WATCH: #QueertheBallet's ANIMALS & ANGELS to be Presented at The Joyce Theater

The Joyce Theater Foundation will feature ballet artists breaking the boundaries of the binary with the premiere of #QueertheBallet's Animals & Angels, under the artistic leadership of choreographer and founder Adriana Pierce. This slice-of-life queer love story featuring two female-identifying dancers en pointe joins The Joyce's Pride 2021 programming for a limited digital event beginning Monday, June 21 at 5pm. A recorded discussion with the artists, moderated by Patricia Delgado, immediately follows the debut. Audiences can stream the free month-long engagement, through July 18, at www.Joyce.org.

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Challenging the gendered roles deeply engrained in the world of classical ballet, #QueertheBallet celebrates Pride with a tender pas de deux for rarely paired female dancers in the premiere of Animals & Angels. Created, performed, and filmed entirely by a team of LGBTQ+ artists led by #QueertheBallet's founder Adriana Pierce and cinematographer Emma Penrose, the work is an affectionate and sensitive depiction of the blossoming of a queer relationship that honors the female dancers' emotional and physical connections to each other. Allowing two women to experience through dance the first moments of intimacy without remaining beholden to traditional ballet's gender roles, Animals & Angels brings inclusion with integrity and pride performed by Audrey Malek and Cortney Taylor Key to the world of classical dance.

Choreographer Adriana Pierce created the initiative #QueertheBallet to broaden the definition and representation of classical ballet to meaningfully include LGBTQ+ narratives and creative voices. Focusing on queer women and non-binary dancers in ballet, #QueertheBallet explores choreographic connections often absent from ballet stages and seeks to "queer" our ballet spaces with intention, authenticity, and pride. By developing and producing works by queer artists, providing aid and support for LGBTQ+ dancers and creators, and promoting and facilitating outreach and education, #QueertheBallet hopes to expand ballet partnering and choreography, open new models of ballet gender representation, shift perspective, inspire conversation, and include communities that have not seen themselves represented on ballet stages.

The Joyce premiere of #QueertheBallet's Animals & Angels will stream beginning Monday, June 21 at 5pm at www.Joyce.org, celebrating New York City Pride and honoring the anniversary of the Stonewall uprising. A recorded discussion with the artists, moderated by Patricia Delgado, immediately follows the debut. Access to Animals & Angels and the artist talkback are free for all audiences and will be available to stream through Sunday, July 18 at 11:59pm. For more information, please visit www.Joyce.org.