ADRIANA
PIERCE
 dancer + choreographer + director

Adriana Pierce (she/her) is a dancer, choreographer, and director based in New York City. After training at School of American Ballet, Pierce began her dancing career  with New York City Ballet and Miami City Ballet, continuing onto Broadway, film, and TV (2018 Broadway Revival of Carousel, Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story, Fosse/Verdon). As a choreographer, Pierce is equally at home creating works for ballet, theater, and film. She is currently the Associate Director/Choreographer for Justin Peck's Tony Award-winning Broadway show, "Illinoise." 

 

The lack of lesbian representation in ballet led her to start Queer the Ballet, an initiative with the mission to widen the scope of classical ballet by producing queer work by queer dance artists. Pierce was recognized by Dance Magazine as one of “25 to Watch” in 2022.

​

Pierce created her first ballet works for the School of American Ballet’s Student Choreography Workshop, and was twice selected to participate in New York Choreographic Institute’s Choreographic Sessions. Pierce’s choreographic work features movement and partnering that allows dancers of all genders equal agency, dismantling the traditional gender dynamics of dance. Today, Pierce’s choreography has been performed by American Ballet Theatre, Carolina Ballet, Columbia Ballet Collaborative, Ashley Bouder Project, Ballet Academy East, and featured in festivals and galas such as Hamptons Dance Project, Kaatsbaan Fall Dance Festival, Fire Island Dance Festival, Hudson Valley Dance Festival, Mainly Mozart Festival, The Joyce Theater’s Ballet Festival, and Adrienne Arsht Center’s Annual Gala. She has completed residencies with Center for Ballet and the Arts at NYU and Bridge Street Theatre, and Baruch Performing Arts Center as a CUNY 2024 Dance Initiative grant recipient.

Pierce’s work with Queer the Ballet (QTB) has been featured in The New York Times, The New Yorker, NBC OUT, The Guardian, Fjord Review and more. In 2021, the Joyce Theater presented QTB’s film Animals and Angels, and The New Yorker deemed Pierce’s choreography in the film a “velvet revolution.” In April 2022, The Joyce produced QTB's first full evening of work at The Chelsea Factory, which featured works by Pierce and other queer artists.