Ball culture
The Ballroom scene (also known as the Ballroom community, Ballroom culture, or just Ballroom) is an African-American and Latino underground LGBTQ+ subculture. Its origins can be found in drag balls of the mid-19th century United States, such as those hosted by William Dorsey Swann, a formerly enslaved Black man in Washington D.C.. By the early 20th century, integrated drag balls were popular in cities such as New York, Chicago, New Orleans, Baltimore, and Philadelphia. In the mid-20th century, as a response to racism in integrated drag spaces, the balls evolved into house ballroom, where Black and Latino attendees could "walk" in a variety of categories for trophies and cash prizes. Most participants in ballroom belong to groups known as "houses," where chosen families of friends form relationships and communities separate from their families of origin, from which they may be estranged.[1][2] The influence of ballroom culture can be seen in dance, language, music, and popular culture, and the community still exists today.
Not to be confused with Ball (dance party).Cities with prominent ball culture[edit]
New York City[edit]
New York City is the center of the world's drag ball culture. Cross dressing balls have existed in the city since the 1800s; the Hamilton Lodge Ball in 1869 is the first recorded drag ball in US history.[41][42] In the 1920s, female impersonators competed in fashion shows in bars two or three times a year. Black queens would sometimes participate but rarely won prizes due to discrimination.[43] In the 1970s, Black queens Crystal LaBeija and her friend, Lottie, began their own drag ball titled House of LaBeija, kickstarting the current ballroom scene in New York.[43] Crystal and Lottie are credited with founding the first House in ballroom.[44] In 1989, The House of Latex was created as a call to action in the ballroom community to bridge the gap between HIV and STI prevention and ballroom culture.[2]
Washington, DC[edit]
William Dorsey Swann organized a series of drag balls in the DC area during the 1880s and 1890s.[45]
This account from the metropolitan Washington, D.C. area describes how ball culture and drag houses developed about 1960:
HIV/AIDS epidemic[edit]
The ball community has been heavily impacted by the HIV/AIDS epidemic as transgender people of color and men who have sex with men (MSM) are the highest risk communities for contracting the virus in the U.S. Since the 1980s, many notable members of the ball community died due to HIV/AIDS complications such as Willi Ninja, Hector Xtravaganza, and Angie Xtravaganza.[64] Out of all estimated HIV diagnoses in males, MSM make up 78%. In the United States, MSM represent 61% of all diagnosis of HIV. Young black men are especially at risk for contracting the virus. In 2009, the percentage of black MSM, aged 13–29, who were diagnosed with HIV increased by 48%.[65] Many healthcare providers and medical service professionals have since reached out to the community to perform research, teach sex education, offer free testing, and host balls to promote safe sex, such as the Latex Ball that is hosted by the Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC) in New York.[66]
Researchers with ProjectVOGUE also reached out to the ball community for assistance with vaccine trials and testing because minority participation is generally very low. This low participation stems from a historical distrust that African-Americans and Latinos have had of the government due to government-sponsored projects such as the Tuskegee syphilis experiment.[65] ProjectVOGUE is led by researchers and professionals from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Florida International University, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and the MOCHA (Men of Color Health Association) Center. They aimed to create a partnership with the Western New York ball community and held monthly meetings where safe sex methods were taught along with information about the HIV trial vaccine. Community members were initially incentivized to attend with $25 gift cards and transportation vouchers.[65]
These joint meeting sessions also branched out to cover topics such as substance abuse, STI prevention, violence within the ball community, and more. ProjectVOGUE researchers utilized the House "family" structure by taking 15 "mothers", "fathers", founders, and more on a retreat to gauge the community's knowledge of HIV, while encouraging them to teach their "children" about HIV prevention. At the end of the study, participants had an increased knowledge about HIV, HIV vaccine research, and were more likely to participate in a study.[65]
Many other partnerships have formed across the country between the healthcare industry and the ball community to encourage HIV prevention. Although HIV/AIDS took, and continues to take, the lives of many ball participants, the community has grown tighter as a result of collective mourning and shared celebrations of life in the wake of grief.[66]
Dance[edit]
The most notable influence of ball culture on mainstream society is voguing, a dance style originating in Harlem ballrooms during the latter half of the 20th century. It appeared in the video for Malcolm McLaren's Deep in Vogue, released in 1989, and Madonna's "Vogue", released in 1990 (one year before the documentary Paris Is Burning).[72] The dance group Vogue Evolution, from America's Best Dance Crew, has again sparked interest in voguing.[73]
Voguing started in Drag Balls held by the queer community of color. The competitions were divided up into Houses that then competed in different categories, including voguing. Named after Vogue magazine, voguing required dancers to mirror the poses held by models, with emphasis placed on arm and hand movements. Dancers would play out elaborate scenes such as applying makeup or taking phone calls while dancing down the catwalk.[74] Dancer and choreographer Willi Ninja has been recognized as the "Grandfather of Vogue" and the dance, as well as Ninja himself, were covered in the documentary Paris is Burning.[73][74]
The legacy of ball culture on current drag culture is extensive. The use of categories and judging can be seen on popular reality TV programs such as RuPaul's Drag Race.[75] The structure of Houses is widely used among drag queens today, as well as associated notions of community and family. Attitudes of defiance and subversion that were necessary for black, Latino, queer, and trans participants as they navigated discrimination, exclusion, and the ravages of the AIDS epidemic form an essential part of drag culture as a whole.
Ballroom dialect became more widely used in gay slang, fashion industry jargon and mainstream colloquial language.[76]
Music[edit]
A key element of balls is also the music, which is typically characterized by distinct uptempo beats that are overlaid with the "raps" of commentators or emcees.[79] Lyrics are just as stylized as the beats and often praise queerness and femininity through typically vulgar language and usage of words like "cunt" and "pussy".[80] Historically, the music featured at balls has been whatever is popular within the black LGBT community at the time, ranging from disco, to club music, to house, to rap and R&B. House music, the primary sound of the balls, is always upwards of 120 beats per minute and has African roots, which is reflected in the rhythm.[79]
Today, it is common for older house classics like "Work This Pussy" by Ellis D, "Cunty" by Kevin Aviance, and "The Ha Dance" by Masters at Work to be remixed into new hits by the current wave of DJs and producers.[80][81] Ballroom Icon DJ's Vjuan Allure, VJtheDJ, Angel X, and MikeQ, were the first DJs considered to have developed the first remixes of ballroom sound. In order, Vjuan Allure was the first to remix "The Ha Dance" in 2000, VJtheDJ in 2001, followed by Angel X in 2002, and then MikeQ in 2005.[82][83] Overall, ball culture has been a fertile ground for new forms of house music and other genres of electronic dance music through its DJs.[84]
According to PBS Sound Field interview with MikeQ, one of ball music's pioneers, ball music started as house music that was being played at ballroom parties.[85] Over time, distinct features of ball music emerged, for instance the "Ha" crash, being placed on the every fourth of 4 beats and the minimal repetitive vocals, provided by ball commentators.[85] The "Ha" crash cymbals often signify the time for ball dancers to strike a pose or hit the floor.[85] Modern vogue music, along with house, incorporates elements of disco, funk, hip hop, contemporary R&B, Jersey club and other electronic music.[85]
The culture has also influenced a wave of queer hip hop artists such as Zebra Katz, House of Ladosha, and Le1f.[26][86]
In the media[edit]
Most of the New York-based houses of the time appeared in the 1990 documentary film Paris Is Burning.[10] In 1997, Emanuel Xavier published a seminal poetry manifesto titled Pier Queen. In 1999, his novel Christ Like featured the first fictional main character involved with the Houses. The 2016 film Kiki provided an updated portrait of the ball culture scene. In 2017, as part of a documentary series on New Zealand cultural identity, Vice Media produced an episode about New Zealand's ball culture, entitled "FAFSWAG: Auckland's Underground Vogue Scene".[87]
In 2009, Logo TV aired the reality television series RuPaul's Drag Race, a competition show where drag queens face off in a series of challenges heavily inspired by competitions commonly seen in ballroom culture. Created by prominent drag queen RuPaul Charles, competitors sew, act, sing, and lip sync for a chance to win $100,000, a one-year supply of Anastasia Beverly Hills cosmetics and the title of "America's Next Drag Superstar". The show has won a plethora of awards and spawned several spin-off series. The competition format, slang, and type of drag exhibited on the show is heavily influenced by ball culture.
In 2018, Viceland aired a docuseries, My House, following six people in the New York City ball culture.[88] In the spring of 2018, the television series Pose premiered, set in New York and following participants in ball culture, as well as others in the 1980s Manhattan. The show was created by Steven Canals, Brad Falchuk, and Ryan Murphy.[89]
On April 18, 2019, it was announced that the premiere of the feature film Port Authority, a New York love story between a black trans woman from the ballroom scene and a cisgender man from the Midwest would compete in the Un Certain Regard competition at the prestigious 2019 Cannes Film Festival. It was backed and produced by Martin Scorsese and RT Features. Leyna Bloom's debut in Port Authority was the first time in the festival's history that a trans woman of color was featured in a leading role. The film is credited with authentic casting and representation. Port Authority features scenes at balls, as well as during rehearsals and of queer youths' chosen family.[90] Almost every actor that plays a role of significance in the ballroom scenes in the film, including competitors, judges, and house members, are active members of the ballroom scene today. Prior to being cast, Leyna Bloom became known internationally as a model and dancer, and she is active in the mainstream ballroom scene as New York City mother of the House of Miyake-Mugler. She is known in ball culture as the "Polynesian Princess", having made an international name for herself walking the category of face.[90]
In 2020, the voguing reality competition web series Legendary premiered on the HBO Max streaming service. The series follows members of eight prominent houses as they navigate their way through nine balls (dancing, voguing, etc.), with a $100,000 prize awarded to the winner.[91]
In 2022, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation premiered the web series CBX: Canadian Ballroom Extravaganza, which challenged teams consisting of one ballroom performer and one emerging filmmaker to create short films highlighting performances in each of five ballroom categories.[92]
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