Photography by JUCO | Retouching by Anna Glen at Wet Noodle
The Moment: June 16, 1961: Ballet star Rudolf Nureyev defects to the United States from Russia.
In addition to his work as a principal dancer for the American Ballet Theatre, James Whiteside belts out tunes as his pop star alter-ego, JbDUBS, and he recently released his first EP, titled Hey JB! His other project: performing with his boyfriend Milk (a.k.a. Dan Donigan; a contestant on RuPaul's Drag Race, season 6), under their drag group name the Dairy Queens (he's Yoohoo). His influences? Whiteside remembers locking himself in his room with a girlfriend at age 15 to watch Showtime's Queer as Folk. "I wasn't out to my parents yet, and it was my first glimpse into the unabashedly fabulous world of the LGBT community," he says. "Plus, their clothes were hilarious! I saw Emmett Honeycutt wearing pleather pants and crop tops -- so I bought pleather pants and crop tops."
Photographed in Central Park, New York on September 21, 2014
Groomer: Heather Schnell
