BALL CULTURE

Ball culture is the name used to describe the underground Lesbian,Gay,Bi-Sexual and Transgender community in the US. People of this subculture participate in "Walks" ( competitions) to get trophies at events known as Balls. Each competition or "walk" has a certain category and the partakers are judged on how well they can pass as a specific gender or class. The Ball community is predominantly from the Black and Latino gay community and belong to 'Houses' led by one or two leaders known as either the House Mother or Father.

Movie stills from "Paris is Burning" documentary

These Balls find their beginnings in the late 1920's when they were known as underground Drag fashion shows staged by white men at gay bars. Black and Latino drag queens could rarely participate unless they whitened thei skin but even then they were faced with hostility and never won trophies. Undetered they set up their own Drag events and balls in Harlem New York when an artistic movement known as "The Harlem Reneissance" began to shake up and transform the trends and culture in the black community. As the audience was made up of different races the popularity of the Harlem balls grew and developed from the lavish carnival style costume shows to categorized pageants.

 

A drag ball consists of up to 20 or more categories for which the 'Walkers' participate in.

VOGUING

One such category is Voguing.Voguing is a dance form where each movement looks like a pose from a high fashion magazine(Vogue).Willi Ninja is known as the Godfather of Voguing and he had a house in the Ball culture named 'The house of Ninja'

Willi Ninja is seen as an Icon of Voguing as his sharp precise movements and flexibility meant that when engaged in a Voguing contest he would always come out the winner.

He was featured in Malcom Mclarens 'Deep in Vogue' Music video which helped to bring voguing more into the mainstream.

Madonna also uses Voguing in her Music video for 'Vogue'

Voguing battle

REALNESS

This category was about looking as convincing as possible while dressed as your straight counterpart. So one 'Walker' may dress as a Wall street executive ,a Lady of high society, Gangster, Ghetto boy or girl, School boy or girl, College student, Soldier,and so on a. But it was more than merely dressing, it was about the whole demeanor, how they carried themselves, facial expressions,hair and clothing details.

Depending on the look an imense amount of time and money went into looking the part.

EUROPEAN RUNWAY

Octavia Saint Laurent of the House of Saint Laurent

This category was all about imitating the runway models from the European Fashion shows, and wearing the styles seen in the European fashion magazines.

The poses and makeup had to reflect the fashion editorials and Catwalk look.

Venus Xtravaganza of the House of Xtravaganza

OPULENCE

This category was similar to the realness category but the 'walkers' had to be extremely glamorous with everything taken into consideration, this meant Chanel coats, Givenchy shoes, pearls and diamonds, furs, and valentino clutches. Every item was inspected for its authenticity and the 'walker' had to be able to encapsulate and exude the look.

A pet pooch in pearls for good measure.

No fake fur was allowed if worn the 'walker' was ridiculed and laughed off the floor.

These are just four of the many categories at a Ball. The rest included Butch Queen, Best dressed, American runway, Sex siren, Face and many many more.

What is interesting about this culture is the importance of the 'House system', Every person who performed at the Balls would belong to a 'House' and take on the house name as their surname, for example the House of Xtravaganza headed by Anji Xtravaganza meant that all its members would have their last names as Xtravaganza. Another point to make is the way some houses used a high fashion brand as their house name such as the 'House of Saint Laurent' with its high profile member Octavia Saint Laurent. These houses acted as a family network offering support and friendship to many of the members  who often faced immense struggle and hatred from the wider communinity because of their sexuality and race.

A Documentary was made about the late 1980's Ball Culture in Harlem New York called 'Paris is Burning'. It looks at the members of the different houses, how they lived their day to day lives as transgendered and gay people in an unaccepting world and the importance of Ball Culture to their lives.

 It is important to remember that their was a large amount of violence and hate against people of the LGBT community and one such incident is mentioned in the documentary when a member of the 'House of Xtravaganza' Venus Xtravaganza was murdered. Venus was a Latino, teenage pre-op transgendered male who was very petit and extremely feminine looking with a mane of gold hair. She would often perform in the European Runway and Realness categories, but like many of the performers was an Escort which put her life in danger. Many like Venus wished to live the American dream, be models and actresses, get married and live in big houses, but the reality couldnt have been far enough from that , this is perhaps why the Balls were and still are so important to LGBT culture , they allowed you to become who ever you wanted to be, whatever you wanted to be, without  being judged on your sexuality, race or class.

         Click below to watch a very interesting montage of clips from the documentary.

You should find it intriguing.