By Las Vegas PRIDE Magazine Staff

Choreographer Adriana Pierce created the initiative #QueertheBallet to broaden the scope of classical ballet to authentically include LGBTQ+ voices and narratives. Focusing on queer cis women, trans people of all genders, and nonbinary dancers in ballet, #QueertheBallet seeks to “queer” our ballet spaces and explore choreography often absent from ballet stages.

By developing and producing works by queer artists, providing community support for LGBTQ+ dancers and creators, and facilitating outreach and education, #QueertheBallet hopes to expand ballet partnering and choreography, offering a genuine representation of queer and gender-diverse ballet dancers.

“Ballet needs to celebrate and amplify all of the unique voices which contribute to its beauty,” said Pierce. “The lack of meaningful queer visibility in our art form runs deeply, and my hope is that this initiative may create a new home in which all LGBTQ+ artists can feel seen and understood.”

About Founder & Artistic Director
Adriana Pierce (she/her) is a dancer, choreographer, and director based in New York City. After training at the School of American Ballet, Pierce began her dancing career with New York City Ballet and Miami City Ballet, continuing onto Broadway, film, and TV (2018 Broadway Revival of Carousel, Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story, Fosse/Verdon). As a choreographer, Pierce is equally at home creating works for ballet, theater, and film. The lack of lesbian representation in ballet led Pierce to start #QueerTheBallet.

Pierce created her first ballet works for the School of American Ballet’s Student Choreography Workshop and was twice selected to participate in New York Choreographic Institute’s Choreographic Sessions. Pierce’s choreographic work features movement and partnering that allows dancers of all genders equal agency, dismantling the traditional gender dynamics of dance. Today, Pierce’s choreography has been performed by American Ballet Theatre, Carolina Ballet, Columbia Ballet Collaborative, Ashley Bouder Project, and featured in festivals and galas such as Hamptons Dance Project, Kaatsbaan Fall Dance Festival, Fire Island Dance Festival, Mainly Mozart Festival, and Adrienne Arsht Center’s Annual Gala. She has completed residencies with the Center for Ballet and the Arts at NYU and Bridge Street Theatre. Pierce was recognized by Dance Magazine as one of the “25 to Watch” in 2022.

About Co-Founder & Producer
Patricia Delgado (she/her), first-generation Cuban-American, was born in Miami, Florida. She was a principal dancer with the Miami City Ballet, where she worked for almost 20 years, and is currently a freelance artist living in NYC and a member of the dance faculty at The Juilliard School, where she is also a part of their mentorship program. She began her dance training under Cuban tutelage at 5 years old. She spent summers training in NYC at the School of American Ballet and American Ballet Theatre. In 2000, she was the Princess Grace Nominee, and Edward Villella invited her to join his company as an apprentice.

Patricia Delgado has performed works by George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Twyla Tharp, Paul Taylor, Anthony Tudor, Richard Alston, Christopher Wheeldon, Edward Villella, and Trey McIntyre, as well as classical works such as “Coppelia,” “Giselle” and “Don Quixote.” One of her most memorable performances was performing the role of Juliet in John Cranko’s “Romeo and Juliet.” Patricia has also been incredibly fortunate to have created feature works with choreographers Alexei Ratmansky, Justin Peck, Pam Tanowitz, Jamar Roberts, Lauren Lovette, and John Heginbotham, among others.

She has performed at The Bolshoi in Moscow; at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris, France; at the Chicago Dancing Festival, at the Vail International Dance Festival in Colorado; and in New York City; at Fall for Dance at City Center, at the Joyce Theater and at the Koch Theatre at Lincoln Center among others.

Patricia has written several essays for dance publications. One was entitled “Why I Dance” in January 2015 for Dance Magazine and one for Dance Spirit Magazine in April 2013.

This article was originally published in the 2022 Celebration of the Arts Issue of Las Vegas PRIDE Magazine, and can be read in its original format here.