#ballerinx

CHALLENGING GENDER NORMS IS COOL! GENDER FLUIDITY IN BALLET IS VALID AND IMPORTANT!

Hello new friends!!!! Thank you so much for stopping by.

My name is Em and I am a queer professional ballet dancer based in CA/NYC. I forgot I made this blog so long ago, but I’ll do my best to be more active and answer your lovely messages and questions! 

A little QB history:

My good friend and then-partner Jess and I started the Queer Ballerinas Instagram page and blog in January 2017. Our goal was/is to create more LGBTQ+ representation in the ballet world. Being queer (I use this as an umbrella term), especially queer femme and trans/nonbinary, can be such an isolating experience in the ballet world due to its historically heteronormative and rigidly gendered culture. 

As of now, I’m dancing and teaching as much as I can from both coasts as well as running the QB online pages, coordinating meetups, and learning how to produce a PODCAST (coming early 2019, woo!). If you’d like to keep up with Jess, she’ll happily welcome you to her website or IG page, Queer Ballet Collective.

If you’d like to read previous blog posts and learn more about how QB came to be, feel free to visit the QB website. You’ll find loads more information there :-)

If you have any questions or just want to say hello, please do reach out!

Much love to all,

Em

Need someone to send your first day of class pics to? I want em. Need help choosing dancewear that affirms your gender? Send me links. Need hair and makeup help? Someone to obnoxiously yell your name from the audience (metaphorically, but also if we’re in close proximity I will TOTALLY show up to your performances)? I’ve got you.

Hullo new friends!

My name is Em. I’m a professional ballet dancer, teacher, artist and soon-to-be college student, and I just happen to be queer as heck. It is my goal to create better LGBTQ+ representation in the ballet world, especially for queer fem and trans/nonbinary dancers.

Growing up queer, brown, mentally ill, and poor in the classical ballet world was isolating. Existing as a closeted queer individual in a full time company was exhausting. I felt like I had to hide huge, important pieces of myself and my life just to stay in good standing and have an equal shot at success.

How is that fair??

It’s not!

And if you have experienced or are currently experiencing similar things, I want you to know that it’s not fair to you, either. I want you to know that your WHOLE self deserves recognition and love. I want you to know that you are valid, seen, and appreciated. I want you to know that you are underrepresented, NOT alone.

That last bit one more time: You are NOT alone.

The ballet world needs you.