LGBTQ Ballet Dancers

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The world of the Ballet dancer is a unique one. As an artistic venture that incorporates athletic ability, artistic expression, and public performance, it demands a significant amount of talent for the individual artist. Similar to many demanding professional sports, it tends to be a profession for the young that takes a heavy toll in terms of time, energy, and mental stamina.

LGBTQ ballet dancers have been a visible and important part of the arts community for many generations. Indeed, many past LGBTQ ballet dancers are household names. These include Erik Bruhn of Denmark, Jerome Robbins of the United States, and Vaslav Nijinski or Rudolf Nureyev of Russia.

In addition to their prominent early dance careers, many LGBTQ ballet artists have gone on to successful and illustrious careers as Directors of national ballet companies, or as choreographers of their own successful productions that have toured the world. As both dancers and choreographers, individual success has translated into the receipt of many national awards and honours, such as the Order of the British Empire (OBE), the Order of Canada, the New Zealand Order of Merit, and so on.

Surprisingly, we have yet to identify any lesbians in the group of LGBTQ ballet dancers. There is only one publicly recognized transgender individual - Jin Xing of China. The profession has been dominated by gay male dancers. Nevertheless, these LGBTQ dancers hail from countries as diverse as Denmark, Spain, Finland, Canada, Russia, Barbados, the United States, Great Britain, Australia, Argentina, New Zealand, and France.

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