also do a lot of trial and error that way. And as a dancer myself, I feel like I have more of a vision of what needs to be in place in order for it to be done safely and effectively… The whole point of go-go is to have it immersed in the party so it’s something to look at and give you energy to feed off.

Levesque: You really prioritize and care about the experience.

Lessa: I do, yeah. I think we have enough plain clubs. We’re looking for something else. And if you’re paying the same amount at the door you might as well get an experience. Especially since I find people aren’t going out as much anymore, so if there’s actually an event with talent and something going on, then they’re more likely to come versus just going out and hoping you catch a vibe.

Switched locations from inside Five Corners Cafe to outside patio.

Levesque: Did you always know you were queer?

Lessa: I don't think so. I think that it was really confusing for me because I am a very feminine person. I think that growing up, I didn’t even see that as an option for me. I just assumed that because I’ve only ever seen it portrayed one way. I’m a very feminine person and we’re all raised to appreciate male attention and I got so much of it because I was so feminine... I think it took me a while relating back to dance, like I had stopped dancing for a few years just because I thought that in order for me to be gay and people to like me, I had to embrace masculinity as well. Which is so not my vibe. So I was uncomfortable trying to present straight and attract male attention, but it still felt semi comfortable because it felt like I was being true to myself even though I wasn’t in a way. And then when I was trying to present more masculine to attract more queer attention, it felt right in the way that I was directed towards my target audience but I also didn’t feel like myself. So it took me a long time to battle with that and realize that I can be feminine and still like girls, and I can be attracted to masculinity and still not like men.

Levesque: Agreed, it’s about defining femininity on our own terms.

Lessa: And even about getting to the point when I first came out, I was like, “I’m only supposed to like girls that look like me and act like me and be like me,” because in my brain, that was the only okay and safe version of being a woman.

Levesque: The safe version is very real.

Lessa: Yeah, so once I realized that that’s not the only thing that exists and not the only thing I can be involved with and attracted to it’s like so many things opened up for me. Especially in dance I felt that I could reconnect to that through a different lens, so I could still move my body and be feminine but not feel like I’m doing it through the eyes of the male gaze.

By: K.Levesque

TATI LESSA

PAIGE FRANCOEUR