Faculty

Kade Pyle is a genderqueer dancer, choreographer, and teacher. Pyle began dancing professionally in NYC in 2002, performing in the works of John Jasperse, Jennifer Monson, Faye Driscoll, Ivy Baldwin, Xavier Le Roy, and Young Jean Lee. Pyle then founded Ballez in 2011. By centering the experiences of trans, non-binary and genderqueer dancers in practice and creation, Ballez demands that the form of ballet embrace the vitality of positive, inclusive change. Over its fourteen years of existence, Ballez has grown to include a broad community of dancers, audiences and change-makers, gathering around classes, performances and conversations. Ballez has produced four original, full-length story-ballets: The Firebird, a Ballez (2013, Danspace Project), Sleeping Beauty & the Beast (2016, La MaMa), Giselle of Loneliness (2021, The Joyce Theater) and Travesty Doll Play Ballez (after Coppélia) (2024, Chelsea Factory). Pyle has been awarded grants from NYSCA, Harkness, Mellon Foundation, Brooklyn Arts Council, United Artists and the Hodder fund, and residencies at Baryshnikov Arts Center, Gibney, MTA, BAX, Abrons and La Mama. They have brought Ballez classes, artist talks, and repertory to University of Iowa, Princeton, Sarah Lawrence, Yale, Bowdoin, Whitman, Tisch/NYU, Slippery Rock University, Rutgers, ScenSverige, Swarthmore, and Berea College, among others. Pyle currently teaches ballet at Eugene Lang and Marymount Manhattan Colleges, and professional dancers at Gibney Dance. ballez.org

BA Multimedia Performance Art, Hollins University, 2002, summa cum laude

MFA Dance, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, 2024, summa cum laude

Vice Magazine: The Future of Ballet is Inclusive and Queer- https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/9kk5k5/the-future-of-ballet-is-inclusive-and-queer

NBC: This LGBTQ Dance Company Wants to Change How We Think About Gender in Ballet: www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/this-lgbtq-dance-company-wants-to-change-how-we-think-about-gender-in-ballet-973261379728

Hyperallergic: The Dances of the Slavic Goddesses: https://hyperallergic.com/355322/the-dances-of-the-slavic-goddesses/

Teen Vogue: How This NYC Dance Troupe Uses Ballet for Queer Activism: http://www.teenvogue.com/story/dance-troupe-ballez-queer-activism

Salon.com: “Here, I feel very alive and like my voice is being heard”: Meet Ballez, a dance company for transgender, lesbian and queer stories" : http://www.salon.com/2016/04/07/here_i_feel_very_alive_and_like_my_voice_is_being_heard_meet_ballez_a_dance_company_for_transgender_lesbian_and_queer_stories/