26th June 2019 (Brighton) Brighton & Hove Pride are excited to announce that the seven-piece, male dance troupe hailing from Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Alabama will be flying in from the United States to perform their first European shows at various events across this year’s festival.
Opening the weekend at the Pride Pleasure Gardens in Brighton’s Old Steine on Friday 2nd August, they will then lead Saturday’s Pride LGBTQ+ Community Parade before joining the line up on the main stage at Pride in The Park in Preston Park where international pop icon, Kylie Minogue will headline.
Last year, Pride shared a series of social posts showing the discrimination Prancing Elites have received from some of the community in Alabama. This sparked an outpouring of support from the global Pride family and to share our love and unity, we invited them to Brighton Pride for their first ever UK performance.
Rejected from performing at their High School Dance Functions, Prancing Elites are a group of seven queer, gender non-confirming dancers who faced the fear and prejudice they encountered and rebelled against the school board to begin performing at sports games, parades and other local events. Under the lead of group founder and Captain, Kentrell Collins, Prancing Elites have been stopping audiences in their tracks with their high energy routines, inspired by the likes of pop sensations including Beyonce, Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, Boyz to Men and more.
Landing on the cultural radar after Shaquille O’Neal tweeted a video of them performing, the sheer joy radiating from their performing dance routines in fierce make up, turned them into viral superstars; and ultimately led to them landing the reality show ‘The Prancing Elites Project’ for which they have become famous. The team currently has dancers studying in college and working regular jobs and due to their disparate locations, often have to commute up to two and half hours to practice.
Despite their new-found fame, the team still receive their fair share of bad responses alongside the good and at any time could find themselves under threat of being bashed, beaten or worse, simply for being who they are. Thankfully, there are a whole host of adoring fans around the world, cheering them on and celebrating their beauty and talent. We can’t wait to welcome them to Brighton & Hove Pride.