When Misty Copeland was finally promoted to principal dancer in the American Ballet Theater last year, she became the first African American woman to be given this honor in their 75 years of existence. This is a very vivid reminder that even in this day and age the world of ballet is still one of the least diversified parts of contemporary society. That would all change though if Katy Pyle and Jules Skloot the two founders of Ballez get their own way.
Ballez is a New York based dance troupe that encourages the participation of lesbian, gay, trans, bi, and queer dancers and that create performance pieces that promote their visibility in the ballet community that has been predominantly white and straight for so long. Their collective is set on turning traditional dance into a form of LGBTQ activism with its very own take on Sleeping Beauty in which they have combined with Beauty and The Beast.
Their Kickstarter page explains “For the past three years, we
have been working on Sleeping Beauty & the Beast. Ballez takes these two classic tales and re-writes them in order to insert the herstory of lesbian and queer activists into the ballet canon: the striking Garment Workers of 1893, and the AIDS activist dykes of 1993,”
The Ballez piece that will have its World Premiere at this year’s La MaMa Moves! Dance Festival (April 29 – May 29), and a male dancer will play Violet Fairy and Jules Skloot will play a butch version of The Beast.
The ultimate message of the dance troupe is that of inclusivity and Pyle told Jezebel Magazine “In this time of such extremism and hateful separation and bigotry, I want to give queer, trans and straight audiences alike, a moment to truly witness the incredible, beautiful human beings whose stories deserve remembrance and canonization, and these performers who deserve joyful witnessing,”
Ballez is still short $10000 of their Kickstarter Appeal, details of which can be checked here.
