Mira Göksel on Celebrating Love in the Dance Community
- womenschoreography
- Mar 26
- 4 min read
by Lily Park
“It was about queer love. It was the perfect combination of sharing and talking about the traditions and celebrations that I really cared about with a cast of queer folk, and then also just having fun listening to corny pop music and eating peaches,” Mira Göksel responded when I asked them to describe Peachfuzz, the piece they choreographed for Choreography Project in 2024. Originally from Izmir, Turkey, Göksel started dancing at the young age of four, receiving training in Turkey and the UK before moving to the United States at sixteen and eventually pursuing a degree in dance performance with an emphasis in composition.
Their piece, Peachfuzz, centers around four dancers exploring energetic phrases of movement to portray a wedding set in Göksel’s home in Turkey. Being the second part of a three part work that explores various moments of celebration in a life, this piece is the section that encapsulates love and is partially a tribute to Göksel’s spouse; seeing as both Göksel and their partner identify as non-binary and queer, Göksel somewhat saw this piece as a reflection of their relationship through the lens of their history back home. “I wanted it to be a walk through traditions, as we figure out what love means and how it is expressed through celebration,” they noted.
Although, Göksel admits, tradition does not always allow space for celebrating queer identities, Göksel believes that this piece is a manifestation of their overall philosophy to focus on the moments when tradition does accept queerness. “I know that the reality is that there’s this part of who we [Göksel and their spouse] are that’s always going to be lost in translation during an exploration of tradition, but it hasn’t really been something that upsets me,” Göksel explained. Instead, Göksel chooses to emphasize the points of beauty in which tradition does—or could evolve to—agree with their values and identity.
A henna night, for example, is a Turkish tradition (also in many other SWANA cultures) that takes place the night before a wedding, during which the bride celebrates the beginning of her wedding day with her female friends. Göksel, however, did not partake in this tradition, but instead started to discuss the possibility of a genderless henna night with their parents, giving a chance for their trans and non-binary friends to be welcomed as well. Göksel therefore included the robing of a dancer in the second part of Peachfuzz to represent this new possibility of a genderless henna night; in this moment, the four dancers come together to dance in synchronicity, showing how in this version of the tradition, they are all celebrating and being celebrated, no matter what their identity may be. “I just wanted to show in my piece that you can take tradition and respectfully make it what you want to be,” Göksel remarked. “There are some very gendered traditions in Turkey that I don’t agree with, but I want to just take what I want and run with it.”
Göksel also noted that, in an attempt to continue carrying out this philosophy of celebrating the love and beauty that they can find, they try to create their work for their dancers and themself, as opposed to the eyes of an audience. “I can’t control what people feel,” Göksel admitted, explaining that if they choreographed to try to make audiences feel a certain way, as choreographers have often done in the past, they would be losing the beauty of sharing what truly matters to them in their work. “I never want to think about what the audience wants to see, because the only thing I can commit to is nurturing the people that I work with. I want to celebrate what I and what the performers want to portray to the audience, not the other way around.”
Thus, in the rehearsal room Göksel contributes extensive time and commitment to ensuring that each of their dancers is truly cared for and respected. “I really try to approach everything with care. Everything I say to or about my dancers, outside or inside of the room, needs to be thoughtful and caring,” they shared. “I have expectations, but my dancers’ expectations are just as valid. If something doesn’t feel right to them, we’re going to change it and make sure that it feels right on their bodies. In every piece that I choreograph, I make sure that I give a small solo for every dancer that is fully based on their skill sets and what they feel comfortable doing.” Though the process is ongoing, Göksel hopes to continue working towards consistently celebrating their dancers within their work: “I’m still evolving. I’m not happy with how sometimes the commitment I had to the dance sometimes overruled the process of nurturing my dancers and an environment, because there is so much in that process to be celebrated.”
Working with Choreography Project, Göksel noted, was an excellent opportunity for them to explore this idea of celebrating the people and process that contributed to choreographing their piece: “Everything was put together in such a caring way. When I think back to that time, the thing that I take away most is the people that I worked with—just having the opportunity to work so closely and honestly with everyone was lovely.” Additionally, as Göksel explained with their story behind Peachfuzz, celebrating love is particularly beautiful when one can develop traditions to better align with present day values, and Choreograph Project, Göksel noted, was incredibly receptive to doing just that. “Having this place where I could try something new or never done with my work and be supported was awesome,” they shared. “I had brought up things that I think could make the process more accessible and helpful—based on language, gender, and access needs—, and it’s so lovely seeing those being taken into action; just following something grow like that and evolve to better suit more and more people…I just really am happy to support that.”
