Today we’d like to introduce you to Lizzy And Miranda.
Hi Lizzy and Miranda, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
We met while taking dance lessons together in LA, but our paths to pole dance and performance were very different. Miranda is a retired stripper and sex worker, and she had taken up pole dancing lessons as a way to hone and perfect the craft she had developed working in clubs. Lizzy had originally trained to be a ballerina, but had given up dance in order to pursue a career as a psychologist; she had returned to dance later in life when psychology proved creatively unfulfilling. While we both connected initially over our shared creative passion for dance, we truly bonded over our shared frustration at the lack of local performance opportunities for pole dancers, finding that we had an artistic drive to perform that could not be nurtured in class alone. Thus, the idea for The Midnight Ballet, a pole and burlesque variety show, was born; if we couldn’t find enough opportunities to perform, we would simply create our own show! With only six weeks separating the inception of our idea and the date of our first show, we had our work cut out for us. We worked day and night to pull the show together in record time, and we are especially grateful to our incredible cast who brought our vision to life. Though we would both identify this as one of the more stressful times of our lives, we discovered a real passion for show production, and we are excited to begin work on our next show, Song of the Siren, which will run on January 16, 2026.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
As first time-producers, we were starting 100% from scratch with The Midnight Ballet. Neither of us had had any prior experience with theatrical production, and we found ourselves forced to learn as we went; creating our LLC, choosing appropriate insurance, figuring out contracts, and casting and managing performers all posed unfamiliar challenges, and we only had six weeks to create our business and bring a fully-fledged show to fruition. We also funded the entire venture ourselves, and covering costs often forced us to stretch our budgets to their limits. Additionally, we have faced obstacles in our personal and professional lives from those who would denigrate art forms like pole and burlesque as disreputable based on their association with eroticism and sexuality. We are therefore actively working to show others that art does not need to be sexless in order to be worthy of respect.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
One of our key motivators as producers has been that, in addition to performance opportunities being few and far between, the opportunities we did find have failed to offer the kind of experience we were hoping for. As we see it, many pole and burlesque shows undercut and sanitize the eroticism of these art forms by overusing silliness and humor, a tendency that seems to emerge from a desire to distance pole especially from its origins in the world of sex work. By contrast, we are extremely comfortable with the origins of pole dance; thus, with The Midnight Ballet, we wanted to fully embrace and honor the erotic nature of pole dance rather than turning from it. In fact, what we loved most about pole dance is the way in which one can express raw sexuality through it, and can therefor tap into more primal aspects of human nature. Our shows therefore fuse the eroticism and sensuality of the strip club with the grace and elegance of the ballet.
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
Above all else, the essential quality that has allowed us to create The Midnight Ballet is an overwhelming and all-consuming passion for the artistic aspect of the endeavor. Because the act of creation is something we both find so deeply meaningful, we have been motivated to persevere through the technical and financial challenges we have faced in the last few months. For both of us, we simply feel that failure isn’t an option. Almost as important as our dedication to our business and craft is our commitment to our creative relationship. We both have great respect for the other’s artistry and individuality. We communicate our ideas freely and share a genuine excitement to hear what the other has to say. We also tackle our creative and business challenges together and allow those challenges to bring us closer rather than driving us apart. Our creativity and choreography are also a celebration of this relationship; we are able to perform well together because we are expressing a genuine love for each other through movement.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://midnightballet.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_midnight_ballet/
Image Credits
John Travis, Emma Sczudlo, Molly Rangel, Kyle O’Tain
