Dainty Smith facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Dainty Smith
Dainty Smith in 2017
Born	Montego Bay, Jamaica
Other names	Dainty Box (burlesque)
Education	George Brown College
Occupation	Storyteller, Burlesque performer, actor, playwright
Years active	2010–present
Known for	founder, Les Femmes Fatales: Women of Colour Burlesque Troupe

Dainty Smith is a talented actor, writer, and performer based in Toronto, Canada. She is the person who started Les Femmes Fatales: Women of Colour Burlesque Troupe. This was Canada's first performance group for Black women, women of color, and people who express their gender in unique ways. Dainty's work often explores themes like glamour, looking to the future, celebrating different body types, and Black culture. She uses her art to tell important stories.

Early Life and Learning

Dainty Smith was born in Montego Bay, Jamaica. She grew up in Thorold, Ontario. She studied Performing Arts at George Brown College in Toronto. A writer from the CBC described her as "a preacher's daughter turned storyteller and performer." Dainty's personal identity is a big part of what inspires her creative work.

Her Career and Storytelling

Dainty Smith works in many creative areas, including acting, producing, writing, and performing. She uses storytelling to share powerful and honest stories about identity, background, and breaking social rules.

In the 2010s, she became well-known for helping to produce an independent art group called Colour Me Dragg. She also founded Les Femmes Fatales: Women of Colour Burlesque Troupe. This group includes Black women, women of colour, and their supporters.

Dainty has written articles for magazines like Sway and About, and for Xtra!. She also published a series of personal essays called Femmoirs of a Burlesque Performer. She has acted in two films: How To Stop A Revolution and Red Lips (...). Dainty is very active in Toronto's community for people with diverse identities. She helps organize events, speaks up for others, and performs. Through her work, Dainty imagines a world where people of color with diverse identities can succeed and thrive, even when facing challenges.

Writing and Acting

Dainty Smith has performed at many places and festivals in Toronto. These include the Mayworks Festival, Rock. Paper. Sistahz Festival, the Rhubarb Festival, Gladstone Hotel, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, and Harbourfront Centre. In 2013, she was part of Kill Joy's Kastle, a special art project by Allyson Mitchell.

In 2017, Dainty wrote a play called Daughters Of Lilith. It was first shown at Buddies in Bad Times. The play was directed by Ravyn Wngz, who often works with Dainty. The cast was made up entirely of Black women. The story is about six sisters who are connected by family, their Black heritage, and being women. Each sister has two sides to her personality, which Dainty says shows the important dual nature in all women. It's a story about how Black women deal with love, sadness, and unfair treatment. The sisters meet in a forest, looking for their mother Lilith and trying to remember their own special strengths.

Teaching Through Art

Dainty Smith created and led the 'Body Love' workshop at The 519. This workshop helps young people with diverse identities learn to love their bodies, feel strong, and have self-respect.

Dainty has also given talks at universities like Ryerson University, University of Ottawa, and York University. She speaks about the power of glamour, Black culture, the political side of burlesque, and how people with diverse identities can thrive. Dainty believes it's important to guide new performers and share her knowledge. Her passion for burlesque comes from the strong friendships that form when women support each other, especially those from groups that are often overlooked. She wants more young women of color to perform and define burlesque in their own way.

Burlesque Performance

In 2009, Dainty Smith became a full-time burlesque performer, using the stage name Dainty Box. She combines theater, storytelling, and charm in her burlesque acts. She uses these performances to explore themes of body positivity and celebrating female expression.

For Dainty, being a Black burlesque performer with a unique identity is a powerful act. It offers a positive role model that celebrates the wide range and complexity of female expression. She emphasizes the importance of telling stories through her own body. She says, "I’m interested in the ways in which I can reclaim my body and find self-love as a black woman on a platform. We tell stories onstage, loving and owning our bodies. Being able to do that is a defiant act."

A writer from CanCulture noted that Dainty's background helped her focus on the "sacredness and holiness" of marginalized women's bodies. Another writer, Nav Nagra, added that this background allows Dainty to use storytelling and performance to talk about identity, background, and expression. Themes of looking to the future and the history of Black women's work are present in Dainty's burlesque and other art forms. She often wonders what Black women would talk about if they didn't have to take care of everyone else.

Inspirations

Dainty Smith often mentions Josephine Baker as a major influence. She explains that Baker taught her that beauty, glamour, and style were possible for Black girls. Seeing old videos of Baker was a "light-bulb moment" for Dainty. It changed how she saw herself as a young Black woman. She says, "It gave me permission to consider myself pretty – possibly even beautiful.”

Besides Baker, Dainty is inspired by other Black entertainers like Eartha Kitt, Dorothy Dandridge, and Lena Horne. She also looks up to the women from the church she attended in Thorold, calling them her "style icons." Writers like Zadie Smith, Gwendolyn Brooks, Toni Morrison, and Maya Angelo have also greatly influenced Dainty's work.

Les Femmes Fatales: Women of Colour Burlesque Troupe

In 2010, Dainty Smith started Les Femmes Fatales: Women of Colour Burlesque Troupe. In a 2017 interview with CBC, Dainty shared that she felt empowered as an artist through burlesque. She noticed that women of color were often not shown fairly in Toronto's burlesque scene. So, she decided to do something about it.

Dainty's Les Femmes Fatales highlights brown and Black women of different body types, backgrounds, and gender expressions. The group's name comes from "femmes fatales" in movies. Dainty has always connected with these characters. She says, "I didn’t see them as bad people, I saw them as survivors—women who had been through hell and back....The femmes fatales had war wounds and knew how to be glamorous in spite of those wounds..."

Ravyn Wngz, an artist and activist, recently said about this pioneering group: "When Dainty Smith founded Les Femmes Fatales, she changed the game for black and brown, people with diverse identities here in Toronto and in North America. There weren't any burlesque spaces for us before and she's created quite the platform for us to be seen and showcased."

Working with Others

Dainty Smith has been a key part of Toronto's cultural scene. She often works with other artists who focus on activism and Black culture in their art. Dainty frequently collaborates with Ravyn Wngz and Syrus Marcus Ware.

Wngz and Smith have produced the 'Body Love' workshop at The 519. Wngz is also a member of Les Femmes Fatales. Smith and Wngz performed in Ware's Antarctica (2019), an art installation for the 2019 Toronto Biennial. Dainty was also the subject of a large charcoal drawing by Ware. This drawing was part of his Activist Portrait Series (2015–16) and was shown at the Art Gallery of Ontario in 2017.