Queer Shadows of Balanchine’s Orpheus (1948)

Abstract

This article examines the ballet Orpheus (1948), choreographed by George Balanchine, and the cultural milieu of queerness surrounding the ballet’s creation. Although Orpheus is known for helping to formally establish the New York City Ballet, the undercurrents of homosexuality in the ballet’s development have received less attention in the historical narrative. Additionally, the dancer Nicholas Magallanes, a gay Mexican American immigrant who starred in the title role, is similarly overlooked. Thus, through choreographic analysis and archival research, I elucidate the collective influence of a constellation of queer men to assert that the significance of Orpheus lies in its queer past.