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Jay Ledford’s journey as a Filipino-American transgender ballerina

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<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2018/life/11/01/jay-ledford.jpg"/><figcaption>Jay Ledford. <em>Photo courtesy of Jennifer Ledford</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>A Filipino-American transgender is slowly tiptoeing her way to performance stages across the United States one grand jete at a time.</p><p>When she was 17 months old, Jay, who was born in Leyte, moved to Indiana after the Ledford family adopted her.</p><p>As a toddler, Jay prodded her foster parents to enroll her in ballet school.</p><div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2018/life/11/01/jay-ledford3.jpg"/><figcaption><em>Photo courtesy of Jennifer Ledford</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>&quot;I was the only boy at my studio in Indiana, and all I ever wanted was to wear a leotard,&quot; Jay said.</p><p>Her parents &quot;un-enrolled&quot; her from the ballet studio after the school said boys were not allowed to dance in leotards.</p><p>&quot;My parents un-enrolled me and took me to a studio across town, where I enrolled as a female,&quot; she said.</p><p>Five years into learning pirouettes and splits and arabesques, Jay bagged full scholarships for summer ballet intensives at the Kirov Academy, the Rock School of Dance, and Pittsburgh Ballet Theater.</p><p>Jay brought her skills and dancing dreams wherever the family moved.</p><div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2018/life/11/01/jay-ledford2.jpg"/><figcaption>Jay Ledford. <em>Photo courtesy of Jennifer Ledford</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>When the Ledford family decided to live in Salisbury, Maryland in 2008, Jay trained at the Salisbury Dance Academy and performed with the Eastern Shore Ballet Theater in major roles in the &quot;Nutcracker,&quot; &quot;Coppelia,&quot; and &quot;The Seven Dwarfs,&quot; and many others.</p><p>Jay also performed at Disney World in Orlando in Florida.</p><p>When the family relocated to Delaware in 2015, Jay started training with Michele Xiques, director of First State Dance Academy.</p><p>Jay became a full-time ballet dancer in 2017 after she graduated from high school. It was also when she fully embraced her gender.</p><p>&quot;While at the Kirov, I began truly figuring out who I was,&quot; she said.</p><p>&quot;It was a difficult period of time because I wasn&#x27;t sure who I could trust.&quot;</p><p>Jay eventually admitted to being a transgender through a social media post.</p><blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/BdtkZk5HOpi/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_medium=loading" data-instgrm-version="12" style="background:#FFF;border:0;border-radius:3px;box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15);margin:1px;max-width:540px;min-width:326px;padding:0;width:calc(100% - 2px)"><div style="padding:16px"><div style="display:flex;flex-direction:row;align-items:center"><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:50%;flex-grow:0;height:40px;margin-right:14px;width:40px"> </div><div style="display:flex;flex-direction:column;flex-grow:1;justify-content:center"><div 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transparent;transform:translateY(16px)"> </div><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;flex-grow:0;height:12px;width:16px;transform:translateY(-4px)"> </div><div style="width:0;height:0;border-top:8px solid #F4F4F4;border-left:8px solid transparent;transform:translateY(-4px) translateX(8px)"> </div></div></div><div style="display:flex;flex-direction:column;flex-grow:1;justify-content:center;margin-bottom:24px"><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:4px;flex-grow:0;height:14px;margin-bottom:6px;width:224px"> </div><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:4px;flex-grow:0;height:14px;width:144px"> </div></div><p style="color:#c9c8cd;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:17px;margin-bottom:0;margin-top:8px;overflow:hidden;padding:8px 0 7px;text-align:center;text-overflow:ellipsis;white-space:nowrap"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BdtkZk5HOpi/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_medium=loading" style="color:#c9c8cd;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;line-height:17px;text-decoration:none" target="_blank">A post shared by Jay Ledford (@jayledford)</a> on <time dateTime="2018-01-09T02:30:34+00:00" style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:17px">Jan 8, 2018 at 6:30pm PST</time></p></div></blockquote><div><script async="" src="https://www.instagram.com/embed.js" type="text/javascript"></script></div><p>&quot;Those final months of the school year were the greatest, because I was able to finally be myself—everyone treated me as me, and nothing different,&quot; she said.</p><p>&quot;That Instagram post sparked so many direct messages about how inspirational I was to people, or how my story had helped others come out to their own families,&quot; she said.</p><p>Despite the support she received, opportunities are still &quot;being taken away&quot; because of her gender, Jay said.</p><p>&quot;A lot of companies and studios where I danced as a male aren&#x27;t receptive to me as a female,&quot; she said.</p><p>&quot;It&#x27;s definitely hard because you want to be accepted everywhere, but unfortunately, it&#x27;s not like that,&quot; she said.</p><p>Jay -- just like her 5-year-old self who refused to drop her ballet shoes when told that she could not dance in leotards -- is nowhere near giving up.</p><p>She is training to audition for some ballet companies and colleges where she hopes to further her training en pointe and choreography.</p><blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/BoHaWg1AKST/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_medium=loading" data-instgrm-version="12" style="background:#FFF;border:0;border-radius:3px;box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15);margin:1px;max-width:540px;min-width:326px;padding:0;width:calc(100% - 2px)"><div style="padding:16px"><div style="display:flex;flex-direction:row;align-items:center"><div 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style="color:#c9c8cd;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:17px;margin-bottom:0;margin-top:8px;overflow:hidden;padding:8px 0 7px;text-align:center;text-overflow:ellipsis;white-space:nowrap"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BoHaWg1AKST/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_medium=loading" style="color:#c9c8cd;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;line-height:17px;text-decoration:none" target="_blank">A post shared by Jay Ledford (@jayledford)</a> on <time dateTime="2018-09-24T16:36:58+00:00" style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:17px">Sep 24, 2018 at 9:36am PDT</time></p></div></blockquote><div><script async="" src="https://www.instagram.com/embed.js" type="text/javascript"></script></div><p>&quot;I&#x27;m taking the next year off to train fully as a female and master my pointe technique,&quot; she said.</p><p>&quot;I hope to end up in a company, and would absolutely love to dance Giselle, Juliet, Odette/Odile, and Aurora—you know, the roles that every little girl dreams of doing when she grows up and finally becomes a ballerina,&quot; she said. <strong>-- with a report from Jon Melegrito</strong></p><div> </div>

<p>A Filipino-American transgender is slowly tiptoeing her way to performance stages across the United States one grand jete at a time.</p>

A Filipino-American transgender is slowly tiptoeing her way to performance stages across the United States one grand jete at a time.