DashDivirs_1_500x100</tle><path class="squiggly_grey" d="M48.5,3.59c8.06,0,8.06,2,16.12,2s8.06-2,16.11-2,8.06,2,16.12,2,8.06-2,16.12-2,8.06,2,16.12,2,8.06-2,16.12-2,8.06,2,16.12,2,8.06-2,16.12-2,8.06,2,16.11,2,8.07-2,16.13-2,8.06,2,16.11,2,8.06-2,16.12-2,8.06,2,16.12,2,8.06-2,16.12-2,8.06,2,16.12,2,8.06-2,16.12-2,8.06,2,16.12,2,8.06-2,16.12-2,8.06,2,16.12,2,8.06-2,16.12-2,8.06,2,16.12,2,8.06-2,16.12-2,8.06,2,16.13,2,8.06-2,16.12-2,8.07,2,16.13,2"/></svg></div></div></div></div><div class="after-sectn-ntent"></div><div class="sectn-outer-ntaer"><div class="sectn-ntaer sectn-asset-ntaer left-align half-width"><div class="sectn-image-ntaer"><div class="sectn-image"><div><div class="img-ntaer"><div class="loadg"></div></div><div class="story-share image-shar"></div><div class="ntent-ptn"><div class="cred">Photo urty of Jason Rodriguez; photographed by Greg Vghan.</div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="after-sectn-ntent"></div><div class="sectn-outer-ntaer"><div class="sectn-ntaer sectn-text-ntaer"><div class="sectn-text">Jason Rodriguez wanted to be a dancer — only, he wasn’t accepted to his llege’s dance nservatory. As a stunt at SUNY Purchase, he enrolled dance class and studied arts management, a passn of his sce he played all the girls' rol his all-boys high school’s drama club. But rejectn om Purchase’s dance (and actg) program wasn’t gog to stop Rodriguez: “I was tryg to nnect the dots on my own. I wasn't part of a program tryg to tra me; wherever I uld dance, I wanted to dance,” he says. And then, renowned vogug expert Benny Nja tght a vogue workshop at the school, and everythg changed for Rodriguez. “Seeg Benny be so nfint a room and his craft and the way he spoke — as a Hispanic gay man, to me, an troverted, young, gay Hispanic — I wanted to be like him, drs however I wanted to drs, dance and speak wh nfince. I wanted to fd a way to be exprsive like him,” Rodriguez rells om the set of the TV show he works on, a perd drama foced on New York’s ballroom muny the late 1980s, which he plays a petive voguer.</div></div></div><div class="after-sectn-ntent"><div class="sectn-ad"><span>Advertisement</span><div class="ad" data-ad-size="1280x90,970x90,970x250,728x90,300x250,10x10" data-ad-posn="C" data-slot-id="scrollable-full-width-scroll" data-targetg="{"sponsorship":null,"sectn_name":["dited-feature","lgbtq","md","queer-voic"],"llectns":[],"aggregatns":null,"entyid":232810,"aid":"queer-safe-spac-lgbtq-lears","pageid":"queer-safe-spac-lgbtq-lears","pagetype":"Full-Width scrollable","tt":null,"is_sensive_ntent":false,"edn":"en-","utm_source":null,"utm_medium":null,"utm_ntent":null,"utm_mpaign":null,"vertil":"r29","document.referrer":"","ad_unt":8}" id="ad-sectn-ad-C"><span>ADVERTISEMENT</span></div></div></div><div class="sectn-outer-ntaer"><div class="sectn-ntaer sectn-asset-ntaer left-align full-width"><div class="sectn-pull-quote"><div class="quote-wrapper"><div class="quote-before">“</div><p class="quote"><span style="font-fay:PlayfairDisplay-black;letter-spacg:-0.025em;lor:#ed4b4b;">It was a fay I chose, and they had to choose me as well.</span></p><div class="quote-cred">Jason Rodriguez</div><div class="quote-after">”</div></div></div></div></div><div class="after-sectn-ntent"></div><div class="sectn-outer-ntaer"><div class="sectn-ntaer sectn-text-ntaer"><div class="sectn-text">Obvly, Rodriguez’s obssn wh vogue and ballroom paid off: Interactg wh a role mol led Rodriguez to jo the Hoe of Nja after graduatn, jog a ballroom fay and “jog a legacy,” he says. “It was a fay I chose, and they had to choose me as well.” For Rodriguez, vogug is his safe space, pecially bee the recent surge populary of the dance form has helped brg queer stori to the mastream. “It’s helpg people unrstand how to relate to LGBTQ people, what LGBTQ people fought for and who they are today.”</div></div></div><div class="after-sectn-ntent"></div><div class="sectn-outer-ntaer"><div class="sectn-ntaer sectn-asset-ntaer full-width"><div class="sectn-divir"><div class="divir"><svg id="squiggly_grey" data-name="squiggly_grey" xmlns=" viewBox="0 0 500 9.18"><fs><style>.squiggly_grey{fill:none;stroke:#d5d5d5;stroke-lep:round;stroke-merlim:10;stroke-width:2px;}</style></fs><tle>DashDivirs_1_500x100.