Man from war-torn Iraq finds freedom, celebrates LGBTQ+ pride on stage through dance in NYC
NEW YORK (WABC) -- A man who fled his war-torn home country is finding solace and purpose again in New York through the art of dance.
Dancer Fadi Khoury makes beautiful art through his choreography despite a life marked by war. Born and raised in Iraq in the war-torn 1980s, Khoury became a refugee and escaped to the U.S. to pursue dance and live as a gay man.
"My childhood was almost like episodes of dream, glow, grow and then explosion," Khoury said. "And your dreams sort of shatter and you live in a survival and you have to work to recover and build peace and then dream again."
Khoury grew up in Baghdad during the Gulf War, and then escaped to Lebanon, where he later survived the 2006 Lebanon War. Through it all, he found himself on stage.
"My childhood, I needed dance to run away and escape and dream," he said. "I think as soon as I found the company and found that outlet to express myself to the world, I found that it really is an opportunity for me to provide to the world and share to the world."
The violence eventually forced Khoury to seek refuge in New York City, where his drive and ambition in the performing arts are soaring.
"I couldn't really train enough in comparison to people that lived and grew up in Lebanon and then ended up from that company because they were trained for five or six years. I had to be great right away," Khoury said.
His new home also gave Khoury the ability to start his own company, FJK Dance, which allowed him to explore his personal style and his sexuality.
"My performance, performative tendencies as a child were always celebrated, and so I wanted to be the queen, but I hardly ever wanted to be the king. And when I did ballet when I was young, I did not want to be that guy holding the girl," he said.
Every coming out story is unique, and for Khoury, his came when the woman he started his dance company with, a person he was in love with, pushed him to be his full self.
"She was really my home and my safety because I was able to be as clear as I can be in my arms and still get involved with her, and she embraced me," Khoury said.
But now, Khoury says he's seeing the world he grew up in -- and the world learned to love in -- faced with more and more hate in light of rising anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and policies. He has faced harassment for the scarf he wears daily, which has inspired him to incorporate that scarf into his art on stage.
Through the struggles, Khoury says he has always pushed for hope and peace, a message he's bringing to the stage now and one that he believes is more important than ever before.
"It's very important to celebrate pride. It's very important to send a message everywhere, a unifying message of humanity, that we are human, and we are beautiful, and we are kind and we are everyone," Khoury said. "I dance for me. I escaped, but I found my freedom on stage. So, I hope that my dancing can inspire the public to set themselves free."
Meanwhile, FJK Dance is committed to a cross-cultural dialogue through dance and art, Khoury said.
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