About the Project
LATIN ICONS is a bold, music-driven solo performance that lives at the intersection of concert, ritual, and theatre. Created and performed by a Brazilian immigrant artist, the show channels resilience, queerness, cultural memory, and survival through voice, movement, and transformation.
The performance opens with a grounding land acknowledgment honoring the Tongva people, rooting the work in ancestry and presence before unfolding into a deeply personal journey. From there, the show moves through sound and embodiment rather than linear narrative, channeling the spirit of Latin icons—not as impersonation, but as energy, lineage, and force. Each musical and physical shift becomes a chapter in the story of migration, identity, and reinvention.
Drawing from Latin pop, samba, bolero, disco, house, and spoken word, LATIN ICONS blends original music with iconic references to create an emotional soundscape that feels both ancestral and contemporary. The staging is minimalist yet striking, using sculptural lighting, shadow, and modular costume elements to allow transformation to happen in real time. The performer’s body becomes the primary storytelling instrument.
The work is unapologetically queer, immigrant, political, and sensual—balancing vulnerability with humor, glamour with rage. It is also deeply embodied: the artist is a survivor of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, returning to the stage with a newly reconstructed foot and ankle, making presence itself an act of resistance.
At its core, LATIN ICONS is about reclaiming authorship and visibility at a time when Latino communities are increasingly targeted and erased. It is not nostalgia or tribute, but transformation—a declaration that Latin artists are here to stay, shaping culture, claiming space, and telling their stories on their own terms.
Learn More at leopoldnunan.com
Production Team
