If you knew me

Meet Jelanii Kabita, a transgender man who dances to be free

Jelanii Kabita has dedicated his life to two simple principles: authenticity and dance. As his body syncs to the music, the boombox tattoo scrawled across his stomach dances along with each downbeat. It’s immediately clear that he was made to move.

“I dance to be free,” Kabita told Mic in an in-studio interview. “I dance to eat. I dance to live. I guess I perform dance to show other people that there’s other ways to express what’s going on inside of you.”

Kabita set himself on a path to freedom early on, after experiencing a rocky childhood in Kingston, New York. The 23-year-old first came out as bisexual to his mother in middle school. From that moment on, he endured severe abuse and was ultimately forced out of his home and into foster care. After finding his way to New York City, he found a sense of identity and belonging within the dance community.

Now, Kabita is the leader and founder of the Raiders of Concrete, a street dance crew composed of dancers from several different countries and backgrounds. Mic sat down with Kabita, who shared that he came out as transgender two years ago, and learned more about the story that brought him to where he is today. Read our interview with Jelanii.