Dear Queer Dancer is an arts service organization dedicated to connecting and uplifting the global queer dance community. We stand strong in our mission to advance the creative and professional success of LGBTQ+ dancers and liberate the dance industry from gender norms. We gather our strength, talents, and wisdom from being rooted in the Bay Area which, for decades, has had the highest number LGBTQ+ dance companies in the world.
Dear Queer Dancer was initially formed in 2020 to combat “bravery exhaustion,” the exhaustion experienced by oppressed groups who often find themselves as the sole representatives in their workplace, families, or social circles.
Dear Queer Dancer is enthusiastically based in Oakland, California. We both serve the global LGBTQ+ population through online programming and the Bay Area LGBTQ+ community through our in-person events.
We believe in the healing power of gathering as queer and trans people, the collective progress that happens through authentic relationship building, and the radical inclusion that happens when we all have access to community, art, and representation. With these tenets in mind, we created two global, digital dance conventions in 2021 and 2022 called QueerDanceCon, and the Queer Dance Film Festival in 2023.