Dance as an Expression of the Soul | Eric Trope

What do you do when a pandemic strips away your life's work? For Eric Trope, a professional ballet dancer with the Miami City Ballet, that question led to an unexpected calling. In this episode of Every Soul Has a Story, host Dara Levan sits down with Eric to explore his journey from a bullied kid in New Mexico to a celebrated dancer on some of the world's biggest stages. Eric opens up about the shame he felt as a young gay man pursuing ballet, the body image struggles that plague the dance world, and his parents' unwavering support that made it all possible.

When COVID-19 shut down his career, Eric co-founded The Buddy System, a nonprofit that has placed community fridges across Miami-Dade to fight food injustice. This is a story about identity, resilience, and how the arts can heal—both on and off the stage.
Keywords: ballet, Miami City Ballet, coming out, gay dancer, body image, eating disorders, bullying, COVID-19, nonprofit, The Buddy System, community fridges, food justice.

TIMESTAMPS:

0:00 - Intro
1:00 - Forcing Sisters Into Plays
2:38 - Moving & Never Fitting In
3:18 - Growing Up as a Triplet
6:36 - Dad Encourages Jazz Over Fencing
10:21 - Ballet Shame & Wearing Basketball Shorts
11:44 - Knowing He Was Gay in Middle School
13:00 - Moving to NYC at 16 for Ballet
14:13 - Coming Out to Supportive Parents
16:30 - Knowing Years Before Coming Out
21:24 - Advice for Parents of LGBTQ+ Kids
24:33 - Life of a Professional Ballet Dancer
31:43 - Body Image Standards for Male Dancers
43:31 - Pivot: Co-Founding The Buddy System
52:38 - Maintaining Faith in Humanity
54:59 - Outro
RESOURCES:

• Buddy System - Community fridge initiative in Miami-Dade County
Dara Levan / Every Soul Has a Story:
• https://www.instagram.com/dara.levan/
• Website: daralevan.com

QUOTES:
"You are seeing companies start to acknowledge that mental health is impacted by your job and the stress of your job and the intensity of our jobs. So there's a lot of things that I think that are shoved away for a long time within the arts community."
– Eric Trope

"I feel like I need downtime to kind of reboot, sort of like a solar system. I feel like I need my own sun, but it's not outside. It's kind of writing or going inward and just turning everything off and tuning in."
– Dara Levan