When Birgitte was 6 years old, she started taking a ballet class. She shares that she took the classes, had the recital and she shares that that experience woke the little ballerina in her. After that class she kept begging with her parents to take more classes, but they didn’t allow her to. She ended up taking some ballet classes for her P.E. credit in college and she shares that she loved it but it was absolutely terrifying. At 53 years old was when Birgitte finally fulfilled her dream to become a ballerina. Birgitte started with one to two classes per week and within 6 months she was taking fourteen classes and was en pointe. Since then, she hasn’t stopped dancing and loves what she does.

Journey & Identity Through Dance

Pride month is upon us and what better way to celebrate pride than to highlight queer dancers in the Seattle community! We got the opportunity to speak with local teacher and dancer Annie St. Marie about their experience with the dance and LGBTQIA+ community. Read on to learn more about Annie’s dancing journey and their identity in the dance world!

Living My Truth Out Loud: Embracing Human Expression

“Human expression on the most natural level is non-binary,” said Ashton Edwards, former Dancewear Center (DWC) Ambassador, in an interview for the DWC Blog. Ashton is a dancer with Pacific Northwest Ballet, and an exquisite one. I’ve been following them on Instagram since they partnered with the DWC ambassador program in 2020. They inspire me and give me hope because when I was growing up, queer dancers were invisible.

Beyond the Artist: Exploring Identity Outside Dance

Dance is just one part of our identity, one culture that we belong to. It’s important for dancers to understand this, and it is important for them to feel affinity with other parts of their identity so that they understand they have other identities and other communities where they belong. It’s about finding balance. So, invite both your or your child’s dance and school friends to birthday parties, take a night off dance to spend time with your family, spend the summer trying a new sport or movement style— it is okay to take time off, it is okay to try out different interests, and it is important to make sure dancers understand this because the only constant in life is change and we need to prepare our young dancers to be flexible when change occurs so they can process it with strength and grace.

Providing Opportunity Through Community Classes

Moving forward, Lex wishes for dance teachers to communicate with one another more. There’s a strong feeling of competition that runs across the dance industry, causing teachers, dancers, and other industry professionals to retreat to their silos. Lex points out that it’s hard for dancers and teachers to grow when they feel like they’re being judged. “There’s this weird expectation that if you’re a teacher, you have to be good at everything and that’s just not realistic,” Lex says. “So it’s hard to find a space in your community as a teacher, where you feel like you can work on yourself free of judgment.” She says that it would be great for Drop Zone to host events where teachers can come into conversation with one another about their unique struggles.