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We are KALEIDO: a campy queer collective of artists & performers creating all kinds of absurd experiences. Want to know more about where we came from and what we stand for? Read on darling! ✨
Our Faerie Origins
We create in the spirit of the Radical Faeries, a queer non-movement born in the 1980s in the US as a glittery middle finger to the mainstream gay movement. In the decades that followed, faeries spread across the globe, pulling from pagan, feminist, ecological, communist and anarchist traditions. You'll recognize us by our fierceness, our community spirit and our completely unapologetic self-expression.
At the Art in Abundance gathering at Folleterre, a bunch of Dutch campy queers fell under the spell of the No-Talent Show, the creative highlight of every faerie gathering. Four years ago, in a squatted carwash in Utrecht, we hosted our very first show called KRANKENHAUS. What started as a birthday party gone off the rails, became the birth of KALEIDO!
Over the past years we've brought our shows to many places: de Trut, Utrecht Pride, the Church of Ruigoord, Bruiloft festival, Zwarte Cross, De Sering, Theater de Meervaart, EKKO, Vrankrijk, Sexyland, De Nijverheid and TivoliVredenburg. Possibly our favorite spot is our own Queer Space at Landjuweel, where we queerify Ruigoord! We adore quirky venues where we can treat as many visitors as possible to an unforgettable, hysterical experience.
No theme is too much for us. From addictions to sex, from queer theory to trashy drama, from alien invasions to twink death: we turn it all into stories you won't find anywhere else.
Queerness = Rebellion
At KALEIDO, you don't have to fit in. You don't have to explain yourself. You don't have to choose. You just get to... appear. Radically, exactly as you are.
We celebrate the rebellious spirit the queer community has always carried. The nerve to be yourself. The freedom to stop performing for people who were never going to clap for you anyway. We playfully take the piss out of hetero- AND homonormativity, because yes, the gay world has its own boxes too and we are bored of those either. We invite everyone to look beyond labels, including people who don't (yet) identify as queer but feel in their bones that they don't want to live inside expectations. That's our activism: infecting as many people as possible with the desire to give themselves more freedom in how they experience and express their gender, sexuality and love life.
And here's the thing nobody tells you: when you expand your own self-acceptance, you train your empathy for others. Every time someone on our stage takes up space in a new way, something opens up in the room. We've watched it happen over and over again.
We need to say it plainly: trans and non-binary lives are under attack. Not metaphorically. Actually, violently under attack. Their existence is being turned into a debate, a punchline, a costume some politician puts on when they need something to be afraid of.
KALEIDO is not a safe bubble separate from the world outside. It is a response to it. We fight back through self-expression, vulnerability and playfulness. And occasionally through the Furby platoons of the UBERFURBY. Because joy is also resistance. Visibility is also resistance. Every show we make is a small act of defiance and a very large act of love.
The No-Talent Philosophy
Here's what we actually believe: everyone has something to express. Not just the trained performers, not just the brave extroverts, not just the ones who've already figured out their aesthetic. Everyone.
The No-Talent Show, rooted in the tradition of the Radical Faeries, is built on one radical idea: all forms of expression are welcome. No auditions, no polish required, no correct way to do it. In that complete lack of judgment, something magical happens. The room opens up. People do things they've never done before.
Next to experienced performers, there are always queers on our stage using their voice for the very first time. Drag kings, singers, pole dancers, clowns and tender poets sharing the same space, with campy characters holding it all together. Unpredictable. Hysterical. Alive.
We celebrate imperfection, nerve and the right to be unfinished. Because queer expression doesn't have to be neat to move people. In fact, that's exactly where the power is.
Self-Expression at the Center
We believe queers are here on this earth for a reason. To create. To question. To deviate. To challenge what everybody else has decided is normal, acceptable, real. Queerness is not just an identity, it's a superpower. A way of seeing the world sideways and finding the cracks where something new and strange and alive can grow. This is not an accident. It's a calling.
So many queers grow up burning to express that calling. And then life happens. The spark gets stamped out. Suddenly you're an adult, stuck in a system that rewards productivity above all else. Wonder gets buried. Joy gets buried. The weird, magnificent thing you actually are gets buried.
We think that's a damn shame!
We want to be a counterforce. Letting go of what art is "supposed to look like", who gets to make it and whether it's good enough: that is incredibly freeing. At every KALEIDO show, someone makes their debut on stage. Someone who never thought they'd dare. A talent night like at summer camp, where you're finally allowed to show your inner child. And we mean ALL inner children. Not just the polished ones. Our shows are a collision of energies, styles and voices. Not only perfect drag queens and sweaty sixpacks, but also ragged edges, chaos and experiments. More messy, more avant-garde, more rock & roll.
Everyone deserves to feel safe stepping into the spotlight, even if it's messy or imperfect. ESPECIALLY if it's messy or imperfect. Maybe you'll leave asking yourself: what would I want to make? What would I dare to show? What would happen if I took up more space?
Our Expanding Universe
Since our birth in the summer of 2022, KALEIDO has grown into a vibrant, ever-expanding mess of performers, helpers, workshop facilitators, DJs and builders. In 2025 we reached more than a thousand visitors and worked with over two hundred volunteers and makers. What connects all of them is a hunger for expression and a desire to build worlds together. Worlds where being queer doesn't need to be explained but is lived as a creative and expansive force.
This year, we join forces with iconic fellow collectives like House of Extinction, Peacock Garden, Unwanted Words, Stichting de Bruiloft and Ravetheef, making the connections between queer communities visible and loud.
Will we see you at our next show? Contact us if you're curious or want to create together! ✨
Take KALEIDO to your event?
We bring queer presence, chaos and the No-Talent spirit to festivals, stages, club nights and beautiful disasters of all kinds. From roaming characters to full stage takeovers, we make it tailor made for your event.
Book us darling ->
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