Tick The Bucket - Interview

I did an interview with inspirational resource site/blog about achieving the dream of becoming a professional dancer in my dream company. Check it out!

James Whiteside is an acclaimed ballet dancer, born in Fairfield, Connecticut, James began his training at age nine. In 2002, Whiteside joined Boston Ballet II and in 2006 James became a second soloist. Whiteside joined American Ballet Theatre as a Soloist in September 2012 and was named a Principal Dancer in October 2013. Since then he has performed in countless stage pieces and has taken his career from strength to strength. We spoke to Jame to try and find out what it would take to tick this item off our Bucket Lists, this is what he said:

James, what does your love of ballet come from?
I believe that my love of ballet comes from an overwhelming love of music. Even when I’m sitting in silence, I see the rhythms in which people move. Each person’s specific gait, a telling dance all their own. Music gives momentum to my inner desire to move, to never sit still. Music has power, manipulative power, and when combined with dance, I feel I’m home.

Is ballet as competitive as people say to become part of?
Like any niche market, ballet is extremely difficult to be successful in. It’s wildly unlikely that your average dance student will be deemed good enough to be employed by a dance company, let alone a prestigious one. As in any field, competition at the top is fierce, but who’s to say it’s any fiercer than the competition at the bottom? My drive, focus, and eager-beaver mentality was paramount to getting opportunities as a young, aspiring ballet dancer. I’m sure those same qualities alienated me from my peers as well. My idea of competition has changed over the years, and I’ve found that even though competition is fierce, it’s important to be supportive of those around you, and to learn from those who inspire you to be better.

What gave you that competitive edge to form a career out of it?
It’s hard to say. Perhaps it’s that I have a large family, and I had to vie for attention. Or maybe it was starting at a small dance school in Connecticut, specialising in jazz, tap, acrobatics, and ballet. We were a youth company that competed nationally. My competitive nature didn’t show itself in all areas of my life. School for instance, wasn’t something I felt competitive about. However, if there was a particular subject I truly adored, I’d give it my all. Even as a child I was very selective of the things that I gave my focus to. It seems I haven’t changed.

What’s been your proudest moment as a dancer?
I can’t believe I’m a principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre. I always thought it was some fanciful dream… until it wasn’t. I’m proud to learn from others, simply by watching, listening. I hope future me will find beautiful new ways to be proud, of myself and those around me.

What obstacles have you faced on your way to the stage?
At times, ballet feels hopeless. There is no feasible way to become the idea of perfection you have living in your mind. The ideal ballet dancer is a myth. Individual dancers are special not because of their perfection, but often times because of their quirks, their daring, and their choices. Learning to accept myself is an ongoing battle; one I’m doing my damnedest to win.

6.What’s your favorite film, book or mantra that keeps you focused when times are hard?

When times are hard, I rifle through my “clippings” in my Kindle reading device. I save passages from the books I read, as I’m reading them, for later perusal. If something strikes me as poignant, funny, ironic, or simply resonates with me, I highlight and save it. When I look back at these passages, it strikes me as funny that they all have recurring themes. It’s not that these words keep me focused, it’s that they remind me who I am and what I believe is important, without even being aware of it at the time as a “clipping”.

Lastly, what’s next on your Bucket List?

I’d like to dance as a guest with New York City Ballet. I miss dancing Balanchine works, and ABT has limited access to those masterpieces. I find myself and my dancing to be “A little bit country, a little bit rock and roll”. A little bit City Ballet, a little bit ABT. What can I say? I’m greedy.

And that was the end of that. If you’d like to follow the rest of James’ career check out his Twitter: @JamesBWhiteside. If this inspired you to follow in James’s foot steps head over to our main website TickTheBucket.org to put this on your Bucket List to be connected to a world of people also trying to make this a reality.

JBDUBS - NYC Piece of Me (Official Music Video)

Here's the music video for my new song "NYC Piece of Me", which I wrote after the Britney Spears "Blackout" era hit. The music video is an homage to 90s competition jazz, which I grew up on. ENJOY! 

Why I Dance

My mother passed away during this past ABT Met Season. It spurred changes in me and my art that I could not have foreseen. I used to tell people that I dance simply because the music obliges me to. As though I’m compelled by some unseen force, like a man possessed. Perhaps that’s the reason I started dancing, but the reason I continue is an entirely different matter.

I had never lost anyone truly close to me before. My mother died of a panoply of cancer. The degeneration of a wildly vital woman was something I will not soon forget. My director and coach, Kevin McKenzie, had often asked me to recall feelings of loss, and apply it to my portrayals. But before this year, death wasn’t a part of my personal reality, and I couldn’t draw from such an experience.

Every Sunday during ABT’s spring season, I would take the train to Connecticut, and my father would pick me up and drive me to visit my mother. I remember being in the middle of Alexei Ratmansky’s Shostakovich Trilogy, dancing his sensitive and brutal “Chamber Symphony,” when I witnessed a real turn in my mother’s health. She became emaciated and incoherent, but instead of complaining, went to a peaceful and loving state of mind, like that of a docile child. “Chamber Symphony” is based on Shostakovich’s life, which was riddled with oppression and loss. This obviously has nothing to do with a dying mother, but I imagine the pain of losing someone you love so much being somewhat universal, so I used it. I walked through the corps and shrank in posture in a descending crescendo of shuffling steps. I imagined I was a doomed man scuttling down the neon hallways of some forgotten hospital ward, dragging his IV along like a macabre pet on a walk.

The tears came. But I’m not one to sit and cry; it wasn’t until I could use my life in my art that I began to feel better. Not only through the movement, but the music as well.

I thought this essay would be bubbly, would have my bite and humor. But sometimes real life creeps in, making even a clown into a somber man. I may have started dancing because the music made something in me feel right, accepted and beautiful when nothing else could, but I continue dancing because life keeps happening all around me: love, loss, laughter, tears, parties, racism, homophobia, war. And since I haven’t yet figured out how to feel things in a traditional way, this art will have to be the window through which my vital madness escapes. 

View original essay here.

NY Times Feature

I sat down with freelance journalist Brian Schaefer, to discuss my multiple personalities. It resulted in a fabulous and important New York Times feature. I hope this will inspire young people to follow their creative arrows.

From left, James Whiteside of American Ballet Theater as the Prince in “Cinderella”; as Uhu Betch, part of the drag troupe the Dairy Queens; and as the singer JbDubs. Credit From left: Rosalie O'Connor; Dan Donigan; Jaqlin Medlock

Last Halloween, the American Ballet Theater principals James Whiteside and Daniil Simkin took a class dressed as stars from the troupe’s past, to the delight of observers. Mr. Simkin was Mikhail Baryshnikov. But Mr. Whiteside turned heads as the ballerina Gelsey Kirkland, with leotard and skirt, pointe shoes and fake hair in a bun. The choreographer Jessica Lang, scouting for dancers, was impressed: “He’s not afraid to push boundaries.”

Pushing boundaries is something of a habit for Mr. Whiteside, 32, who joined American Ballet as a soloist in 2012 and became a principal a year later. Yes, he professionally plays Prince Charmings, but he also leads alternative artistic lives: as a pop singer, JbDubs, and drag queen, Uhu Betch.

Ballet remains rather traditional when it comes to romantic pairings, gender roles and sexual expression. “I became very aware of the hetero-normative standard in ballet very early,” said Mr. Whiteside, who realized he would mainly play straight men onstage. “And that made me sad. I will never get to express myself as my true self.”

JbDubs and Uhu Betch help fill that gap.

Those characters have helped Mr. Whiteside attract an eclectic collection of fans on social media, including young, gay male ballet dancers who tell him his presence is reassuring. Some older ballet fans, however, are perplexed, and at times dismissive. “When I post a drag photo,” Mr. Whiteside said, “or if I post something off-color or nontraditional, I notice that I lose followers.”

Mr. Whiteside will be busy during American Ballet’s fall season, beginning Wednesday, Oct. 19, including Ms. Lang’s premiere. His ballet accomplishments have given him courage in his other endeavors.

“Right now, I’m so happy with where I am professionally that I find myself caring less about propriety,” he said in a recent interview. “I want to be true to my artistic visions — multiple — because I know exactly what I want to do, and why should I have to change myself to fit society’s needs?”

The Leading Man
“I play a straight character every role I do. I don’t have the luxury of choice. Hopefully, someday we will.”

As a teenager, Mr. Whiteside said, he dreamed of joining Ballet Theater. On the surface, his affinity for the traditional romantic ballets that constitute much of the company’s repertory seems at odds with the glee he takes in scrambling gender roles through his alter egos. “He’s unabashedly himself and completely recognizes when his unabashed self doesn’t fit with what it is he’s trying to do,” said Kevin McKenzie, the artistic director of Ballet Theater. The way Mr. Whiteside sees it, Romeo, Conrad, Albrecht and the other seducers in the ballet canon are characters as fun to play as anything else. “Out of context, I couldn’t care less about how I appear on the spectrum of masculinity,” he said. But tradition compels him to play it straight onstage. “I do pas de deux with women all day, every day. Always with women. So I choose to create this character, to create this story, to make it relatable to the masses and artistically sensible.”

The Dairy Queens
“Drag tells you exactly what is wrong with the world in a really, really creative, glamorous, funny, sexy way.”

Mr. Whiteside and his friends had been going out in drag for years when they created the group the Dairy Queens at a Cheesecake Factory in Boston, where Mr. Whiteside was dancing for the Boston Ballet. Mr. Whiteside became Uhu Betch, below, a play on his favorite childhood drink, Yoo-hoo; his boyfriend, Dan Donigan, a professional drag queen who appeared on “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” had adopted the name Milk; and two Boston Ballet dancers became Skim Burley and Juggz Au Lait. When Mr. Whiteside joined Ballet Theater, the Queens caught the eye of the night-life impresario Susanne Bartsch, who hired them for club nights and parties. “They reminded me of a modern version of the ’80s,” she said.

The Sassy Rapper
“As a ballet dancer, I don’t get to really play the type of music I love listening to, which is club music, pop music, rap music, basically anything but the music I dance to in my professional ballet career.”

As a child growing up in Fairfield, Conn., Mr. Whiteside played his father’s records on a toy turntable and spent hours at the Virgin Megastore in New York City. In his early 20s, he started experimenting with songs on his computer, eventually developing a style he calls “sassy rap,” with sexually explicit lyrics and a dancehall beat. He corralled fellow dancers from Boston Ballet, where he worked at the time, to join him at clubs and in music videos, including for the 2012 song “I Hate My Job,” which made a splash on YouTube and streaming sites. This fall, JbDubs, right, will release “NYC Piece of Me,” a song inspired by Britney Spears, which he recorded in Los Angeles on a day off from dancing Ballet Theater’s “The Nutcracker” in December. The new song, which will have a video featuring several Ballet Theater company members, “is about being too gay, being not gay enough,” Mr. Whiteside said, and confronts the recent loss of his mother to cancer. “I find JbDubs to be less ‘JbDubs’ and more James as time progresses, because I find myself caring less about separating my interests,” Mr. Whiteside said.

View original story here.

Studio to Street Style

When it comes to style, James Whiteside likes to push the limits. “Conforming isn’t really my thing,” says the American Ballet Theatre principal. He chooses pieces that express his personality, while always leaving room to experiment with new ideas. “I haven’t really married myself to one aesthetic, and that gives me a lot of options,” he says. “One day I’ll be preppy, next day I’ll be super-urban, then I can be all tattered and ‘50s. I like to keep an open mind.” In the studio, he sports knits and crop tops, and dyes his hair funky colors when the repertoire allows. It works well for ballets like The Sleeping Beauty (in which he wears a wig) or contemporary work. “But if I’m playing Romeo, this wouldn’t make sense,” he says. Whiteside is influenced by everything from Japanese anime to ‘90s boy bands to New York City itself, a place he’s always wanted to live. “It’s so inspiring walking around the city,” he says. “Some people are just killing it. Anybody can buy fashion, but having style is a completely different thing.”

The Details—Street
Marc Jacobs jacket and bag: “Marc Jacobs is the brand I have the most items of. I’m a huge fan. It’s classy and sort of irreverent, and it just looks good.”
Sandro turtleneck: “This is from a Parisian fashion house and I really like their stuff. It’s feminine and butch all at once.”
Club Monaco pants: “I call these my Bing Crosby pants. They’re a really retro fit—wide hips and high waist, pleats, slightly cropped. It’s a shape I really appreciate.”
The Details—Studio
Crop top: “I adore crop tops for ballet, I think it’s hysterical. And I get so sweaty that it’s nice to have a little bit of extra air.”
Yumiko shorts: “I like to wear light-colored clothes for ballet.”
Bubenicek booties: Far right. “These booties are amazing. The name of the color is Avatar, like the movie.”

View original story here.

Photo by Kyle Froman

FOUNDATION

I wrote a little ballet commentary piece to accompany a short film I made in collaboration with filmmaker/photographer Daniel Robinson, choreographer Gemma Bond, and fashion designer Andrew Morrison. Read the admittedly pretentious text below, then watch the video. Most importantly, enjoy!

FOUNDATION by James Whiteside

It’s undeniable that ballet’s foundation is sturdy and unshakeable. At what point does that foundation support new levels, and who is deemed worthy to build them? Are all artists not the architects of their own dreams? 

Expectation generally begets disappointment. The audience tends to want to see recreations of their favorite performances, whether they are aware of it or not. The artist knows this better than anyone else. They too have their favorite performances from the past, from the alleged “golden age” of ballet, and the past has the power to inspire or restrict their interpretations. Do they recreate their idols or do they step off the edge and hope that in creating themselves, they are not splattering themselves all over the pavement. Such is the problem with art, it’s largely opinion based.

Expression is said to come from within. Ballet is as much acting as it is dancing. It’s very easy to reject the way some artists express themselves within their work. Love is hard, hate is easy. Art invokes a visceral reaction from its viewer, and while you can’t keep a lemon from being sour, you can appreciate that a lemon is pretty damn good at being sour.

Depression is inevitable but surmountable. 51 cards are stacked against the artist, but he or she’s still got one card left. It takes time to find the wild card, the one thing that allows the artist to remember why the hell they started this game in the first place. But when it’s found, throw down and collect.

Frustration can be crippling. The artist can hate themselves into an almost cryogenic state. No progress can be made in this limbo. The pressure of being extraordinary often renders a dancer incapable of feeling anything. The one thing that remains is a sense of injustice. “I’ve sacrificed everything for this, why is it not working?” And sometimes, it just doesn’t work, and then what’ve you got?

Realization is trite. It’s rarely the denouement of stories like this. Artists are seldom the recipients of pomp and circumstance. Regardless of what the folks behind the fourth wall think, feel, and say, when something clicks, it’s utopia. There are no dumb artists, only ignorant artists. However, there’s a whole world of inscrutable audience members. Being an artist is a choice, and it’s a hard one. Why on Earth would someone choose this life? It’s not a quick, fame game. It’s a life long struggle for artistic clarity, relevance, and revelation. A mental education of physical creation. Dancers make themselves from the outside inside out. Only when the audience sees the true person within do they forget about those before, but in truth, they don’t want to see that person until they do.

View OUT Exclusive with text by contributor Glenn Garner here.

Please comment with any thoughts on the piece. 

Photos: A Met Work Day

I photographed what happened on June 25th, 2016 from when I woke up, till the end of an evening performance of Romeo & Juliet at the Met.

MoMA: Creative New York

Read the full interview here.

US Weekly - Best Bodies

XEX Magazine Cover Story

Marc Jacobs SS16 Campaign

I am incredibly honored to be a part of the Marc Jacobs SS16 campain shot by David Sims.

photo by David Sims

Here's a behind the scenes photo!

photo courtesy of @marcjacobs on instagram

OUT - Dirty Decadence

OUT Magazine's R. Kurt Osenlund interviewed MILK and I, featuring photos by Dusty St. Amand.

Couples that play together tend to stay together, and if you want some vibrant, voracious proof of that, feast your eyes on Dan Donigan (a.k.a. Milk) and James Whiteside (Ühu), the most popular members of the famed Dairy Queens, who also happen to be an item.

RELATED | Love: Ridiculous Living With Dan & James

Currently, Dan’s touring gig is loading up his schedule, while James, a star on the rise, opens a two-week season at Lincoln Center with the American Ballet Theatre on October 21; will release a new single and music video as his alter ego, JBDubs; and continues to expand his artist initiative, RINO, which uses young graphic artists to design merchandise aimed at his fans.

Amid all that, the Dairy Queen sweethearts blocked out some time to get wild on a rooftop with photographer Dusty St. Amand, whose resulting portfolio depicts love, glamour, sloppy lips, and drag decay. They chatted with us, too.

SLIDESHOW: Exclusive Photos of Milk & Ühu

Out: Describe the way you feel, body and mind, when you slip into a dress. What turns you on about the process?

James Whiteside (Ühu): Nothing turns me on about being in drag. Drag, for me, is almost an escape from sexuality, where I can be a funny, ugly, pretty, mess—Exactly the opposite of playing the Prince in Swan Lake.

Dan Donigan (Milk): Actually, it isn't until I put on my heels that I feel complete. When I have a gig I sometimes put on my heels when I am still in my underwear, way before I put on my complete look. There is something about being pushed up onto your toes that really puts you in that cunt-femme zone. I wouldn't say it's boner-inducing though.

What's more fun—perfectly applied lipstick, or lipstick smeared across your face? Explain your choice.

JW: I like to paint huge, monster lips. Sometimes dripping with OCC lip tar, sometimes with perfectly applied lip liner. It depends on my mood and it also depends on whether or not I have a beard at the time. Butch queen!

DD: It all depends on the way I am feeling in that exact moment when applying! Perfectly applied lipstick is begging to be messed up. 

If you had to make out with each other in lipstick, which color would you want to be wearing and why?

JW: We don't make out in drags. It's not our steaz.

DD: Yeah, I'm not wasting any of my makeup on that clown [laughs]

In one of these photos, Dan is holding a dog on a leash. If one of you were to put the other on a leash, who would it be and why?

JW: It would be a dog. I want a dog. In our relationship, neither of us are on a leash. We're trusting and trustworthy.

DD: That's silly. Only kids should be on leashes. #FreeTheDogs.

You're two beautiful men who also look beautiful in drag. It's two kinds of self-image and empowerment. What's the biggest difference in how you feel about yourself?

JW: Being a socially acceptable male can be very boring. Most folks don't want their "hotties" to be funny or do things that are "too gay". My way of saying "bugger off" is doing gnarly drags, meshing my masculine form with queeny madness and humor.

DD: Well, at Drag Race meet and greets most girls get the, "OMG, you are so beautiful!" I get the, "OMG...you're so tall!" [laughs] So thanks for calling me beautiful, I guess. It is the art of transformation that makes me love drag so much. To love who you are as a man and equally love what you become in drag.

Have you ever made love in drag? If so, what was it like?

JW: Nope, not our steaz. No hate to those who do, get ya life!

DD: No, never. I find it fascinating for queens that do but there is something about my penis being pushed down into the seventh level of hell in my several pairs of panties that doesn't put me in the "let's have sex" mood.

In some of these photos, there's the juxtaposition of two gorgeous dolled-up men against the gritty, graffiti-covered walls of a New York rooftop. Name a recent example of juxtaposition that's inspired you.

JW: I just recently filmed a music video in upstate New York. The song, "Wallflower", is an aggressive banger that discourages sitting at a dance party. We shot outside on a white stage, in the middle of the woods. It was absolutely beautiful, which is counter intuitive to the mood of the song, yet somehow it works!

DD: Recently I saw a famous drag queen. She looked gorgeous. Smelled like shit though.

When you hold each other in drag, does it feel any different than when you hold each other out of drag? Whether it does or not, please elaborate.

JW: We don't really "hold each other" in drag. It's more like "hold my purse while I pee."

DD: We don't hold each other in drag unless it's to pose for the flashing bulbs. Oh, we do hold each others' drinks though!

There's an element of decay, or degradation to this series of photos, as you go from bewigged and made-up to largely stripped of glamour. You both do drag as part of your careers and personas, but describe the catharsis of stripping everything OFF.

JW: We were reluctant to do the whole "smudged drag" look, but as the progression was explained to us, we became more into it and couldn't be happier with the shoot. As far as stripping everything off, there is little as satisfying as peeling off one's stacked lashes.

DD: We really got into the concept of this shoot once we were in the moment and saw the photos. I would say a percentage of my persona in drag is put on, not fakely so, but when I am at a party or hosting an event the extrovert in me comes out. Yes, there is the stripping off of drag costumes and makeup but it's more satisfying for me to be quiet in silence after a debaucherous night out.

When you're missing each other, and you're lovesick, and it hurts, what do you do?

JW: Our schedules are erratic and we're traveling separately a lot, but we text and Skype and it's just part of our lives. It doesn't really affect me that much. If I miss Dan, I just tell him, simple as that.

DD: When we are on the road, we text most of the time. When we really miss each other, we skype. I thank Al Gore for creating the internet.

What's the grittiest, grungiest thing you've ever done that you're willing to share with the world?

JW: A girl's gotta keep her secrets. Otherwise, I'll need to hire Olivia Pope.

DD: I never...clean my makeup brushes. AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

Name one reason why sex as a taboo in our culture is stupid.

JW: I'm not sure I can answer this intelligently, but I'll try. Sex is everywhere, all the time. It's always staring me in the face, everywhere I go. Repressing our humanity is unwise.

DD: Sex is instinctual in animals. Humans are animals. I think some people don't want that association. They can go about living as a self-hating animal all they want. I'm going to go glitter my nipples! 

If you had to die together, how would you like to go down?

DD: Eating ice cream in bed. Simple 

JW: I think it would be a blast to drown together, or maybe burn slowly in a crowded Starbucks! But I'd like to ignore death for the moment.

READ ORIGINAL ARTICLE ON OUT.

The Blonds - NYFW

I interviewed fashion duo "The Blonds" for LogoTV this NYFW.

Marco Marco Fashion Show NYFW 2015

I walked/danced down the runway at the Marco Marco fashion show, this NYFW. 

AmEx - Departures

James Whiteside, Principal Dancer at American Ballet Theatre

James Whiteside has established himself as the crown prince of American Ballet Theatre. (Quite literally—this spring he’ll be dancing as the prince in Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella.) And his story is, fittingly, an aspiring dancer’s fairy tale. After being passed up by ABT as a teenager, Whiteside launched his career in Boston. Ten years later, on a day off, he auditioned again—and got in. Still, Whiteside, 30, isn’t content to rest on his laurels. “I have an insatiable need to create,” he says. “I don’t want to just be a ballet dancer but an artist with strong roots in dance.”

Read original story here.

OUT Love

OUT Magazine featured my boyfriend of 7 years, Dan Donigan aka MILK the drag superstar, and I in their annual LOVE Issue.

Ridiculous Living
1.12.2015

BY OUT.COM EDITORS

Ballet dancer James Whiteside (a.k.a. JbDubs) and performer Dan Donigan (a.k.a. Milk) make room for their alter egos — and two pints of ice cream.
Photography By Benedict Evans

James Whiteside, Dancer

It was seven years ago — I was 23 when we met, and Dan was still in college. He was 20, and that age difference seemed like a lot at the time. It was strange, dating someone who couldn’t drink legally. I was dancing for Boston Ballet, and I was performing as JbDubs, and my friends and I used to go out every once in a while in very rudimentary drag. He thought it was so weird at the time. After a while, we persuaded him to come out with us for an annual drag party, a twisted spin on the Nutcracker characters. He came out as the Spanish woman and looked horrible — like Fräulein Maria meets Frida Kahlo meets Patrick Swayze. But it was fun and he got obsessed.

I still help him when I can. He’ll say, “Hey, buy me these brown panty hose at CVS.” I think the biggest issue living together is he has so much drag. In Boston we had a bigger place. Now we have this two-bedroom in New York, and we have an entire bedroom filled with drag. I’m like, “Put your fucking wigs away!” Our bedroom is very simple, though — very serene and dumbed down because New York is so crazy. It was his idea: Let’s put nothing in here and paint the walls stark white. When I was away one weekend doing a show, I came home and it was pristine.

I really enjoy love and relationships and sex, but I’m not really that romantic. I guess I’m very pragmatic. I think sometimes it’s not in a man’s nature to be romantic. And that’s just how it is. I feel like I’m one of those men. The two of us have these sort of ridiculous lives. We’re very busy and working all the time, so the time when we can sit around is precious and rare. It’s good to create some special moments. We just have to figure out how to feed the cat.

Dan Donigan, Drag Performer

After we met for coffee, we started texting back and forth, and I’d meet up with him in the middle of the day, and we’d do silly, stupid things, like buy a vacuum. It wasn’t formal at all, and that was amazing for me. I was young at the time. If I was going on a date and going to fancy restaurants, I would be like, I’m 20, I need these informalities.

We are far from simple people, but we have simple pleasures. Whether it’s watching anime and silly sitcoms, or sitting on the couch with our Ben and Jerry’s. We each have our own pint. We don’t share. Mine is Chubby Hubby. He’s more Phish Food. It’s good because if we ended up getting the same, I’d finish my pint and then he’d just skim his, and the next day I’d eat the rest of his. Maybe that’s our biggest issue — when I eat his ice cream!

I didn’t really know how to be in a relationship at first because I hadn’t had one before. I thought you had to give up everything to be with one person. I lost a lot of friends because I made my whole life about James for a while. Then eventually James said, “Dan, you have no life. I’m happy to be a big part of your life, but you need more.” That was two years into the relationship. I didn’t know what to do. He said, “You need to have some passion, be inspired, do something.” I got a job with Marc Jacobs and things started developing. I had a lot more fun with fashion, merchandising, and visuals. From there, drag came into my life — because of James. I almost think he’s why I got on RuPaul’s Drag Race. He helped me with both of my audition videos. All that took me in another direction. He’s always been successful, but our relationship is also about being supportive. It’s about making each other more popular.

But I’ve also become more independent. That’s when a relationship really works — at least that’s what works for us. You can get so stifled by too much attention.

View original article here.

OUT100: Dancer James Whiteside

I'm so unbelievably honored to be named one out OUT Magazine's 100 most notable members of the LGBT community in 2014. 

OUT100: James Whiteside
11.10.2014

BY OUT.COM EDITORS

Dancer and Entertainer
Photography by JUCO | Retouching by Anna Glen at Wet Noodle

The Moment: June 16, 1961: Ballet star Rudolf Nureyev defects to the United States from Russia.

In addition to his work as a principal dancer for the American Ballet Theatre, James Whiteside belts out tunes as his pop star alter-ego, JbDUBS, and he recently released his first EP, titled Hey JB! His other project: performing with his boyfriend Milk (a.k.a. Dan Donigan; a contestant on RuPaul’s Drag Race, season 6), under their drag group name the Dairy Queens (he’s Yoohoo). His influences? Whiteside remembers locking himself in his room with a girlfriend at age 15 to watch Showtime’s Queer as Folk. “I wasn’t out to my parents yet, and it was my first glimpse into the unabashedly fabulous world of the LGBT community,” he says. “Plus, their clothes were hilarious! I saw Emmett Honeycutt wearing pleather pants and crop tops — so I bought pleather pants and crop tops.”

Photographed in Central Park, New York on September 21, 2014

Groomer: Heather Schnell

View original article here.

New Dance Film - "You Rascal You"

I wanted to create a dance film that shows just how far jealousy can go. I've been on a jazz kick lately, and I stumbled across Louis Armstrong's "You Rascal You" and I knew I'd found my muse. I was scheduled to go to Boston to visit friends and do some photo shoots and I thought I'd call up my friend Ernesto Galan, who has directed almost all of my JBDUBS music videos. He was free for a day, so we filmed in Boston suburb, Jamaica Plain. I choreographed a whole dance which I fit to the streets of JP. WHAT A BLAST! Watch below.

The Gramilano Questionnaire

When Graham Spicer contacted me to do his "Dancer Questionnaire", I thought "Sure!". Little did I know how in-depth some of my answers would have to be! It's a fabulous questionnaire. Enjoy!

Q&A

When did you start dan­cing?
I star­ted dan­cing when I was 9 years old.

Why did you start dan­cing?
I star­ted dan­cing because I was driv­ing my mom crazy. She wanted to get me out of the house and into an after-school activ­ity. I had an appalling amount of energy and I abso­lutely hated every “nor­mal” sport. My mom chucked the phone­book at me one day and said, “Pick some­thing!” I thumbed through the yel­low pages and found an ad for a local dance stu­dio. At the time, I didn’t real­ize it was for a dance stu­dio. I just saw the incred­ible photo, of a man lift­ing a woman over his head with one hand! Next thing I knew, I was enrolled in jazz, tap, and acro­bat­ics. Bal­let came a wee bit later.

Which dan­cer inspired you most as a child?
Ini­tially, it was my teach­ers and some of the older stu­dents. Janet Jack­son had a huge impact on me as a teen­ager. I loved her music (still do!), her energy, and style. Other influ­ences were Brit­ney Spears and *NSYNC. I will­ingly knew noth­ing about Nureyev or Bary­sh­nikov, but those super­stars of the late 90’s TRL age had me shak­ing my rumplestilt­skin* in my metal­lic flares and Sketch­ers. Rough stuff, I know.

Which dan­cer do you most admire?
I admire loads of dan­cers! I’d be a fool to just pick one to steal secrets of the trade from. To name a few: Vera-Ellen, of the MGM days; Mar­celo Gomes, of ABT fame; Janet (Miss Jack­son if you’re nasty); Rudolf Nureyev (love that queen!)… and many more!

What’s your favour­ite role?
All of them! Lies. Prince Albrecht in Gis­elle is one of my favour­ites. Walk­ing around with a cape and flowers is some­thing I like to do on an almost daily basis. Oh, the glamour.

What role have you never played but would like to?
Dr Frank N Fur­ter, of The Rocky Hor­ror Show.

What’s your favour­ite bal­let to watch?
My favour­ite bal­let to watch is George Balanchine’s Ser­en­ade.

Who is your favour­ite cho­reo­grapher?
George Bal­anchine. Also referred to as Him.

Who is your favour­ite writer?
Jules Verne: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Mys­ter­i­ous Island, Jour­ney to the Cen­ter of the Earth, Around the World in Eighty Days, and many more!

Who is your favour­ite dir­ector?
Hayao Miyazaki. My favour­ite film of his is Howl’s Mov­ing Castle. Close seconds are Prin­cess Mononoke, Naus­icaa of the Val­ley of the Wind, The Cat Returns, Kiki’s Deliv­ery Ser­vice, Porco Rosso, Spir­ited Away… so, pretty much all of his films.

Who is your favour­ite actor?
Miss Piggy.

Who is your favour­ite singer?
My favour­ite male vocal­ist is Seal and my favour­ite female vocal­ist is Toni Brax­ton. Prince and Stevie Nicks are also favourites.

What is your favour­ite book?
The Bible! Just kid­ding. I adore sci-fi/fantasy. Patrick Roth­fuss’ Kingkiller Chron­icle is incred­ible. It’s such a poignant mix of ima­gin­a­tion and lit­er­at­ure! The first two books are titled The Name of the Wind, and A Wise Man’s Fear.

Gillian Murphy and James Whiteside in ABT’s Swan Lake photo Andrea Mohin 495x500 James Whiteside answers the Gramilano Questionnaire… Dancers’ Edition
Gil­lian Murphy and James Whiteside in ABT’s Swan Lake — photo Andrea Mohin
What is your favour­ite film?
As far as impact on my life, I’d have to say Tina Fey’s MeanGirls. When I was a teen­ager, it taught me how to be mean while at least know­ing I’m being mean.

Which is your favour­ite city?
I have three. New York City (duh), Tokyo, and Paris. The trifecta.

What do you like most about your­self?
My ima­gin­a­tion! It’s crazy in there!

What do you dis­like about your­self?
My inab­il­ity to cope with large din­ner parties. Table for eight? No thank you.

What was your proudest moment?
When I was pro­moted to Prin­cipal Dan­cer at Amer­ican Bal­let Theatre.

When and where were you hap­pi­est?
I was naïve and com­pla­cent in my early twen­ties. I had incred­ible friends, fam­ily, really. We drank and smoked a lot, and work was sec­ond­ary to the time and exper­i­ences we shared. They’re all still my best friends. As the rap­per Drake once rapped, “No new friends”, just old friends.

What or who is the greatest love of your life?
I have so many great loves. Music is the earth I stand on. I’d abso­lutely wither away without it! Dance, lit­er­at­ure, food, cof­fee, video games, films, and let’s not for­get Dan Donigan and my cat, Ms Bit!

What is your greatest fear?
I’ve never lost any­one truly close to me. I’m ter­ri­fied of how it will affect me. How­ever, I don’t fear my own death.

If you could change one thing about your­self, what would it be?
I would change my inab­il­ity to cope with large din­ner parties. Le winke smiley wink James Whiteside answers the Gramilano Questionnaire… Dancers’ Edition.

What do you con­sider your greatest achieve­ment?
Some­how, I became a bal­let dan­cer! I had no interest in becom­ing a bal­let dan­cer until my mid to late teens. I never thought I’d be a Prin­cipal Dan­cer in a major bal­let com­pany, let alone ABT!

What is your most treas­ured pos­ses­sion?
Can I say my cat? My cat.

What is your greatest extra­vag­ance?
My Man­hat­tan apart­ment is eas­ily the most expens­ive thing I own.

What do you con­sider the most over­rated vir­tue?
Patience. Some­times, you just gotta tell some­body what’s what.

On what occa­sion do you lie?
Some­times, I tell people it’s good to see them when it’s not.

If you hadn’t been a dan­cer what would you have liked to be?
I would have swindled my way into the arts come hell or high water. I’d be a musi­cian, or an actor, or a car­toon­ist… you name it!

What is your most marked char­ac­ter­istic?
I like to make up words. People who know me can vouch for that. If you know me long enough, you’ll be flu­ent in my made up language.

What qual­ity do you most value in a friend?
Humour. If you don’t make me laugh, begone!

What qual­ity do you most value in a col­league?
Kind­ness and respect. I have no time for evil divas.

Which his­tor­ical fig­ure do you most admire?
The sci­entific geni­uses of the past: Ein­stein, Coper­ni­cus, Galileo, Curie, Planck, Tesla, etc. Talk about chan­ging the world! It all star­ted with curi­os­ity and a little imagination.

Which liv­ing per­son do you most admire?
To stick with the sci­ent­ist theme, I choose Stephen Hawk­ing. If you haven’t read any of his books, do it! Reader, that’s your homework.

What do you most dis­like?
Oh you know, use­less killing and the like, but on a more per­son­ally rel­ev­ant scale, gigantic strollers. It drives me insane when people traipse down the side­walk with a baby stroller the size of Texas. Often, the chil­dren are entirely too old to be wheeled around. Get out and walk!

What tal­ent would you most like to have?
I wish I was the best singer in the universe.

What’s your idea of per­fect hap­pi­ness?
Per­fect hap­pi­ness is con­tent­ment with one’s life. Enjoy­ing the people you love, achiev­ing one’s goals, and laugh­ing often are just a few things that are import­ant to me.

How would you like to die?
Quickly and not so old that I’m a pile of goo on poly­es­ter sheets.

What is your motto?
I’m still work­ing on one. I always cop out and use this quote from Rocky Hor­ror Pic­ture Show: “Don’t dream it. Be it.” Good, right? Mine’s not so good. It goes some­thing like, “Use logic and don’t be an asshole.” I guess I still have some work to do.

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Dusty St. Amand Photography - ADAGE

I worked with NYC photographer Dusty St. Amand on a photo series titled "ADAGE". Check out the photos below. I love his use of layers.

Check out the original post on his tumblr.