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Chad/Ryan
| Pairing | |
|---|---|
| Pairing: | Chad Danforth/Ryan Evans |
| Alternative name(s): | Chyan, Rad |
| Gender category: | slash |
| Fandom: | High School Musical |
| Canonical?: | No |
| Prevalence: | Popular |
| Archives: | I Don't Dance Live Journal |
| Other: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Chyan is the slash pairing of Chad Danforth and Ryan Evans in the High School Musical franchise.
Yes, Ryan fulfills his goal of seducing Chad, but it's not like he's won anything, y'know. Neither of them has really been victorious over the other. They're both empowered by this experience; they're both having fun. They're both in on this flirty, "I don't dance" joke.
Teya[1]
Canon
The main nuggets of canon that fans latch onto is the song 'I Don't Dance' and a scene afterwards where Ryan is wearing the outfit Chad was wearing in the previous scene, and Ryan wearing Chad's clothes vice versa. The fanon interpretation of this is that they disrobed, had sex, and then either wore the wrong clothes by accident or deliberately (see Sharing Clothes trope).
Ryan in particular is very queer-coded. The director, Kenny Ortega (a gay man himself) has said that Ryan probably would've come out in college, but at the time (2006) him being openly gay in a Disney film was not a viable possibility.[2]
Fandom
Much of the early fandom was based around Livejournal. In particular, the idontdance community was incredibly active and prolific.
The pairing was also an entry in the second MLM Ship Bracket Tournament in 2023.
Fanworks
Meta
- Chad/Ryan: A Rad Manifesto (High School Musical) by queenitsy (January 19, 2008)
- Why Chad And Ryan Switched Clothes In High School Musical 2 by 24 Frames Of Nick (July 30, 2018)
- "The Gay Subtext of High School Musical (Chad + Ryan are in love)" by STRANGE ÆONS (August 11, 2020)
- Are They Gay? - Chad and Ryan from High School Musical by Alexander Avila (September 16, 2020)
- high school musical is gay and i'm going to tell you why (Chad and Ryan, queer awakenings, & more) by film fatales (November 15, 2022)
Fanfiction
- Rehearsals, Tipping the Kinsey Scale, and Long Distance by foolishgames (2012)
- Strategy, Archived version by ItsyRoyal (2007)
- In an Oblivious Crowd by allyndra (2012)
Fanart
by Moko (2017)
dance with me (dance with me, please!) by Vicki (2017)
Resources
- Archive of Our Own tags: Chad Danforth/Ryan Evans
- Tumblr Tags:
- Chyan on Shipping Wiki
- LiveJournal communities:
References
- ^ "The Gay Subtext of High School Musical (Chad + Ryan are in love)" by STRANGE ÆONS
- ^ "High School Musical Director Explains Why Ryan Evans Wasn't Openly Gay". Archived from the original on June 30, 2020.