What is Ballroom?
Legendary Houses
|
Ball culture, the house system, the ballroom community and similar terms describe the underground LGBT subculture in the United States in which people "walk" (i.e. compete) for trophies and prizes at events known as balls. Those who walk often also dance and vogue while others compete in various genres of drag often trying to pass as a specific gender and social class. Most people involved with ball culture belong to "houses" led by a single leader. |
Legendary Houses
|
House Parents
House parents can provide wisdom, guidance and care for young
people who otherwise might be homeless and without a parental figure. House Parents tend to provide housing, money, and emotional support to people seeking guidance. They coordinate the overall image of the house, plan annual events for house bonding, they host competitive balls to raise money, and the list of house parents responsibilities continues to grow as the needs of the scene. |
Also called "families," are groups composed primarily of the LGBTQ Community, the majority of which are African American or Latino, banded together under a respected "house mother" (sometimes a drag queen or a transgender person, but not always) or even a "house father.".
|
The Competition
Besides providing a support system for their members,
the main function of these houses is to "walk" or compete
against one another in "balls" in which they are judged by
a panel of judges on dance skills, costume, general appearance, and attitude.
Participants dress according to category in which they are competing.
Dominated today by contemporary hip hop fashion and
featuring much hip hop music, these events are actually
part of a vivacious and ever-changing culture.
How it works
If your good ... The judges will give you 10's
If your not good ... The judges will CHOP you
There is more to the ballroom scene than chopping,"fierceness" and shade; and there is more to vogueing than striking a pose. Drag is a form of control. By looking good one can feel good. By looking powerful, one can feel powerful. One can be powerful. Therefore, beauty begets control. Artifice equals power. Then again, it may just be a bunch of bitches competing for trophies. Either way, its fun. There is of course a distinction between the casual runway that would erupt at a "normal" club, and the formal runway of a ball, where there are judges and prizes and actual vogueing.
Having evolved over the years, the largest balls are competitions that can go on as long as ten hours. There can be dozens of categories in a single evening . No longer attracting the same number of spectators, almost everyone comes to compete. Some of the trophies are twelve feet tall and a grand-prize winner can take home $1000 or more.
the main function of these houses is to "walk" or compete
against one another in "balls" in which they are judged by
a panel of judges on dance skills, costume, general appearance, and attitude.
Participants dress according to category in which they are competing.
Dominated today by contemporary hip hop fashion and
featuring much hip hop music, these events are actually
part of a vivacious and ever-changing culture.
How it works
If your good ... The judges will give you 10's
If your not good ... The judges will CHOP you
There is more to the ballroom scene than chopping,"fierceness" and shade; and there is more to vogueing than striking a pose. Drag is a form of control. By looking good one can feel good. By looking powerful, one can feel powerful. One can be powerful. Therefore, beauty begets control. Artifice equals power. Then again, it may just be a bunch of bitches competing for trophies. Either way, its fun. There is of course a distinction between the casual runway that would erupt at a "normal" club, and the formal runway of a ball, where there are judges and prizes and actual vogueing.
Having evolved over the years, the largest balls are competitions that can go on as long as ten hours. There can be dozens of categories in a single evening . No longer attracting the same number of spectators, almost everyone comes to compete. Some of the trophies are twelve feet tall and a grand-prize winner can take home $1000 or more.
|
Star
|
The Iconic Documentary Paris is Burning
Paris Is Burning is a 1990 documentary film directed by Jennie Livingston. Filmed in the mid-to-late 1980s, it chronicles the ball culture of New York City and the African American,Latino, gay and transgender communities involved in it. Many members of the ball culture community consider Paris Is Burning to be an invaluable documentary of the end of the "Golden Age" of New York City drag balls, as well as a thoughtful exploration of race, class, and gender in America
One theme discussed in Paris Is Burning
is that people of color, queers, and poor people face
certain disadvantages.
Houses are
...a whole new way of living,
one that's highly structured and self-protective.
The structure consists of system of houses where the young men function as apprentices. Reflecting a minority coping with hatred, the houses are associations of friends, presided over by a "mother," that provide a substitute for biological families.
The film explores the elaborately-structured Ball competitions in which contestants, adhering to a very specific category or theme, must "walk" (much like a fashion model's runway) and subsequently be judged on criteria including the "realness" of their drag, the beauty of their clothing and their dancing ability.
Most of the film alternates between footage of balls and interviews with prominent members of the scene, including Pepper LaBeija, Dorian Corey, Anji Xtravaganza, and Willi Ninja. Many of the contestants vying for trophies are representatives of "Houses" (in the fashion sense, such as "House of Chanel") that serve as intentional families, social groups, and performance teams. Houses and ball contestants who consistently won in their walks eventually earned a "legendary" status.
Jennie Livingston, who never went to film school and who spent seven years making Paris Is Burning, concentrated on interviews with key figures in the ball world, many of whom contribute monologues that shed light on the ball culture as well as on their own personalities. In the film, titles such as "house," "mother," and "reading" emphasize how the subculture the film depicts has taken words from the straight and white worlds, and imbued them with alternate meanings, just as the "houses" serve as surrogate families for young ball-walkers whose sexual orientations have sometimes made acceptance and love within their own families hard to come by.
The film also explores how its subjects dealt with the adversity of racism, homophobia,AIDS and poverty. For example, some, like Venus Xtravaganza became sex workers, some shoplift clothing, and some were thrown out of their homes by homophobic parents. One was saving money for sex reassignment surgery. Through candid one-on-one interviews the film offers insight into the lives and struggles of its subjects and the strength, pride, and humor they maintain to survive in a "rich, white world."
Most of the film alternates between footage of balls and interviews with prominent members of the scene, including Pepper LaBeija, Dorian Corey, Anji Xtravaganza, and Willi Ninja. Many of the contestants vying for trophies are representatives of "Houses" (in the fashion sense, such as "House of Chanel") that serve as intentional families, social groups, and performance teams. Houses and ball contestants who consistently won in their walks eventually earned a "legendary" status.
Jennie Livingston, who never went to film school and who spent seven years making Paris Is Burning, concentrated on interviews with key figures in the ball world, many of whom contribute monologues that shed light on the ball culture as well as on their own personalities. In the film, titles such as "house," "mother," and "reading" emphasize how the subculture the film depicts has taken words from the straight and white worlds, and imbued them with alternate meanings, just as the "houses" serve as surrogate families for young ball-walkers whose sexual orientations have sometimes made acceptance and love within their own families hard to come by.
The film also explores how its subjects dealt with the adversity of racism, homophobia,AIDS and poverty. For example, some, like Venus Xtravaganza became sex workers, some shoplift clothing, and some were thrown out of their homes by homophobic parents. One was saving money for sex reassignment surgery. Through candid one-on-one interviews the film offers insight into the lives and struggles of its subjects and the strength, pride, and humor they maintain to survive in a "rich, white world."
Categories
Butch QueenMales
who dress and live as men |
Butch Queen In DragMales
who Dress in drag but live life as men |
Femme QueenTransgender Women
|
Butch / TransmanTransgender Men
|
WomenFemales
that dress and live as Women |