CONTACTAbout UsCAREER OPPORTUNITIESADVERTISE WITH USPRIVACY POLICYPRIVACY PREFERENCESTERMS OF USELEGAL NOTICE
© 2025 Pride Publishing Inc.
All Rights reserved
All Rights reserved
Scroll To Top
By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
In Spanish it means a passion and skill that have always lived inside you, but ever since Pedro Ruiz was a boy growing up in Santa Clara, Cuba, duende, to him, has meant ballet. Today, as a principal dancer in New York Citys Ballet Hispanico and the subject of an episode of public televisions In the Life, Ruiz continues to fulfill a dream that began at age 8 in a school production of Peter and the Wolf.
Growing up in macho Cuba, Ruiz had to be careful about his sexualityeven at dance school. If they saw you acting a little bit feminine, youre out, he recalls. Rather than oppress him, he allowed this masculine veneer to influence his dance. You needed to portray yourself a certain way, so you were always conscious of how you moved.
Ruizs parents convinced him to tell the Cuban draft board he was gay to escape military conscriptionan act of courage in a country where homosexuality was often a ticket to prison. He did, and they moved to New York in the winter of 1984 , where Ruiz got a job on an assembly line hammering pins into insecticide bottles, like Lucy in the chocolate factory.
By 1985 he was dancing with Ballet Hispanico. This year hes choreographing five full ballets, including one for the Joffrey Ballet, and hes teaching at Alvin Ailey dance school. Theyre so hungry for new things, he says of his students, who remind him of his youth, when he would sneak out to the fields and dance under the tropical sun. I always say how lucky they are to live in a place where they can be free to express themselves without any discrimination. Visit InTheLifeTV.org for local air dates.
Watch Now: Pride Today
Latest Stories
How Shequida Hall turned grandma's manners into Manhattan mayhem
June 14 2025 6:00 AM
Vivian Wilson, Elon Musk's daughter, fights ICE with drag debut
June 14 2025 2:32 AM
New Music Friday: Cynthia Erivo sings new album live & Fletcher ignites discourse
June 13 2025 10:18 PM
27 celebrities who proudly identify as lesbians
June 13 2025 5:09 PM
Fletcher breaks silence on 'Boy' discourse—hasn't been 'changed by a man'
June 13 2025 3:37 PM
'Overcompensating' star Mary Beth Barone's Pride plans? 'Sex with women'
June 13 2025 2:41 PM
Meet the reality TV icons competing on 'The Traitors' season 4
June 13 2025 11:31 AM
Kai Schreiber struggled with gender identity 'from a young age'
June 13 2025 9:31 AM
Song of the summer? These are our 19 queer picks
June 13 2025 9:15 AM
33 pics of Jonathan Groff that prove why we'll always love him
June 13 2025 8:39 AM
'Just in Time': How Jonathan Groff brought Bobby Darin to Broadway
June 13 2025 8:30 AM
'No Kings' protests: What to know about the June 14 rallies against Trump
June 12 2025 9:53 PM
​'And Just Like That' S3 E3 Recap: Why would a man be there?
June 12 2025 9:30 PM
Why is immigration such a mess? Revisit Julio Torres's 'Problemista'
June 12 2025 6:39 PM