by CHRIS BARRY

Name: Fabio Passos

Age: 23

Occupation: Dancer

Bio: Weaned in Brazil, this sophisticated Plateau dandy originally arrived in Canada as an exchange student. "Lucking" into a school for the performing arts, young Fabio, a musical prodigy, was promptly introduced to the world of ballet where he soon realized he was put on this earth to plié. Which is when things got complicated. You see, in Brazil, dance is not something boys do unless they're big queers, and queer is definitely not considered cool there. When his arch-conservative parents paid him a visit in Montreal a few years back, they suspected something was awry with the boy, who appeared to be moving away from the business studies they were sponsoring him to attend in favour of arguably more fey disciplines like art and dance.

Mortified, Fabio says his parents "tricked" him into returning to Brazil where they stuck him into therapy for 13 months to try and cure him of his "sickness." Fearing his family might soon have him committed to a Brazilian mental institution - something Fabio says is a much easier thing to do to people there than it is here - he clandestinely saved up enough money for airfare and "escaped" to Canada as a refugee. Currently an employee, student and star dancer with Ballet Divertimento de Montréal, Fabio is fighting tooth and nail to stay in the country, claiming that deportation to his country of origin would effectively constitute "a risk of cruel and unusual punishment" based on "a well-founded fear of persecution" based on his "membership in a particular social group" ie: dancing Latino fruitcakes. "Ballet is such a short career, I need to live it fully. I have to dance! I have to stay in Montreal!"

His current status: Facing imminent deportation, Fabio is hoping for one last chance in front of the Immigration Canada bureaucrats where he intends to submit all his many letters of support, hoping said approach will encourage the board to "forget about all their crazy criteria of evaluating applicants and force them to think outside the box for a change."

What will happen when Immigration Canada no doubt informs him that "thinking outside the box" is not something they do: Fabio will be sent back to Brazil where, if not sent to the bin, he'll have to formally apply for traditional immigrant status to Canada - an expensive, time-consuming process the cash-strapped dancer isn't so sure will work out for him anyway.

One sure-fire way to get beat up in Brazil: Go walking around "as a gay guy. If a gang sees you, they're sure to beat you up. And nobody cares, not the police, nobody, because you're gay. You could get killed and they [the police] wouldn't even care."

What his parents wanted to know the first time he was bashed: "What were you wearing? Why were you looking for trouble?"

Last book read: Angels and Demons, by Dan Brown.

Musical preferences: Elliott Smith, Aimee Mann, Sublime.

Words of wisdom: "The unique must be fulfilled."

Comments? dimwit@openface.ca