Katy Pyle is an American ballet dancer.[1][2][3] As a child, Pyle was told they were too strong to dance as a girl.[4] They also never met a lesbian ballet dancer.[5] Pyle wants more people to feel welcome in dance.[4] They want to help people find happiness in dance.[4] They created the dance company Ballez. Ballez is a place for people who are underrepresented in ballet.[4] They are also the creator and choreographer of Sleeping Beauty and the Beast, and Giselle of Loneliness.[4][3]
Pyle was a ballet student in 1990. They identify as a genderqueer lesbian. They use they/them pronouns. A Ballet teacher told them that they would have a better career if they were a boy. Because they wanted to dance in a way that was “more masculine.” Ballet is often divided by gender. Pyle felt a lack of representation. They felt confused about their identity.
Pyle researched queer ballet dancers. Pyle was inspired by the people they learned about. Bronislava Nijinska was a ballet choreographer. Nijinska created the ballet Les Bitches. Pyle felt happy and mad. They were happy because there were people like them. They were sad because these people were made invisible.