Since 2009, Kandi Burruss has opened up her life to millions of viewers across the country on the hit Bravo reality show The Real Housewives of Atlanta. But long before she became a crossover success, the Grammy award-winning producer was already a household name among Black audiences as a member of 90s R&B group Xscape. Over the last decade, Burruss has displayed her unwavering public support of the LGBTQ+ community on camera and off, endearing her to legions of Black LGBTQ+ fans—one of whom started as an admirer and has become a frequent collaborator and friend—queer recording artist and choreographer Victor Jackson.

Victor Jackson deserves your attention. Throughout much of the pandemic, the quadruple threat (singer, actor, choreographer, creative director) never stopped creating. Over the last year, Jackson has longed for the moment supporters of his latest EP, “Man. Muse. Magic.” could convene in the same space for a live performance absent the threat of COVID-19. On July 28, at Parlor, a Black-owned bar and performance space in downtown Atlanta, he partially got his wish. Jackson kicked off “Man. Muse. Magic. neat,” an intimate live performance residency scheduled to run once a month through November.

Victor Jackson’s father tossed his first pair of ballet shoes into the trash. It was a failed attempt to derail his son’s desire to study dance, restrict access to what he believed to be queer affirming spaces, and to suppress a noticeably burgeoning queer identity. It didn’t work. But that didn’t stop his minister father from trying, nor did it extinguish Jackson’s fire for an artform that would catapult him into his purpose. When Jackson saw his ballet shoes in the trash, which were purchased at Goodwill and gifted to him by his babysitter, he said he knew that he’d be solely responsible for finding ways to receive the training he needed and to create ways to learn and to lean into his passion.