Dance, which is very much about self-expression and being in one’s body, remains one of the most gendered art forms. Female and male dancers are typically paired — with gendered attire and undertones of romantic coupling.
On today’s show, we’ll dig deep into the Bay Area’s queer and trans dance scene with profiles of artists who are helping to redefine our assumptions about gender. These pieces originally aired on KALW’s “Sights and Sounds” hosted by Jenee Darden:
- Roberto Vega Ortiz is a ballet dancer who founded “Ballet22.” The company’s mission is to break gender norms, which they do by presenting men, trans, and non-binary artists “en pointe,” a technique almost exclusively performed by women.
- Bay Area pole dancer Joshuah Ciafardone seeks to smash the patriarchy one eight-inch heel at a time.
- Jahaira Fajardo and Angelica Medina are a Latin dance duo who have won competitions dancing bachata. The queer women continue to challenge the heteronormativity of the Latin dance world.
- Trans aerialist Myles Hochman chatted with Jenee Darden in 2023 about how aerial dance helped them connect to and trust their body.
Lastly, QPH host David Boyer shares his interview from 2015 with D’arcy Drollinger, the founder of Sexitude, the long-running weekly dance class held in a ballet studio in the Castro. D’arcy has since opened the club Oasis and been named the first drag laureate of San Francisco.
