Kyle Abraham

“I love Pittsburgh because it's a humble city. It's really grounded in its rich history and culture.”

“Middle and high school is a time of people telling you who you are before you know who you are. I was in advanced classes at Frick and Schenley, and people would say I was trying to be white because of the way I spoke. Or they'd say I was gay.”

“I started dancing in my room... I wanted to find out more about my movements. I wanted to elaborate on whatever it was that I was doing there.”

“I didn't have good grades until I started dancing, because I didn't try - I didn't see the point. Once I realized why I wanted to go to college, I started to study and do well. I knew I had to have a certain GPA to get in.”

“I guess it's hard work... whatever the decision is, how to show it to people that aren't necessarily dancers, how to get people to think about more than themselves.”

“A lot of the time, when I'm choreographing, I'm not thinking about what movement look best next to the next movement - I'm actually thinking about what song and what sound sounds right next to the next thing. So kind of choreographing as if I'm always making a mix tape, so to speak.”

“Ralph Lemon is my idol. But music is my biggest passion. Frank Ocean's 'Pyramids' is on repeat. That kind of stuff with Frank Ocean makes me cry.”

“The first dance performance I saw was Joffrey Ballet doing 'Billboards' to Prince.”