“I choose to live my life with a certain fearless vitality that I think more people should try.”

— James Whiteside, Principal Dancer, American Ballet Theatre

I find the ballet to be a lot like life when it comes to men – the bad boys always stand out.

To be clear, in using the term ‘bad’, I mean no disrespect to the wildly creative artists to whom I attach the term here. I rather use it to describe the fiery, matchless ability of those rare few performers whose talent is so explosive that it can’t be put into a box – those true artistes whose mastery of an art form is so advanced that it can scarcely be harnessed or contained by one genre, but instead must constantly be allowed to spill over into new arenas in order to achieve its fullest expression.

Think Nureyev at the height of his career breaking with tradition to perform both classical ballet and modern dance or Baryshnikov dancing his way to an Academy Award nomination in The Turning Point, the first of his many acting roles on the big screen. More contemporarily, think of genre-busting former Royal Ballet star Sergei Polunin, who is fast becoming a Hollywood ‘It’ boy co-starring and working alongside some of Tinseltown’s biggest names like Ralph Fiennes and box-office megastar Jennifer Lawrence.  Now add to this exclusive clique of auteurs, the always daring, never boring, James Whiteside (aka pop-dance artist JbDubs, aka Ühu Betch of the drag posse known as The Dairy Queens).

Not fully able to express the breadth of his creativity within the realm of his widely lauded, four-year run as a principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre, which just recently closed its current season at the Metropolitan Opera House, Whiteside has spread his talents far and wide, venturing into music and video production and becoming something of a YouTube sensation under the alias JbDubs, while simultaneously pushing the boundaries of his art in almost every direction imaginable. This week, the chameleon-like Mr. Whiteside launches an eclectic, globetrotting series of summer performances that promise to reveal more about the range of his talents than the world has ever seen before…and he couldn’t be more excited.

“My summer has a wide range of dance styles, so throughout the course of the summer I think people are actually going to learn a lot about the real range of things that I can do… from hip-hop to ballet to contemporary ballet and jazz,” Whiteside explains when asked what people can expect to see on his tour which will make stops in Los Angeles, Vail, and Tokyo over the course of the summer. “Normally my summers consist of a lot of gigs essentially,” he continues. “But this summer is a little bit different in that I have programmed a lot of it myself. So, I’m doing a lot of stuff that I really want to do and that I’m looking forward to doing as well as stuff that I’ve done in the past and really loved and want to revisit.”

Among the performances to which Whiteside is most looking forward is one that is set to debut at the Fire Island Dance Festival on July 15 and 16. It is a new work by musical theater choreographer Al Blackstone that promises to showcase a sexy, flirty side of the dancer entitled, “How Come You Don’t Call Me Anymore?”. “The premise of the piece is that I am pining after this guy and these other four guys are pining after me,” Whiteside offers as something of a teaser preview of the performance. “[But] I don’t want to give it away because there’s a bit of a twist – there are some interesting things that go down in the dance. It’s great. It’s just Prince and a piano and it’s a great, sexy, jazz piece.”

Another highlight of Whiteside’s summer calendar will be the premiere of his new production company “James Whiteside Presents” at Jacob’s Pillow in Becket, MA. Along with 5 Dances, a collection of works in varied styles that the he has created over the years, Whiteside will also treat the Jacob’s Pillow crowd to a performance by his sassy, uninhibited pop alter ego JbDubs, whose YouTube hit “I Hate My Job” has scored 4 million plus views. “One of the numbers that I’m going be doing [for my Jacob’s Pillow performance] is to a song that I wrote called “Wallflower”’ says Whiteside who admits to being the antithesis of the person about whom he wrote the song. “It’s basically about not being a wallflower and just getting on the dancefloor and shakin’ it! I’ve got a music video for that song with ABT soloist Cassandra Trenary [and] we’ll be doing a live version of that.”

From there Whiteside will head back to New York for two performances in the world premiere of Impressions, part of an evening with Gemma Bond at the Joyce Theatre, which will be directly followed by a 3-day dance series at The Music Center, in Los Angeles, where James will dance the pas de deux from both Romeo and Juliet and Rubies with fellow American Ballet Theater principal Isabella Boylston and Lauren Cuthbertson, principal dancer at the Royal Ballet in London. And as if that weren’t hectic enough, to round out the summer, Whiteside will take the stage at the Vail Dance Festival, August 4 and 5, and Ballet Sun Valley in Idaho, August 22 and 24 under the direction of Isabella Boylston where he will reprise the Rubies pas de deux with Boylston, while also mounting his own You Rascal You. Finally, the seemingly inexhaustible danseur will end his extensive calendar of appearances in Tokyo where he will both dance in and choreograph a specially arranged Beauty and the Beast excerpt, “Tale as Old as Time” for Tokyo Disney’s release of Beauty and the Beast.

At this point in the interview, I can’t help but ask Whiteside not only how he keeps all the performances in his schedule straight in his own mind but also how he does it all at such a break-neck pace and with what appears to be such good humor. “I choose to live my life with a certain fearless vitality that I think more people should try,” the performer says patly without missing a beat. “If you’re so serious all the time, you forget to enjoy your life and to enjoy the people around you and the beauty that is existent. I take what I do very seriously…[and]…it is out of joy and love and experience that I am pushing forward.”

So does “fearless vitality” imply that unlike most of us humans, James Whiteside is without fear of anything? And, if so, has he always been so fearless?

“[No]. I’m not without self-doubt,” he quickly offers in reply to my facetiously posed query. “I have plenty of insecurities just like anybody else. It’s just that it’s important to me to keep pushing forward and to be proud of my struggle.”

“But as far as fearlessness goes, it wasn’t so much a choice [for me] as it was [something] that was already there,” Whiteside adds after pausing for a moment to reflect.  “I do recall a time when the PR Manager for the Boston Ballet, which was my first ballet company, came to me with a story that the local gay paper wanted to do on me. I was very young and she said, ‘You know, this is going to be in print and online pretty much forever, so are you sure you want to come out? I just need to ask you, because I know it’s your first interview like this.’

I was so confused that she would even ask. I understand that she was just trying to explain the consequences of what we were doing and that people might be put off by my blatant sexuality, but for me it wasn’t even an option. From a young age…hiding myself or being apologetic for my existence…wasn’t something that really interested me. That got me into a lot of trouble when I was a teenager. I was very opinionated and outspoken and unapologetic. It’s kind of funny, when you’re young, you’re berated for being outspoken but then you get to be a certain age and it gets to be celebrated.”

With no signs of holding back or in any way reigning in his aspirations, expect to see even more of Whiteside and his fearless vitality on the horizon. “In the future, there are so many things I’d like to do,” he tells me in a manner that suggests he’s holding something back…something big that his mind has already leapt to but he’s not quite ready to put into words. That stumbling block aside, he is still able to list some of the highlights on his personal bucket list. “One of these days, I’d like to be on Broadway,” he says clearly ticking through a well-established checklist. “I’d like to go to school for music production. I’d like to choreograph commercially for theatre and the ballet. I’ve got my irons in various fires and I don’t see myself retracting them anytime soon.”

What good news for us. Dance on Mr. Whiteside. Dance on.

Follow James Whiteside and check out his latest projects and tour dates at www.jameswhiteside.org.

To read this story on the Huffington Post, click here.

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If there is one thing traveling has taught me, it is that the world is full of glorious surprises. Whereas expectation gives way to revelation so do preconceived notions necessarily give way to unexpected marvels. Such were my thoughts as I slipped into the architecturally revelatory Houston Ballet for a tour during a recent visit to the Lone Star State.

While many notable attributes immediately spring to mind when thinking about Houston – savory barbecue, oil derricks, urban sprawl and well above average Mexican fare, for starters – the ballet was not at the top of my list. That is, at least not until recently.

However, as I stood in the midst of the action on the fifth-floor corridor of the Houston Ballet, peering into sprawling studios where an abundance of unobstructed natural light appeared to defy the building’s central location overlooking downtown and the Bayou, I quickly arrived at the conclusion that the ballet was indeed a very serious business in Houston. In every corner, I spied the sincere toil, sweat and passion that have become the legend of the ballet as I envisioned many a Black Swan moment occurring in the hallowed halls and rehearsal spaces around which I presently trod.

“Houston isn’t [just] cowboys and NASA,” exclaimed Christian Brown, Director of Marketing and Public Relations for the Houston Ballet, with a hearty laugh as we strolled the company’s impressive home base. “I mean, it is but there is so much more that goes on here that is dynamic and that is making a unique, exciting echo of notice.”

In a town where big is the order of the day in almost every way, Brown’s humble pronouncement about what the Houston Ballet brings to the city it calls home is almost too understated. Not only is the acclaimed ballet company the fourth largest in America, it is the nation’s largest dance center or, to use Mr. Brown’s more apt description, it is “the largest building in the United States that was specifically designed for dance.”

Moreover, with Australian-born Artistic Director Stanton Welch at the company’s helm for the last decade, the Houston Ballet has soared in international acclaim – touring the globe, forming impressive alliances with renowned companies from Australia to Denmark and attracting top tier talent like William Forsythe and Justin Peck, among others, to work with the company and produce contemporary works. As further proof of its vaunted standing in the world of dance, this past month the company debuted a new $5 million production of the Nutcracker, complete with sets built outside London by the same shop that just completed the new Harry Potter experience. It is the Houston Ballet’s most ambitious production to date and it is expected to exceed last year’s attendance record of 77,000 guests over its 39-show run through December 27.

Bottom line: From its adjoining theatre, in-house cobblers, seamstresses, fabric hall and, yes, even dye shop, the Houston Ballet is a most impressive operation.

“It is the only fine arts organization in Houston that tours and has an international presence at this level,” Brown offers with a hint more of the boastfulness one might find more befitting of a Houstonian.

“We have 59 really talented dancers and, I think what [our Artistic Director] Stanton [Welch] would say, is that we have really talented men. Everyone has talented ladies but our men are fantastic and there are a lot of them and they’re strong and they’re good-looking and I think that is a unique attribute for us.”

Brown is quick to point out the make-up of the students of a class we happened upon during our tour to further drive home his point. “As you can see the ratio of guys to girls is almost, but not quite, half and half,” he offered as we looked in on the class. “Young men who want to be in companies and who want to be strong men in companies are attracted here because of Stanton and his emphasis on men dancing in ballet. [Here, they’re] not just lifting the ladies but having key roles as well. It’s not that [Stanton] over emphasizes men but he is more equal in his use of them.”

One such talented young male dancer who found his way to the Houston Ballet and the tutelage of the celebrated Mr. Welch is Rhys Kosakowski, the undiscovered young talent who would become the first actor outside of London to take on the lead role in Billy Elliot when the production debuted to rave reviews in Sydney back in 2007. Now, one might be inclined to think that, with this pedigree, the ballet would have been a natural calling for the rising star, but on that score, one would be as mistaken as I was in my original estimation of the Houston Ballet.

“My mom put me in jazz and tap lessons at a really young age, when I was maybe 6 or 7,” Kosakowski explains of his haphazard journey into the world of ballet, as he takes a breather in between rehearsals for the upcoming Nutcracker. “It was more like a fun, interactive kind of thing. But as I grew older I took an interest mainly in jazz and contemporary dance. My jazz teacher at the time said to me ‘If you really want to pursue jazz as a future, then you have to do ballet class.’ [Well] I was about 12 at the time and I wasn’t really into ballet at all but taking classes kind of opened my mind up to it a little bit. And then as I started to audition for Billy Elliott, I had to send in a ballet class video to audition. So that’s how ballet started for me. And then after I got the part of Billy, ballet just took off for me and that’s how I fell in love with it.”

Oddly enough, it was with the same degree of serendipity that Kosakowski made the leap from Down Under to the great state of Texas. Contrary to convention, he did not pine away over whimsical thoughts that he might one day join the Houston Ballet. In fact, he didn’t even think the leap was all that possible until his grandmother gave him a nudge in the right direction.

“After Billy Elliott finished, I took about year and went back home and did full time dancing college at the National College of Dance in Newcastle,” Rhys says of his career trajectory. “Then one day, my grandma saw an audition in the newspaper [for the Houston Ballet] and she said I should go for it. I thought I was never going to get it, but I went and then I got the offer to come to summer school so I came to Houston then. That was four years ago.”

As obstacle-free as his journey to one of America’s leading ballet companies may seem on paper, it is clear that the young dancer does not take his good fortune for granted. “Just saying that I’m in a ballet company is a great thing for me,” Kosakowski beams when asked the most rewarding aspect of being a part of the Houston Ballet.

He is likewise respectful of his role as part of the whole that makes up the ballet company. Despite his chiseled good looks, growing modeling portfolio and tens of thousands of followers on social media, Kosakowski seems devoid of even the slightest hint of a prima uomo persona. Asked if he thinks he brings anything unique to the Houston Ballet, he cautiously demurs replying that while “a lot dancers think they have [special] things that they bring, other people view how you dance differently.” That said, he does admit that perhaps his early training in jazz and contemporary dance has played to his advantage.

“I started ballet late so I can definitely say that I am not the most classically trained dancer in the Houston Ballet,” Kosakowski readily admits with a laugh. “But I can [also] definitely see that when other choreographers come in with contemporary works that I catch their eye because I am a little bit different to the rest. But then again, like I said, other people have different opinions about how I dance so… ‘ Another self-deprecating chuckle follows as he contemplates the thought.

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