Today we’d like to introduce you to Eliza Roux.
Hi Eliza, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My name is Eliza Roux, and I started in dance at age 7. My sisters had been dancing before, and according to my mom, I had thrown this massive tantrum, saying, “Why are they in dance and I’m not?” I just stuck with it for around 17 years. When I was 15, I went away to my first summer intensive at BalletMet, which was a lot of ballet training, but there was also modern, jazz, and character dance. After that summer, I realized that dancing professionally was what I wanted to do, so I shifted my focus to more intense and rigorous ballet, taking classes 5 days a week and coming home really sore but always coming back for more because I craved that adrenaline rush and that pursuit for creativity, for finding myself. After being at my second studio, I did a summer intensive in New York in the summer of 2018 and got to work with ballet legend Gelsey Kirkland. I was there for ten weeks straight; that experience changed my life forever.
I then moved to Arizona and danced there for about 3 years, training at Ballet Arizona in the school division. I had a lot of fantastic performance and personal growth opportunities there. After some time there, however, I felt like I was being strung along or spread too thin, so I decided it was time for me to explore something new, which led me to move cross country to Duluth, Minnesota, and dance with the Minnesota Ballet for two and half years. I’m grateful for the opportunities I had there, and I even got to choreograph a piece with one of my closest friends, Kentaro Shiozawa. However, I still felt like there was more for me, something I couldn’t necessarily get there, and that was transitioning. The thought had been on my mind for a while, but I never had the opportunity to go out and act on it while in the ballet world. Because as progressive and accepting as that world can be, it’s still very much not a queer space; it’s still very heteronormative and, as you can imagine, can be pretty confusing to navigate as a young trans-genderfluid person.
I then discovered drag, or instead, it found me. That offered me that space, that outlet for my gender identity to be explored and expressed that I had been craving for so long but didn’t have the vocabulary to express it. As soon as I started dragging, I immediately felt at home. I’ve been performing drag for just over a year in January with the drag company Zenith City Horror. One of my first interactions with them was Duluth Superior Pride 2021. I was still with the ballet at the time, but I got to see what it was like to be around a lot of queer people. But anyway, my first interaction was a production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch. I felt so seen, so heard. Watching it planted something in me, something profound in my soul. I don’t think I have found it entirely yet, but half the fun of the journey is the journey itself. I am now four months on estrogen, and I have never felt happier and have never been more connected to my body. I wish all trans and queer individuals the same fate of being happy and being connected to their bodies. I have some fun ideas cooked up for the future relating to safe queer dance spaces, but that’s all a work in progress right now, and I am so excited to get things off the ground with that.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The road has been smooth but also not. I had to overcome quite a severe about of depression, but thankfully and gratefully, I had a fantastic support system to get me through it.
Thanks for sharing that. So, tell us more about your work next.
I do a lot of drag nowadays with Zenith City Horror. A lot of my style is weirdcore, throwing anything and everything together to make something weird but also inviting and intriguing. It’s hard to describe my drag and art; it’s very much so you have to experience it in person to get it, and even if you don’t get it, that’s alright. What sets me apart is just my disdain for the rules of traditional art: things have to be a certain way or look a certain way; things have to look perfect; otherwise, if it’s not ideal, it’s not good or enjoyable. I like pushing the boundaries and limits of that type of thinking because life has so much more to offer than whatever is deemed perfection or whatever that really is.
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
I love the nature of Duluth, living so close to Lake Superior, and the strong sense of community here. The one thing I don’t like is some of the conservatives here, and there have been some neo-nazis that have popped up too. But the strong sense of community makes Duluth so beautiful and unique.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: sissy.smores
