LGBTQ Ballet Dancers
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. A survey of professional ballet dancers in 1997 revealed that they thought that 57.8 percent of the men in dance companies were gay, while they considered 53 percent of the men in their own companies to be gay. Indeed, many past high profile 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 Order of Orange-Nassau, and others.
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 LGBTQ participation in the profession has been dominated by gay male dancers - this reinforces the stereotype of the male ballet dancer as breathtakingly beautiful and gay. 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.
- Reid Anderson, Canada
- Maurice Bejart, France
- Julio Bocca, Argentina
- Matthew Bourne, Great Britain
- Erik Bruhn, Denmark
- Jorge Donn, Argentina
- Rupert Doone, Great Britain
- Nacho Duato, Spain
- Frederic Franklin, Great Britain
- Alexander Grant, New Zealand
- David Hallberg, United States
- Antony Hamilton, Australia
- Rex Harrington, Canada
- Robert Helpmann, Australia
- Stephen Hough, Great Britain
- James Kudelka, Canada
- Serge Lifar, Russia
- Jean-Baptiste Lully, France
- Leonide Massine, Russia
- Mark Morris, United States
- Antonio Najarro, Spain
- Vaslav Nijinski, Russia
- Rudolf Nureyev, Russia
- Jerome Robbins, United States
- Damian Smith, Australia
- Justin Peck, United States
- Wayne Sleep, Great Britain
- Jock Soto, United States
- Jorma Uotinen, Finland
- Rudi Van Dantzig, Netherlands
- James Whiteside, United States
- Jin Xing, China
