American Ballet Theatre’s 2024 Pride Night celebration took place on Wednesday June 26 at the Metropolitan Opera House, alongside a performance of Wayne McGregor’s Woolf Works, a ballet triptych inspired by Virginia Woolf’s novels Mrs. Dalloway, Orlando and The Waves. Woolf Works explores questions of sexuality and gender identity, paying homage to Woolf as a queer and literary icon.

The evening was full of festivities celebrating the LGTBTQIA+ community.

Performance

Playbills for the night featured an insert with a welcome and introduction to Pride Night, an article titled “Virginia Woolf’s Queer Imagination,” written by scholar Iseult Gillespie, and spotlights on local LGBTQIA+ organizations, including The Trevor Project, Ali Forney Center, GLAAD, Anti-Violence Project, and NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project.

The performance was preceded by a pre-curtain speech and welcome by ABT corps de ballet dancer Jacob Clerico.

At bows during the conclusion of the performance, ABT Principal Dancers Devon Teuscher and James Whiteside held up a pride flag signed by ABT’s dancers, a symbol of the Company’s support of Pride Month and the LGBTQIA+ community. The flag will be auctioned until June 30, and all proceeds will benefit ABT RISE – ABT’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiative program.

Leopold Allen Exhibit

ABT also curated an exhibit honoring Leopold Allen, ABT’s first Hair and Makeup Supervisor, who was a vital member of the Company until he passed away from AIDS in 1989. The exhibit is available to view all season next to the vitrine in the South TV Lounge and in the Richard Tucker Case in the North TV Lounge in the Metropolitan Opera House. The exhibit features personal quotes, photographs of Leopold with the Company, and personal items of Leopold donated by his family.

Silent Disco

Pride Night concluded with the ABT Silent Disco  as part of Lincoln Center’s Summer for the City, a free, public performing arts series that audience members and New Yorkers alike could join following that evening’s Woolf Works performance. The Silent Disco was co-hosted by former ABT dancer Conor Holloway and DJ Remeice. Despite inclement weather, the ABT Silent Disco was still held after a brief delay and celebrated Pride Month with the city.

The writer, Paige Shea, was an ABT Press Intern for Summer 2024.