Jayna Noel Ledford is a Filipino-American transgender ballet dancer. She performed with Eastern Shore Ballet Theater in Maryland and is a former student at the Kirov Academy of Ballet in Washington, D.C. After coming out as a transgender woman, Ledford lost her scholarship at the Kirov Academy and disenrolled from the school, as they did not permit her to continue her studies as a female dancer. She then trained in classical ballet at First State Dance Academy in Delaware.

Early life

Ledford was born in Leyte, Philippines.[1] She was adopted by the Ledford family, of Indiana, when she was seventeen months old.[1] The family later moved to Salisbury, Maryland in 2008 and then to Frederica, Delaware in 2015.[2][1]

Ballet

Ledford began training in ballet when she was five years old.[3] She attended summer intensives on full scholarship at the Kirov Academy of Ballet in Washington, D.C., The Rock School for Dance Education in Philadelphia, and with Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre in Pittsburgh.[1] In 2008, she began training at the Salisbury Dance Academy in Maryland and performed with the Eastern Shore Ballet Theater in The Nutcracker, Coppélia, and The Seven Dwarfs.[1][4] During this time she also performed at Disney World.[1]

She was offered a full scholarship, as a male dancer,[5] to attend the Kirov Academy of Ballet in Washington, D.C. as a full-time student.[3][6] While a student at Kirov, Ledford came out as a transgender woman and began transitioning.[3][7] Her social and medical transition led to her losing the dance scholarship, so she took a year off from school to train en pointe under Michele Xiques as a female dancer at First State Dance Academy.[8][1] A month into pointe training, Ledford was cast as Snow Queen in First State's production of The Nutcracker.[2]

Personal life

After finishing high school, she attended Montclair State University majoring in dance and exercise science.[3][9] She also became involved in Filipino and LGBTQ+ student groups at Montclair.[3][10]

Legacy

A dance studio at Midwest Movement Collective in Grand Rapids, Michigan is named after Ledford.[11]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Jay Ledford's journey as a Filipino-American transgender ballerina".
  2. 1 2 This Transgender Ballerina Is Raising the Bar, retrieved 2023-01-24
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Jayna Ledford is "En Pointe" as a Successful Trans Ballerina". badasserylife.com. Retrieved 2023-01-24.
  4. ↑ "How is the Ballet World Including Non-Binary Dancers?" (PDF).
  5. ↑ "Trans Ballerina Jayna Ledford Is Shattering Stereotypes". NowThis News. July 2019. Retrieved 2023-01-24.
  6. ↑ "We Can't Get Enough of This Beautiful Transgender Ballerina". Pointe Magazine. 2018-07-04. Retrieved 2023-01-24.
  7. ↑ Ledford, Jayna (2018-09-19). "Jayna Ledford on Her Journey as a Transgender Ballerina". Dance Spirit. Retrieved 2023-01-24.
  8. ↑ "▶️ Meet The Trans Ballerina Fighting For Equal Opportunity In Dance". HuffPost. 2019-07-08. Retrieved 2023-01-24.
  9. ↑ Choreographers 2021-06-07T08:00:14.395Z2021-06-10T19:52:03.881Z, STU Arts DanceCelebrating Pride month with Influential LGBTQ+ Dancers and (2021-06-07). "Celebrating Pride month with Influential LGBTQ+ Dancers and Choreographers". STU Arts Dance. Retrieved 2023-01-24.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  10. ↑ "Jayna Ledford is "En Pointe" and living her badassery life as a transgender ballerina". Listen Notes. 31 May 2020. Retrieved 2023-01-24.
  11. ↑ Enos, Lisa (2022-09-02). "Dancing in the dark?". Grand Rapids Business Journal. Retrieved 2023-01-24.
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