CITY LIFE
Seattle Drag Performer Aleksa Manila Takes Pride in Community
'I’ve always believed drag is a platform.
Just by nature of dressing up out of the norm, you’re already making a statement. You’re already a rebel'
By Beau Iverson | PRINT EDITION | JUNE 2019
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Image Credit: Hayley Young
QUEEN OF HEARTS: Community and LGBTQ advocate Aleksa Manila photographed in the Chinatown-International District at the Publix Hotel
Drag as a Tool For Self-Advocacy
Professor and performer, Donald C. Shorter Jr. talks with activist and social worker, Aleksa Manila about what it takes to stick up for yourself in the workplace and what skills can translate from ballroom to the boardroom.
Click here to watch this episode & MORE!
S4 E4 | 0:47:04 | AIRED: 12/17/2021 |
MEDIA WITH IMPACT
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The dynamic music duo, Sendai ERA
collaborated with ALEKSA MANILA on this short video depicting immigrant roots and national pride from a FilipinX perspective.
The music is inspired by the song, "Bayan Ko" (My Country), one of the most recognizable patriotic songs in the Philippines that, because of its popularity, is sometimes assumed to be a folk song and the country’s unofficial national anthem. Originally titled Nuestra Patria in Spanish by the revolutionary general José Alejandrino; translated in Tagalog as a poem by Jose Corazon de Jesus in 1929, and set to music by Constancio de Guzman. Written as a protest song, it is often sung in protest rallies and demonstrations throughout Philippine history.
CARETAKERS
Therapist by Day, Drag Socialite by Night | Caretakers Ep. 2
Aleksa is a genderqueer performer and multiple drag pageant winner who is also a therapist and healthcare worker. Since COVID-19 began, she has been offering virtual mental health therapy, working for the city of Seattle and, independently, in-person therapy with new safety protocols. One side of Aleksa’s office is her mental health practice, while the other half is where she does her virtual drag. How do these two vocations influence one another? This episode also introduces members of Aleksa’s drag family, The House of Manila, and underlines the connection of her life and work to the pre-colonial history of “Babaylan” transpiritual healers in Filipino culture.
This is the second episode of “Caretakers,” a four-part series on Filipino nurses and care workers in the U.S.PREMIERE: OCTOBER 21, 2021
Directed & produced by GEENA ROCERO for PBS: Chasing The Dream
Watch the series via PBS