Adriana Pierce is a dancer, choreographer, and director based in New York City, and she joined the studio to talk about her work elevating queer artists in ballet, creating community, and her career in classical ballet as well as musical theater! 

Adriana is the founder of Queer the Ballet, an initiative with the mission to widen the scope of classical ballet by producing queer work by queer dance artists. Queer the Ballet says on its website that it seeks to “queer” our ballet spaces and explore choreography often absent from ballet stages.

After training at School of American Ballet, Adriana began her dancing career with New York City Ballet and Miami City Ballet before realizing another dream of hers - working in Broadway, film and tv! She appeared in the 2018 Broadway revival of Carousel, in Steven Spielberg’s 2021 West Side Story film, and in the 2019 limited series on FX, Fosse/Verdon. 

She’s currently the associate director and associate choreographer for Justin Peck’s “Illinoise" on Broadway. Adriana’s other choreographic work features movement and partnering that allows dancers of all genders equal agency, dismantling the traditional gender dynamics of dance. Her choreography has been performed by American Ballet Theatre, Carolina Ballet, Columbia Ballet Collaborative, Ashley Bouder Project, and more. She’s also completed residencies with Center for Ballet and the Arts at NYU and Bridge Street Theatre, and she was recognized by Dance Magazine as one of 25 to watch in 2022.

• Follow Adriana on Instagram: @adriprc
• Follow Queer the Ballet on Instagram: @queertheballet
• Check out Adriana’s work: www.adrianapierce.com
• Support Queer the Ballet: www.queertheballet.com/donate
• Get tickets to Queer the Ballet’s upcoming performance, Dream of a Common Language: https://ci.ovationtix.com/36678/production/1194112?performanceId=11435956
• Get tickets for Illinoise: https://illinoiseonstage.com/tickets/

Music in this episode:

Waltz of the Flowers - Tchaikovsky

Barroom Ballet - Silent Film Light - Kevin MacLeod

Barroom Ballet - Silent Film Light by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100310

Artist: http://incompetech.com/

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