Months before stepping onto the global stage, Trinity Joy captivated millions on TikTok with a blend of ballet and hip-hop set to gritty trap music that she calls “Trapllet.”
In a video that has racked more than 5 million views, the Detroit native, whose real name is Trinity Sanders, struts into a tilt kick and chaine turn as Cardi B belts a commanding rap verse in GloRilla’s chart-topping song “Tomorrow 2.” Trinity throws in some popping, twerking, krumping and tongue-hanging swagger before she effortlessly glides into a la seconde turns, pirouettes and a smooth straddle jump to the floor.
Many of her longtime followers consider the 20-year-old the reigning queen of “Trapllet,” referring to her as “The Traperinna” or “The Trap Ballerina.” And she once posted on Instagram about being “a ballerina from the ghetto who dances to durks music in hopes of him seeing and letting you dance for a music video,” referring to the rapper.
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But the future had bigger plans for her.
Since May, Trinity has been a dancer on Beyoncé’s record-shattering Renaissance Tour, where video highlights of her expressive and intricate dance techniques have made her one of the show’s breakout performers. The tour, which is nearing its final weeks, also marks Trinity’s first professional dance gig.
“From the east side of Detroit to laying on Beyoncé’s leg in Europe,” she wrote on Instagram, reflecting on her journey. “All I can say is thank you Jesus.”
Trinity and a representative for the Renaissance Tour did not respond to requests for interviews, but fans and former instructors spoke of their admiration for the dancer and her journey, which a few have even dubbed the “Trinaissance.”
Trinity joined the Motor City Dance Factory in Southfield, Mich., at the age of 4, enrolling in a variety of dance classes, including ballet, jazz, tap and hip-hop, said the studio’s assistant director, Zandria Lucas.
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“She has always been one of those kids who just works really hard and is just super determined to get everything right and just be the best,” Lucas said. “She’s very, very self-motivated.”
During the tour’s Detroit stop in July, Trinity stopped by the studio to speak to young dancers, according to Lucas. “We were having our competitive dance team auditions and so she sat in and had a little fun with us, and the kids were really happy to see her,” Lucas said.
“One of Trinity’s strongest characteristics is her charisma,” said Anderson Neves, who runs a popular Instagram fan account celebrating the dancers on tour. “She has fun onstage, and fans love that.”
Others have also noted Trinity’s personality and high energy onstage. Videos of her contorting into dance moves as she wags her tongue or imitates a fake squeeze of Beyoncé’s behind have set social media ablaze.
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One fan, Tamaíya Bea, has been following Trinity since her video went viral in October and appreciates how well she infuses different styles of performance art.
Share this articleShare“I really liked the fact that she was a ballerina and everything, but she was a little more relatable to people who don’t necessarily feel like they could come and connect to that world,” Bea said. “She really did a good job of bridging the gap between hip-hop, R&B with classical ballet, which is something you don’t typically see.”
A tour with Beyoncé, she adds, is one of the most coveted gigs a dancer could book. “To have those credentials to say you even made it there, in my head, you’re at the top of the top.”
Working with Beyoncé has catapulted many dancers to new levels of success. French hip-hop duo Les Twins have joined Beyoncé onstage since “The Mrs. Carter Show” tour in 2013, the only male dancers on the tour. And other newcomers who joined Trinity this year, including Darius Hickman, Amari Marshall and Honey Balenciaga, have been generating significant buzz and star power of their own.
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“Definitely these dancers won the hearts of all Beyhives,” Neves said, though he shared that there was some initial resistance from fans who disapproved of the tour hiring a new team. But the decision was also lauded for Beyoncé’s commitment to discovering and nurturing new talent.
“A very strong characteristic of these dancers is that in addition to bringing all this energy from vogue and ball, the dancers are very friendly,” Neves said. “New fan clubs appear every day, the number of followers on our profile and [for] dancers grows rapidly every week.”
With Trinity, who has called herself a “ballerina from the trenches,” fans have been inspired by her come-up — especially in the face of hostilities. On TikTok, the dancer previously shared that some social media users have criticized her dance style as an abomination to classical ballet.
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Ballet has long been conceived as an elitist and classist form of dance that people of color often felt excluded from, Lucas said, pointing to specific standards for size and appearance that dancers were expected to meet.
But, “throughout time, there have been people who have been able to break those barriers and really succeed as dancers of color within ballet,” Lucas added.
She credits performers like Trinity for lighting new paths in the dance community while still infusing some of their culture and individuality into their style — helping genres like ballet evolve and feel more accessible.
Seeing Trinity embrace and infuse her different styles of dance, Lucas said, speaks to the essence of who she is.
“She is not settling for being boxed into just one or the other, but saying, ‘These are all of the things that make me an artist’ and blending them in the way that she sees fit for herself.”
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