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spotlight

Dance and Dancers

   
Artistic dance has proven to be a haven for glbtq people, who have made significant contributions in almost every area, including choreography, performance, and teaching.

Alvin Ailey in 1955
Alvin Ailey in 1955

Alvin Ailey (1931-1989), an African-American dancer and choreographer, celebrated his heritage and translated his pain into art.

Maud Allan (1873-1956) achieved fame as a "Salome Dancer," but she is best remembered for a libel suit she brought against a newspaper publisher for alleging that she was a lesbian.

Ballet has an enduring connection with male homosexuality that may be related to the art's remarkably masculine provenance.

The Ballets Russes made dance history. As one of the earliest gay-identified multinational enterprises, it was also important in gay history.

Erik BruhnErik Bruhn (1928-1986, right) was the premier male dancer of the 1950s and epitomized the handsome prince and cavalier on the international ballet stage of the decade.

 
 
 

Isadora Duncan PerformingIsadora Duncan (1878-1927), the mother of modern dance, brought her feminist consciousness to the stage. In her bohemian private life, she constantly challenged society's rules.

 
Robert Joffrey (1928-1988) created a major dance company and promoted gender parity in ballet.

Bill T. Jones (b. 1951) is a charismatic performer, gifted choreographer, and long-term survivor of AIDS.

Fiercely ambitious, Serge Lifar (1905-1986) used his extraordinary looks and charismatic personality to rise to the ranks of leading international ballet dancers.

Miguel de Molina (1908-1993) reinvented the Spanish flamenco performance, but his career was plagued by hostility toward his open gayness.

Vaslav NijinskyVaslav Nijinsky (1889-1950) was one of the greatest dancers and most innovative choreographers in the history of ballet.

 

 
 
  Rudolf NureyevRudolf Nureyev (1938-1993) was the greatest dancer of his time.  He also gave the world a new and glamorous image of a sexually active gay man.  
 
  Jerome RobbinsJerome Robbins (1918-1998) was a bisexual choreographer and director.  He was both a great choreographer of classical ballet and a Broadway innovator, but he was fearful that he might be outed.  
 
 

Paul TaylorDancer and choreographer Paul Taylor has been an important presence in American dance since the 1950s.  When he wrote his autobiography, at the age of 57, Taylor revealed his ambivalence about sex and gender in dance and life, remarking that to "pick partners of consistent gender would've run against an arbitrary streak" that he considers one of his strengths.

 
 
  Tommy Tune (b. 1939) is the only person to have won Tonys in four different categories.  
 

more on Dance >>

 
 
  Photo Credits:  Alvin Ailey photographed by Carl van Vechten.  Rudolph Nureyev, detail from a photograph by Richard Avedon.  Photographs of Jerome Robbins and Paul Taylor are both details from photographs by Carl Van Vechten,  Images of Ailey, Duncan, Nijinsky, Robbins, and Taylor appear courtesy of the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.   
 
 

 
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