![‘I Can Exist As Myself’ — ‘Pose’ Star Kya Azeen Brings Ballroom, Black Queerness & Big Energy To Broadway’s ‘Cats: The Jellicle Ball’ [Exclusive]](https://madamenoire.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2026/04/17762839638986.png?strip=all&quality=80&w=1024&crop=0,0,100,1315px)
The latest reimagining of the classic Broadway musical Cats feels like a bold reclamation rooted in ballroom and queer culture.
For actress Kya Azeen, being part of Cats: The Jellicle Ball is a full-circle moment, and a reflection of how much the culture has had a hand in her success today.
“Ballroom is how I became who I am today,” Azeen told MadameNoire just ahead of one of her showday rehearsals. “It was, in many ways, because I didn’t get to attend college, and when I joined ballroom, I was like 19, so it was kind of like my college years of me finding myself and understanding who I was as a trans woman, and just as a Black queer person.”
She added, “So to be in this space right now, for one, my background within dance and within performing, and to also see it in a space where its theater mixed with ballroom, is really bewildering for me, but also just speaks to the young kid that’s like able to just do everything that I was training for so long and then also to incorporate a culture that influence me so deeply.”
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