Sean Dorsey Is First Openly-Transgender Artist To Appear On Cover Of Dance Magazine

Dance Media's Dance Magazine, the leading industry publication for everything dance, today released its inaugural "Dance & Activism" issue (November 2019), featuring pioneering choreographer Sean Dorsey as the first-ever, openly transgender artist to be featured on the cover. Dorsey is the founder of the SF-based modern dance company, Sean Dorsey Dance, which celebrated its fifteenth anniversary earlier this year. The company is currently on a 20-city U.S. tour with its latest critically-acclaimed work, Boys in Trouble.

With the theme "Dance & Activism," the coveted issue features Dorsey (shot exclusively in New York City by photographer Jayme Thornton) as well as interviews with rising young dance activists and profiles of companies touring the country with politically-charged dance pieces among other stories.

Dance Magazine's editor-in-chief Jennifer Stahl said of Dorsey as the November cover choice, "Sean Dorsey was a natural cover choice for the debut of Dance Magazine's Dance & Activism issue. He's long been using dance to advocate for greater equity and inclusion, not only through his choreography for Sean Dorsey Dance, but also with his Fresh Meat Festival and his outreach projects like TRANSform Dance." Stahl continued, "He's got an uncanny knack for effecting real change: So many of the people Dorsey encounters come away with a deeper, more compassionate understanding of true inclusivity. Our field is stronger today because of him."

Read the full interview by writer Claudia Bauer with Dorsey and watch the special behind-the-scenes cover story video.