#alyah baker

[blackqueernotables]

Alyah Baker: dancer, artist, and scholar

[swanlake1998]

Article: Lesbians in Ballet: ‘Has Anyone Like Me Ever Walked These Halls?’

Date: June 1, 2021

By: Siobhan Burke

Ballet’s strict gender norms put pressure on women to conform. But dancers who don’t are finding they’re not alone.

As a teenage ballet student in the 1990s, Katy Pyle had no interest in dating: not boys, not girls, not anyone. A serious love interest — all consuming, really — was already in the picture: ballet.

“I didn’t have space for any other relationships in my life,” Pyle, who uses the pronouns they and them, said in a phone interview from their home in Brooklyn. “It’s silly, but that was my true love.”

Looking back now, at 40 — as a genderqueer lesbian and the founder of the joyful, iconoclastic ballet company Ballez — Pyle can see that relationship more clearly, how it kept them from knowing their full self. Growing up, they knew many openly gay male dancers. But in Pyle’s mind, they said, to be a ballet dancer, gay and a woman “just wasn’t a possibility.”

“I truly was a stranger to myself until I got out of ballet,” said Pyle (who notes that while they are a lesbian and feminist, they don’t fully identify as a woman). “I did not ever know a lesbian in ballet in my training, and it was hard to even find lesbians in the culture at large. There was a real lack of representation, which kept me closeted and confused.”

As Pyle observed from a young age, ballet — a form based in rigidly gendered aesthetic values — is not a world without queer people. But those who are most visible, and have been historically, are gay men. To be a lesbian in ballet, or queer and not a man, is often to feel like the only one, to wonder, in the words of the choreographer Adriana Pierce, who trained at the School of American Ballet: “Has anyone ever done this? Has anyone like me ever walked these halls?”

Ballet upholds narrow ideals for everyone: for men, the archetype of the chivalrous prince; for women, the elusive swan or sylph. Women are expected to look weightless (an image reinforced by the pointe shoe), men more outwardly muscular. Men learn to lift, women to be lifted. In classrooms, strict male and female dress codes often apply.

But within these confines, women typically face greater pressure to conform, in part because there are more of them; competition is steeper. As Pyle puts it: “If Katy Pyle is not living up to the expectations of how to be, there are 20 other young women who want that place.”

Challenging those expectations can be risky and isolating. But more celebrations of difference are emerging. Over the past year, aided by the downtime of the pandemic and the ease of meeting online in the age of Zoom, queer ballet dancers, in particular those socialized as women in their training, have been forging stronger networks and creating work that affirms they’re not alone.

In very different ways, two new ballet projects, both to be released online by the Joyce Theater this month, allow dancers to be their authentic selves. In a livestream on June 10, Ballez, which turns 10 this year, will unveil “Giselle of Loneliness,” a radical re-envisioning of the classic romantic ballet “Giselle.” And Pierce’s “Animals and Angels,” a short film starring the dancers Cortney Taylor Key and Audrey Malek in a duet on pointe, will have its premiere on June 21.

In a still-developing project, the dance artist and scholar Alyah Baker, 39, has been exploring her artistic lineage as a queer Black woman in ballet. For her recent master’s thesis at Duke University, “Quare Dance,” she brought together three dancers (on Zoom) who share her intersection of identities: Malek, a member of the Washington Ballet Studio Company; Key, a freelance artist in New York; and Kiara Felder, a dancer with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montreal.

“Always being the only one is a thing I’ve experienced a lot,” Baker said, “either the only Black woman, or the only Black dancer, or the only queer dancer or queer woman in certain circles.” Her research, she added, “was really motivated by: I know I’m not the only one.”

The dance historian Clare Croft, editor of the book “Queer Dance: Meanings and Makings,” notes that because ballet training starts so young for women, to have diverse role models is essential. “Looking up to the older girls is so hard baked into what it means to grow up as a woman in ballet,” Croft said. “So having people who are out as lesbians or queer women is exponentially more important.”

‘I want a Juliet and Juliet’

Throughout her career, Pierce, 32, who danced for New York City Ballet and Miami City Ballet, rarely encountered other lesbian ballet dancers. So last fall, when she saw an article in Pointe magazine about queer women in ballet, she instantly contacted one of the featured dancers, Lauren Flower, a former member of Boston Ballet and the founder of the blog Queer Women Dancers. Together they reached out to others with similar experiences and organized what Flower calls “a big queer Zoom call.”

“We all had the same stories of feeling isolated,” Pierce said. “I can’t overstate how life-changing it has been to talk to other people that understand.”

Through that group, Pierce met Key, who reached out to her with an idea. Key, 30, wanted to dance with another woman on pointe; would Pierce choreograph it? She already had a partner in mind: Audrey Malek. “I was like, I want to dance with Audrey, because I wanted it to be another Black woman,” Key said. “And I want to be in love. I want a Juliet and Juliet.”

Pierce was on board. The resulting duet is part of a larger initiative she has since started, #QueerTheBallet, which encompasses new experiments in ballet partnering, especially among women and nonbinary dancers. (Same-sex partnering rarely happens in ballet, but when it does, it’s more often between men.)

Malek, 23, has little patience for restrictive gender roles. “Seeing a choreographer say women aren’t supposed to lift men — well what if they can, though?” she said, referring to a much-discussed 2017 Facebook post by the choreographer Alexei Ratmansky, in which he breezily posited, “There is no such thing as equality in ballet.”

At a recent rehearsal, Malek and Key practiced lifting and supporting each other, figuring out how to position their weight.

“It’s not about how strong you are but how you use your strength,” Malek said in a conversation afterward. And Key was feeling like herself in a new way. “I’ve only done one other dance where I played a lesbian,” she said, “but it was contemporary, and I wasn’t out, and I didn’t want anybody to know, so I didn’t attack it the same way. Now I’m more invested, and it’s freer.”

‘I had to be more one or the other’

Baker, who grew up dancing in Raleigh, N.C., and Pittsburgh, describes her experience of coming out to her ballet colleagues as relatively painless. She had just graduated from college and moved to California to dance with Oakland Ballet. In the company, she said, “I was around a bunch of gay men who took me under their wing and were like, ‘Yeah girl, this is OK.’”

Her only discomfort, Baker said, was that “my queer identity and my dance identity felt really separate. I just didn’t see other queer folks that identified like me within ballet.”

In 2017 Baker created Ballet for Black and Brown Bodies, a class designed to be as inclusive as possible, especially for queer and transgender people of color. In a similar spirit, “Quare Dance,” a project she plans to develop further, embraces all the layers of her identity. “In some feminist and queer movements, race can sort of be extracted,” Baker said. “The specificity of how that might make the experience different is not always highlighted. And then in ballet, race is just a major complicating factor.”

“Often,” she added, “I’ve felt I had to be more one or the other” — more Black or more queer — “depending on what space I was moving through. I really just wanted a space where all of those pieces could coexist in harmony, without needing to choose.”

Working with Key, Malek and Felder over Zoom, Baker invited them to reflect on who they are through writing and improvised movement. “It helped me tap into a really comfortable place within myself,” Felder said. “It made me a stronger artist.”

‘This has always been here’

Over the past decade, Ballez — described on its website as a place for “all the queers that ballet has left out” — has been playfully reinventing canonical story ballets. For inspiration, Pyle has looked to the shadows of queer ballet history, a process of “finding my dancestors,” they said.

In their research, they were surprised to discover the feminist and gender-bending work of the choreographer Bronislava Nijinska, in particular the garçonne character in her 1924 ballet “Les Biches.” Created for the ballerina Vera Nemtchinova, that androgynous role is a rarity for women in ballet.

“It was shocking and also affirming and angering,” Pyle said, “to think, ‘Wow, this has always been here. What I’m doing is not new. It’s just been made invisible.’”

Pyle’s early breakup with ballet — they left after high school and dived into experimental dance, before a reunion in the form of Ballez — had to do with gender expression and body image as much as sexuality, though all of it was intertwined. In their early teens, Pyle felt drawn toward “jumping really big, using force in my movement,” they said. “And that was definitely criticized.”

“I was always being told to lose weight and get smaller,” they added. “My teachers said to me, ‘You would have had a great career if you were born a boy.’”

In Pyle’s rethinking of “Giselle,” the love interest who betrays Giselle (Albrecht) is ballet itself. The work is a series of solos for seven cast members, versions of Giselle’s famous “mad scene,” that stem from exploring — and transcending — how ballet has betrayed each dancer.

The dancer MJ Markovitz, 22, who is nonbinary, has come up against the bifurcation of ballet training: for instance, asking to take men’s ballet class and being told they couldn’t. In their “mad scene” solo, Markovitz said, they are “harnessing the strength I’ve always had, the power that’s inside of me — trying to let go of these gendered expectations on both sides.”

“I think maybe everyone does that in their own way in their solo,” Markovitz added, “just embraces the truest, fullest, most authentic picture of themselves.”

That’s Pyle’s hope for the dancers of Ballez — and for all who love ballet. “It should be a given that we’re allowed to be ourselves and still do ballet,” Pyle said. “You should be able to be any version of a human that you are, and that you want to be, and do the art form that you love.”

[nsula]

ROTC cadets honored during Spring 2019 awards program

NATCHITOCHES – Northwestern State University’s Department of Military Science hosted an end-of-semester awards program for cadets in the Reserve Officer Training Corps. The 69th Demon Battalion Spring Awards Ceremony highlighted the accomplishments of cadets in and out of the classroom.

 Academic honors were presented to Cadets Clayton Casner and Cole Spoon, President’s List (4.0) students, and Cadets Karl Marzahl, MacKenzie Buie-Grace, Joseph Orchi, William Jenson, Gennyfer Pena, Alyah Cortez and Seth Ozsoy, Dean’s List (3.50-3.99) students. 

 Cadets who earned honors for 4.0 grade point averages in military science were John Ham, Karl Marzahl, Mackenzie Buie-Grace, Eboni Phidd, Maria-Magdalena Torres, Neil Garcia, William Jensen, Ethan Lewis, GEnnyfer Pena, Adrian Vandiver, Clayton Casner, Alyah Cortez, Daja Easter, Caleb Krikorian, Trenton Malmay, Madison Miller, Seth Ozsoy, Cole Spooner, Dylan Trueblood, Terran Turner, Alex Wade and Katelyn Watson.

 Cadet Caleb Krikorian received the Sons of American Revolution Award presented to a meritorious cadet who has displayed good standing militarily and scholastically.  He or she must be enrolled in the first year of the program and show a high degree of merit with respect to leadership qualities, soldierly bearing and excellence.

 Four MS 4 senior cadets were recognized by Lt. Col Wendell Bender.

 Cadet Logan DeOre served as the Command Sergeant Major and received the Field Training Exercise Award and the National Sojourners Award presented in recognition of the highest attributes of Americanism and support of the United States as a member of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps.  

 Cadet John Ham served as Executive Officer and Co0captain of the Ranger Challenger Team for three years.  He received the Cadet Scholar GP Award, the Field Training Exercise Award and the AUSA Military History Award.

 Cadet Brandon Homan received the Recruiting Award and the Field Training Exercise Award.

 Cadet Karl Marzahl served as the Demon Battalion Commander this year and co-captain of the Ranger Challenge Team for three years. He received the Silver Medal Athlete Award, the Recruiting Athlete Award and the Field Training Exercise Award. He also received the award for the Most Outstanding Cadet, Cadet Leadership Course, and the Colonel Tomas Baker Award annually presented to an outstanding senior cadet who exhibits exemplary traits of dedication and leadership. He also received the Lion’s Club Award presented annually to a cadet who has shown excellence in leadership. The selected cadet must have excelled over the course of the year in all facets of military science and must uphold the highest ideals of patriotism and fidelity.

 MS-3 junior-level cadets were recognized.

 Cadet Justin L. Broussard received the Field Training Exercise Award.  

 Cadet Mackenzie Buie-Grace is the Battalion’s Executive Officer and the Detachment Commander for LSU-S, a partnership school. He received the Recruiting Award and the Field Training Exercise Award. He also received the AUSA ROTC Medal given to an outstanding junior cadet who contributes the most towards advancing the standing of the Military Science Department and is in the top 10 percent of their class in ROTC and the top 25 percent of their class in other subjects.

 Cadet Larancion Magee is the Assistant S1, Administrative Officer. He received the Recruiting Award and the Field Training Exercise Award.

 Cadet Joseph S. Orchi is the S-3 Operations and Training Officer.  He received the Recruiting Award and the Field Training Exercise Award.  He also received the award for Most Outstanding Cadet, Cadet Initial Entry Training, Fort Knox, Kentucky.

 Cadet Eboni C. Phidd is the S1 Administrative Officer.  She received the Recruiting Award and the Field Training Exercise Award. Phidd also received the American Legion Scholastic Excellence Award presented by Gordon Peters Post 10. The award is presented to the cadet in the top 10 percent of his or her class in academic subjects, is ranked in the top 25 percent of ROTC classes and has demonstrated sound leadership potential.

 Cadet Maria-Magdalena Bansil-Torres will be the 2019-20 Battalion Commander and Ranger Challenge Captain.  She received the award for the most improved GPA, the Silver Medal Athlete and the Field Training Exercise Award. Bansil-Torres also received the Knights of Columbus 4th Degree Patriotic Award presented to a junior who has been selected for patriotic standards above and beyond all others, and the Military Officers Association of America Award for an outstanding junior-level cadet who has demonstrated exceptional potential for military leadership.

 Cadet Terran D. Turner is the S-2 Military Intelligence Officer.  He received the Cadet Honors GPA Award and the Field Training Exercise Award.

 MS-2 sophomore-level cadets were recognized.

 Cadet Tanner Delphin is the S-6, Communications Officer.  He received the Field Training Exercise Award.

 Cadet Neil Garcia is the  Assistant S-4, Logistics Officer.  He received the Cadet Honors GPA Award and the Field Training Exercise Award.

 Cadet Ronesha Johnson received the Recruiting Award.

 Cadet Ethan P. Lewis is the 2019-2020 Battalion Command Sergeant Major and Ranger Challenge Co-Captain.  He received Cadet Honors GPA, Recruiting Award and Field Training Exercise Award. He also received the AMVETS medal and certificate presented to an outstanding cadet for diligence in the discharge of duties and the willingness to serve God and country for the mutual benefit of all.

 Cadet Jordan Loyd is the Platoon Sergeant.  He received the Recruiting Award and the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry Award that recognizes a cadet who has contributed most among cadets on campus to encourage and demonstrate patriotism by deeds or conduct during participation in extracurricular activities or community projects with demonstrated academic excellence and potential for outstanding leadership.

 Cadet Deasheneire Payne received the award for most improved score on the Army Physical Fitness Test.

 Cadet Gennyfer Pena is the Assistant S-3, Operations and Training Officer.  She received the Gold Medal Athlete Award for scoring the highest of all cadets this semester, the Recruiting Award and the Field Training Exercise Award. Pena also received the award of the General Society of the War of 1812 that recognizes an outstanding sophomore of high moral character and good academic standing.

 Cadet Robert Sneed is the Detachment Commander for LSU-A, a partnership school.  He received the award for the Most Improved Cadet, MS II class.

 Cadet Adrian Vandiver received the Recruiting Award and the Field Training Exercise Award. Vandiver also received the award of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War given to a cadet who has shown a high degree of patriotism to the nation and has demonstrated a high degree of academic performance and leadership.

 MS-1 first-year cadets were recognized.

 Clayton Casner received the Award for Most Improved Cadet in the MS-1 class.  He earned the Recruiting Award and the Field Training Exercise Award.

 Cadet Alyah Cortez received the Military of Foreign Wars of the United States Award presented for exceptional leadership potential.

 Cadet Daja Easter received the Cadet Scholar GPA Award.

 Cadet Trenton Malmay is the 2019-2020 Company First Sergeant. He received the Silver Medal Athlete Award.

 Cadet Madison Miller received the Recruiting Award and the USAA Spirit Award that recognizes the cadet who best displays the traits and characteristics that embody the spirit of service to others.

 Cadet Seth Ozsoy received the Recruiting Award and the Field Training Exercise Award. He also received the Military Order of the Purple Heart Leadership award presented to an underclassman with a positive attitude toward ROTC and country.  The cadet must hold a leadership position in the cadet corps and be active in school and community affairs.

 Cadet Cole Spooner is an Assistant S-2, Military Intelligence Officer.  He received the Bronze Medal Athlete Award.

 Cadet Dylan Trueblood received the Cadet Honors GPA Award and the Veterans of Foreign Ward award presented to an undergraduate student who has demonstrated achievement and concentrated effort in military subjects with demonstrated capability and diligence in the ROTC program.

 Cadet Alex Wade received the Cadet Honors GPA Award and the Recruiting Award.  Wade also received the Award of the Daughters of Founders and Patriots of America given to a freshman who has demonstrated potential for good leadership as well as demonstrated similar or related accomplishments reflecting the ideals of patriotism.

 Cadet Katelyn Watson also received the Daughters of the American Revolution Award presented to a cadet who shows outstanding ability and achievement and has demonstrated dependability and good character, leadership ability and patriotic understanding of the importance of ROTC training.

 Cadets who volunteer to serve in the National Guard Military Funeral Honors program

render final honors to service members who have paid the ultimate sacrifice in service to the nation.  This service is one of the last memories that Veterans’ families will have of that person,

so those Guardsmen devote additional time to training.  They must know and execute precise drill and ceremony, casket and urn sequences, flag folds, how to conduct a firing party and uniform maintenance.  

             Cadets Caleb Krikorian and Trenton Malmay were recognized for serving in the Louisiana Army National Guard Military Funeral Honors program.

 The award of the Military Order of World Wars is presented to a cadet form each class who excels in all military and scholastic aspects of the ROTC program.  Cadets Karl Marzahl, Terran Turner, William Jensen and Trenton Malmay were recognized with the citation from the Lieutenant Tory H. Middle Chapter in appreciation for demonstrated excellence in academic and military studies, application of leadership principles and desire to serve the country.  Honorees also exhibited qualities of dependability, good character and adherence to military discipline to bring credit to the NSU’s ROTC unit and the university.

 The U.S. Army Sergeant York Award is presented to a cadet who excels in the program and devotes additional time and effort to maintaining and expanding it.  This year’s recipient was Cadet Ethan Lewis.

 The Leadership Excellence Award recognizes a cadet who demonstrates leadership ability in the program, across campus and in civic activities. This year’s Leadership Excellence Award was presented to Cadet Karl Marzahl.

 The Cadet Commendation Medal recognizes those who contributed extraordinary efforts to the program and the Cadet Achievement Medal recognizes those who displayed outstanding efforts to the ROTC program. Cadets who received the Cadet Commendation Medal were Cadets Katelyn Watson, Gennyfer Pena and Mari-Magdalena Bansil.  Cadets who received the Cadet Achievement Medal were Cadets Cole Spooner, Ethan Lewis and Mackenzie Buie-Grace.

 Tops cadets from each class were also recognized as those who show academic and military leadership and demonstrate strong officer potential.  The cadets volunteer, speak up, encourage others to improve and rise above their peers to build their program.  This year’s Superior Cadet Award recipients were Cadet Seth Ozsoy, Top MS I;  Cadet Ethan Lewis, Top MS-2; Cadet Mackenzue Buie-Grace, Top MS III, and Cadet John Ham, Top MS IV.

 Scholarship recipients were also recognized.  Cadet Ronesha Johnson earned the Jeanice Leadership and Excellence Schoalrship given to an active ROTC cadet who participates in at least two other activities at NSU, maintains a high GPA and demonstrates leadership Potential.

 Cadet Gennyfer Pena earned the Malcolm Daisy Scholarship given as a reward for perseverance against adversity.  The scholarship recognizes a cadet’s drive to serve one’s country as a U.S. Army officer and exhibits all Army values on a regular basis.  

 Cadet Alex Wade earned the James A. Noe Memorial Scholarship presented to a cadet who displays a high degree of leadership potential, a high standard of moral conduct and support of the NSU ROTC program.

 Cadet Marzahl was recognized for his leadership as Battalion Commander this past year and an engraved Leatherman multitool.  

              A Commissioning Ceremony for graduating ROTC cadets who will take the Oath of Commissioned Officers will take place at 1:30 p.m. Friday, May 10 in the TEC/Middle Lab School Auditorium.  Cadets Dominitra Charles, Logan DeOre, John Ham and Karl Marzahl will take the oath to serve as second lieutenants in the U.S. Army. The public is invited to attend.  The oath will be repeated during the 3 p.m. commencement program in Prather Coliseum.

             Information about NSU’s Department of Military Science and ROTC Program is available at rotc.nsula.edu.  

[instapicsil1]

Join us and VSCO community member Alyah Baker (@absees) on May 7th at the Alena Museum in Oakland, CA for an immersive evening dedicated to art, dance, and activism. Link in bio for RSVP or visit artandactivism.splashthat.com https://ift.tt/2rkvaqj

[swanlake1998]

alyah baker photographed for the new york times by alycee byrd