Kind of made me very uncomfortable being different
and wearing not the tights and leotards,
so, one day I went into class wearing tights and a leotard
and the teacher turned me away.
The teacher told me basically that I was not allowed
to wear tights and a leotard and that I had to wear
the male uniform if I wanted to continue at that studio.
I realized that I wanted to be a ballet dancer
when I first performed in 'The Nutcracker.'
I really enjoyed performing
and I really enjoyed being on stage
seeing how the audience reacts to the dancers.
It just gives you a nice feeling
that you're giving back to them
and I wanted to just do that for the rest of my life.
I was contemplating September through December
on coming out and what my reactions would be
and how it would change the way that I dance,
and I really didn't care at that point,
I just wanted to be myself and I let the world know.
Wearing a male costume and performing after I came out,
it was very uncomfortable.
I knew that coming out would put a lot at risk
for my dance career, but at the same time
it was really rewarding for me
to see everyone being so positive about it.
It was very heartwarming to hear a lot of my friends
and family that were very open and accepting right away.
I was told how inspiring I was to other people,
how other people are able to come out because of me,
and just hearing that from other people is what matters.
Transitioning from male training to female training
in pointe shoes, it was really difficult.
Just being able to move around
in pointe shoes I had to get used to.
I was also up against girls that had been on pointe
since they were 11, 12 years old.
So trying to catch up with them was something
that I've really struggled with.
Just knowing the fact that I was able
to be on pointe really helped.
We can solve a lot of problems with the LGBTQ community
in the ballet world just being more inclusive in classes.
There are some studios that have male and female classes,
but I also know a lot of times the male class
is separated from the female class
and it's two totally different things
and they're both learning different stuff
within their classes.
So I really think being inclusive in all classes,
making people feel comfortable
is something that should be worked on.
My favorite role that I want to be is 'Sleeping Beauty.'
I think that's like my favorite ballet.
Advice I would give to younger dancers
is to just be themselves and not be afraid
of what other people think,
and to understand that you can't change people's minds,
you can only educate them as best you can.