By: Daniel P”Lopez
Photos by: Kyreto
The arts have been a huge part of Joey Arrigo’s family and upbringing. Joey Arrigo was born in 1992 and raised in Ontario, Canada, to musician parents. Very early in life, Joey started dancing, as did his sister. However, Joey really excelled and became his own unique thing very quickly.
Joey learned the Cirque De Soleil performances from an old recorded VHS tape from an early age. Sixteen years later, Joey became Kooza’s main character. Joey was in dance competitions and competing throughout his childhood. He claimed he had strong technical skills but loved performing and never held back. His confidence was strong in his performance. It was something that kept him going in his professional career as well. Some say he is a captivating performer, not just as a dancer but as a vocalist and actor.
“It’s that whole side of confidence that no matter how good you are at your skill, nobody is going to watch you do it unless you are good at it.” Explained Joey.
Dance fueled Joey’s focus as a gay man, not to mention that he was a gay child covered in glitter and as fabulous as possible from very early on. Joey grew up listening to the divas of the ’90s; Freddy Mercury is also a big inspiration and queer-identifying music artist. “Any music that you would hear at a drag show is something that fueled all of us gays,” says Joey.
Joey is confident in doing what he does being a vocalist and singing a song; it is that full package of bringing that instrument and body and that full picture onto the stage. This last year, Joey has been finding a cool identity of who he is and drag, and his art and music have really helped him find that.
Joey admits he always knew he was gay by connecting to his male friends as a five-year-old; Joey explains that he was mostly misunderstood as a kid and didn’t connect with the other boys with toys, movies, and TV shows Joey wasn’t interested in. Joey went through his fair share of bullying. He connected with the females, and in middle school, it was a tough time for him at that time, but he overcame it all and is free and excelling in life and the arts these days.
Dance and sex have given him his identity; sex has allowed him to allow himself to be who he identifies, to be free in dance, and it has given him that self-validation and drive. The song “Get Down” is just about that.
Joey has had his ups and downs in life and got lost a few times, such as becoming HIV positive. He also had love-hate relations with dance and, at times, got burnt out. It happens.
“Mental health issues are on the rise,” Joey says, because of our disconnect with each other, as his music and video explain—you can watch the video on YouTube. “When people are not healed and hurting, they hurt people and do demonic things and appear to be demons because they have been hurt themselves,” Joey revealed.
Joey finally has the confidence and realization that his story, like everybody else’s, is important and beautiful. “They ain’t me; no one else has had his combinations of experiences to tell my story; nobody has had the story and training that I had.” Explained Joey.
Nowadays, Joey is thriving being openly HIV positive and has learned that what has happened to him, he could spin this around and be the person he was meant to be. That is exactly what he is doing and living; Joey has done and given back to the community in many different ways. Joey loves his gay community and is proud of being gay; he was seeing someone but says he needs some alone time; unless a romantic something comes along, he’ll take it.
Lots of opportunities are coming up for Joey. All of his schedules and performances will be posted on Instagram @getdownwithjoey and his website getdownwithjoey.com