Mission.

Choreographer Adriana Pierce created the initiative Queer the Ballet to broaden the scope of classical ballet to authentically include lgbtq+ voices and narratives. Focusing on queer cis women, trans people of all genders, and nonbinary dancers in ballet, Queer the Ballet seeks to “queer” our ballet spaces and explore choreography often absent from ballet stages.

By developing and producing works by queer artists, providing community support for lgbtq+ dancers and creators, and facilitating outreach and education, Queer the Ballet hopes to expand ballet partnering and choreography, offering a genuine representation of queer and gender-diverse ballet dancers.

More films and live performances coming soon. Sign up for our email list to stay up to date on all things #QueertheBallet.

Statement.

Queer the Ballet believes unequivocally that trans people belong in ballet, drag is a critical piece of ballet history, gender is not binary, and queer people have always been in ballet and always will be. Our organization was founded on these beliefs. Now, more than ever, we will continue to fight for trans, gender nonconforming, and queer dancers’ right to inclusion, visibility, and belonging.

The current administration’s flood of executive orders aims to confuse and overwhelm us. Their attack on the arts is a crucial part of their larger project to suppress dissent and create cultural uniformity around their vision. In compliance with this vision, the National Endowment for the Arts released guidelines that state that applicants must “not operate any programs promoting ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ and that federal funds should not be used to ‘promote gender ideology.’

As an organization, we will not accept grants or perform at venues that deny our identities and values. We believe performing at the Kennedy Center legitimizes the Trump administration’s authoritarian takeover of what is meant to be a bipartisan cultural landmark. We encourage arts organizations to join us in seeking funding avenues outside of federal funds wherever possible and mobilizing to boycott institutions under the federal government’s control.

We stand with organizations actively working to fight this cultural erasure, resist authoritarian control, and protect the future of inclusive, liberated artistic expression. In response to this moment, many arts organizations are being driven to issue urgent and necessary fundraising appeals. We urge you to consider who will be most impacted—those who have always been the most disenfranchised. Queer, trans, Black, Indigenous, and other artists of color will bear the brunt of this cultural and financial assault. We ask that you direct your support toward organizations and artists whose work has long been underfunded and undervalued—those who are building new models of care, equity, and creative freedom.

Moving forward, Queer the Ballet will prioritize our community-building initiatives and invite you to be intentional about coalition-building as we ensure our community remains a safe space for our queer and trans members. We will continue to take a mutual-aid approach to funding our community classes to ensure broad access. We will continue to put our mission and values at the forefront of everything we do. We will continue to Queer the Ballet.

Queer the Ballet, 2025

“Ballet needs to celebrate and amplify all of the unique voices which contribute to its beauty. The lack of meaningful queer visibility in our art form runs deeply, and my hope is that this initiative may create a new home in which all lgbtq+ artists can feel seen and understood.”

— Adriana Pierce, Choreographer

Founder & Artistic Director.

Adriana Pierce (she/her) is a dancer, choreographer, and director based in New York City. After training at School of American Ballet, Pierce began her dancing career with New York City Ballet and Miami City Ballet, continuing onto Broadway, film, and TV (2018 Broadway Revival of Carousel, Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story, Fosse/Verdon on FX). As a choreographer, Pierce is equally at home creating works for ballet, theater, and film. The lack of lesbian representation in ballet led Pierce to start Queer the Ballet.

Pierce created her first ballet works for the School of American Ballet’s Student Choreography Workshop, and was twice selected to participate in New York Choreographic Institute’s Choreographic Sessions. Pierce’s choreographic work features movement and partnering that allows dancers of all genders equal agency, dismantling the traditional gender dynamics of dance. Today, Pierce’s choreography has been performed by American Ballet Theatre, Carolina Ballet, Columbia Ballet Collaborative, Ashley Bouder Project, and featured in festivals and galas such as Hamptons Dance Project, Kaatsbaan Fall Dance Festival, Fire Island Dance Festival, Mainly Mozart Festival, and Adrienne Arsht Center’s Annual Gala. She has completed residencies with Center for Ballet and the Arts at NYU and Bridge Street Theatre. Pierce was recognized by Dance Magazine as one of “25 to Watch” in 2022.

Pierce’s work with Queer the Ballet has been featured in The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Guardian, Fjord Review and more. In 2021, the Joyce Theater presented QTB’s film Animals and Angels, and The New Yorker deemed Pierce’s choreography in the film a “velvet revolution.” In April 2022, The Joyce produced Queer the Ballet’s first full evening of work at The Chelsea Factory, which featured works by Pierce and other queer artists.

Adriana is also a proud member of Ring of Keys, an artist service organization that fosters community and visibility for musical theatre artists - onstage and off - who self-identify as queer women, transgender, and gender non-conforming artists.

Read Adriana’s article, ‘Defying Tradition with Pride.’

Co-Founder & Artistic Advisor.

Patricia Delgado (she/her), first generation Cuban-American, was born in Miami, Florida. She was a principal dancer with the Miami City Ballet where she worked for almost 20 years and is currently a freelance artist living in NYC and a member of the dance faculty at The Juilliard School, where she is also a part of their mentorship program. She began her dance training, under cuban tutelage at 5 years old. She spent summers training in NYC at the School of American Ballet and American Ballet Theatre. In 2000, she was the Princess Grace Nominee and Edward Villella invited her to join his company as an apprentice.

Patricia Delgado has performed works by George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Twyla Tharp, Paul Taylor, Anthony Tudor, Richard Alston, Christopher Wheeldon, Edward Villella and Trey McIntyre as well as classical works such as Coppelia, Giselle, and Don Quixote. One of her most memorable performances was performing the role of Juliet in John Cranko's Romeo and Juliet. Patricia has also been incredibly fortunate to have created feature works with choreographers Alexei Ratmansky, Justin Peck, Pam Tanowitz, Jamar Roberts, Lauren Lovette, John Heginbotham, among others.

She has performed at The Bolshoi, in Moscow, at the Theatre du Chatelet, in Paris, France, at the Chicago Dancing Festival, at the Vail International Dance Festival in Colorado and in New York City; at Fall for Dance at City Center, at the Joyce Theater and at the Koch Theatre at Lincoln Center among others.

Patricia has written several essays for dance publications. One entitled “Why I Dance” in January of 2015 for Dance Magazine and one for Dance Spirit Magazine in April of 2013.

She performed as Maggie Anderson in the musical Brigadoon, directed and choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon at Encores! City Center, she starred in the music video “The Dark Side of the Gym” for The National and also appeared as a guest performer on The Tonight Show. She is a repetiteur for Justin Peck. She staged In Creases on Boston Ballet, Ballet Arizona, and for members of The American Ballet Theatre and Heatscape in Dresden, Germany at the Semperoper Ballett. She was an Associate Producer on the 2020 Broadway revival of West Side Story and she is an Associate Choreographer on the feature film West Side Story, directed by Steven Spielberg.

She is devoted to creating a nurturing and positive environment of authenticity, inclusivity, vulnerability and belonging in all that she embarks upon, especially as she ventures into producing work for artists she admires, most recently Queer the Ballet.

Delgado and her husband, Justin Peck, welcomed their daughter Lucia Isabella into this world in March, 2021.

Community Outreach & Assistant Director

Minnie Lane (she/her) is a ballet dancer, writer, and illustrator, but honestly, she’s most well known for her ballet memes and TikToks. She strives to create dialogue about issues in the ballet field and hopes to use social media to make dance scholarship accessible and interesting. Minnie and her social media content has been featured in the New York Times, Jezebel Magazine, and Pointe Magazine. Minnie graduated with honors from Elon University, having completed a grant-winning thesis on Bias in 21st Century Dance Criticism. Minnie is also a member of Ballets with A Twist. You can follow Minnie on TikTok (@minnielane) or Twitter (@theminnielane).

Inclusion and Belonging Coordinator & Administrative Assistant.

Emily DeMaioNewton (they/them) is a queer writer, dancer, and artist. They have written for Dance Magazine about how virtual classes helped them feel more included in ballet as a nonbinary dancer and about how ballet can become more inclusive to autistic dancers. Their non-fiction essays, journalism, and poetry have also been published in the New York Times, Driftwood Press, the Ploughshares blog, and Tricycle: The Buddhist Review. Emily is currently a graduate student at NYU studying Art Therapy, with a focus on working with children and teens with developmental disabilities. Genuine disability inclusion in the arts is one of their primary passions.

Director of Education.

Rosie Elliott (they/she) is a Miami-born dancer and choreographer living and working in New York. They graduated from Barnard College with a BA in Dance and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, and are now pursuing a Masters in Dance Education at Hunter College. Rosie is a passionate advocate for equity in dance pedagogy. Before joining QTB, they started their own organization REmove Collective to promote visibility for trans, queer, and gender non-conforming dancers.

Producer & Project Manager.

Jillian Brinberg (she/her) Jillian is an arts administrator and an arts lover, based in New York City. She has worked as a Company Manager for the ABT Studio Company, the Martha Graham Dance Company and The Public Theater, and in the General Management office of American Ballet Theatre. Her freelance work includes producing and general management work for CoLab Dance, Ballet Sun Valley, The Hamptons Dance Project, and Isabella Boylston's hometown performances, among others.