Photography by Trey McIntyre - http://treymcintyre.com/
Trey McIntyre Photo: Tell us about your background and what you do for a living.
James Koroni: I could say so much. My background and who I am today are two very different things that I very carefully navigate on a daily basis. I was raised by an American Mormon mother and a father who emigrated from Iran, he was raised as a Muslim. My parents were separated before I was born. My mother remarried another Mormon man and my father also remarried my stepmother who is catholic and emigrated from Vietnam. Of course they are all very complex people, listing them off as one background or another isn’t enough to sum them up. The reason I mention all this is because these were the key cultural and religious perspectives that were being navigated by myself as a child and continue to perplex my identity as an adult.
I am very proud to be who I am today and proud of where I come from. However, I am reminded that I still carry a level of shame and guilt about my body, my sexuality, my behavior, my identity and feel judgement whether or not it is even present. It may take a lifetime to undo these ideologies. I feel empowered when I say that I am a queer Persian vegan man. This feeling of empowerment is something that I must continually reaffirm because society doesn’t know how to support these communities.
I'm a professional performing artist. Movement has taken the lead within most aspects of my career. I primarily dance for two choreographers and for myself but also do a lot of commercial work. In my own work I address social justice and environmental issues. Outside of being a dancer I am also a filmmaker, improv comedian, film editor and screenwriter.
