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You n try<!-- --> <a href="/newsletters">subscribg here</a> or try aga later.</span></div></div></div></div></hear><article class="article" data-rid="533811" data-rtype="story"><div id="gtm-visibily-50" class="gtm-pixel"></div><div id="gtm-visibily-75" class="gtm-pixel"></div><div id="gtm-visibily-100" class="gtm-pixel"></div><sectn class="sectn--bo sectn--bp sectn--first sectn--learboard"><div class="uw bp--rponsive"><div class="bp-ner"><p class="bp-label">Advertisement</p><div class="bp-ntent bp-ntent--centered"><div></div><div id="adslot-375253"></div></div></div></div></sectn><hear class="article-sectn--tle article-sectn--island article-sectn--has-d"><div class="article-actn"><h1 class="article-hdr">The Growth (And New Contexts) Of LGBTQ Ball Culture</h1><span class="d-meta"><span class="article-d-duratn" aria-label="Aud Duratn">46:02</span><div class="article-d-opts"><a href=" class="article-d-dl" tle="Download the d" download="" role="button" tabx="0"><svg class="in in-download" viewBox="0 0 24 24" aria-labelledby="tle"><tle id="tle">Download Aud</tle><path class="path1" d="M15 2q1.828 0 3.496 0.715t2.871 1.918 1.918 2.871 0.715 3.496q0 1.992-0.82 3.766t-2.266 3.027-3.281 1.816l0.492-0.484q0.422-0.43 0.656-1 0.219-0.531 0.219-1.156 0-0.156-0.008-0.219 1.391-0.969 2.199-2.48t0.809-3.27q0-1.422-0.555-2.719t-1.492-2.234-2.234-1.492-2.719-0.555q-1.297 0-2.496 0.465t-2.109 1.262-1.523 1.906-0.793 2.367h-2.078q-1.656 0-2.828 1.172t-1.172 2.828q0 0.906 0.355 1.68t0.934 1.27 1.285 0.773 1.426 0.277h1.172q0.273 0.687 0.703 1.125l0.883 0.875h-2.758q-1.633 0-3.012-0.805t-2.184-2.184-0.805-3.012 0.805-3.012 2.184-2.184 3.012-0.805h0.516q0.617-1.742 1.859-3.098t2.973-2.129 3.652-0.773zM13 10q0.414 0 0.707 0.293t0.293 0.707v6.586l1.289-1.297q0.289-0.289 0.711-0.289 0.43 0 0.715 0.285t0.285 0.715q0 0.422-0.289 0.711l-3 3q-0.289 0.289-0.711 0.289t-0.711-0.289l-3-3q-0.289-0.305-0.289-0.711 0-0.414 0.293-0.707t0.707-0.293q0.422 0 0.711 0.289l1.289 1.297v-6.586q0-0.414 0.293-0.707t0.707-0.293z"></path></svg></a><button class="d-embed modal--toggle" tle="Embed on your webse"><svg class="in in-embed" viewBox="0 0 108 108" aria-labelledby="tle"><tle id="tle">Embed on your webse</tle><g><path d="M0,57.6l31,13.8v-9L9.6,54.3l-0.7-0.1v-0.2l0.7-0.1L31,45.6v-9L0,50.4V57.6z M37.3,87.5h8.3l24.1-67h-8.3L37.3,87.5z M75.9,36.6v8.9l22.4,8.2l0.7,0.2l0,0.2l-0.7,0.1l-22.4,8.4v8.9L108,57.6v-7.2L75.9,36.6z"></path></g></svg></button><div id="embed-player-modal" class="modal"><button class="modal-close modal--toggle" type="button"><span class="sr-only">Close</span><span aria-hidn="te">×</span></button><div class="modal-ner"><h3>Copy the below to embed the WBUR d player on your se</h3><p><textarea id="embed-player-"><iame width="100%" height="124" scrollg="no" ameborr="no" src=";</textarea></p><button class="modal-btn-py">Copy embed </button></div></div></div></span><a class="rd-actn playable" style="text-ratn:none" tle="Rume" tabx="0"><i class="in-play in-play--article"><span class="in-play-shape"><span class="in-label" data-note="for-screen-rears">Rume</span></span></i></a></div><div class="article-meta"><span class="article-meta-em--date"><span tle="Wednday, December 11th 2019, 12:00:11 am">December 11, 2019</span></span><ul class="article-meta-em--thorlist article-meta-group"><li class="article-meta-em article-meta-em--thor"><a class="article-meta-lk article-meta-em--thor" href="/si/staff/meghna-chakrabarti">Meghna Chakrabarti</a></li><li class="article-meta-em article-meta-em--thor"><a class="article-meta-lk article-meta-em--thor" href="/si/staff/anna-bman">Anna Bman</a></li></ul><div class="article-share article-share-ins"><a href=" & target="_blank" rel="noreferrer" class="article-share-lk" tle="Share on Facebook"><svg class="in in-facebook" viewBox="0 0 128 128" role="img" width="24" aria-labelledby="tle"><tle id="tle">facebook</tle><path display="le" d="M120.1,0H8.2c-4.4,0-8,3.6-8,8v112c0,4.4,3.6,8,8,8h60.4V78.2h-16V59.8h16V43.9 c0-14.6,8.9-24.3,26.4-24.3c7.7,0,13.1,0.9,13.1,0.9V37h-12c-5.3,0-8,3-8,8.2v14.5h18.7l-2.7,18.4h-16v49.7h32c4.4,0,8-3.6,8-8V8 C128.1,3.6,124.5,0,120.1,0z"></path></svg></a><a href="mailto:?body=The Growth (And New Contexts) Of LGBTQ Ball The Growth (And New Contexts) Of LGBTQ Ball Culture" class="article-share-lk" tle="Share by email"><svg class="in in-email" viewBox="0 0 128 128" width="20" aria-labelledby="tle"><tle id="tle">Email</tle><path display="le" d="M64.2,86.3l-64-48V104c0,4.4,3.6,8,8,8h112c4.4,0,8-3.6,8-8V38.4L64.2,86.3z M64.2,72l64-48 c0-4.4-3.6-8-8-8H8.2c-4.4,0-8,3.6-8,8L64.2,72z"></path></svg></a></div></div></hear><sectn class="article-sectn--lead-image article-sectn--lead-image--standard"><figure class="article-fig" style="aspect-rat:1000 / 667"><picture class="article-fig-ner"><img class="article-image" src=" alt="Performers pete durg the &quot;Battle of the Legends&quot; vogueg petn outsi of the Metropolan Mm of Art on June 11, 2019 New York Cy. (Johann Eisele/AFP via Getty Imag)"/></picture><figptn class="article-fig-ptn">Performers pete durg the "Battle of the Legends" vogueg petn outsi of the Metropolan Mm of Art on June 11, 2019 New York Cy. (Johann Eisele/AFP via Getty Imag)</figptn></figure></sectn><sectn class="article-sectn--ntent hang-punctuatn article-sectn--first article-sectn--centered article-sectns"><p class="">Unrground LGBTQ ballroom petns started the 1970s as a safe haven for black and brown young people. We look at how the culture has grown.</p><span><h3>Guts</h3></span><p class=""><a href="><strong>Marlon Bailey</strong></a>, profsor of women and genr studi at Arizona State Universy School of Social Transformatn. Author of "<a href=">Butch Queens Up Pumps: Genr, Performance, and Ballroom Culture Detro</a>."</p><p class=""><a href="><strong>Rashaad Newsome</strong></a>, multidisciplary artist. His work explor black and queer culture. Sce 2013, he has staged a dance and performance petn lled the "<a href=">Kg of Arms Art Ball</a>." (<a href=">@RashaadNewsome</a>)</p><p class=""><a href="><strong>Sydney Baloue</strong></a>, wrer and ballroom performer. He is workg on a book chroniclg the history and evolutn of New York Cy’s ballroom scene. (<a href=">@SydneyBaloue</a>)</p><span><h3>Interview Highlights</h3></span><p class=""><strong>On the signifince of ho ballroom culture </strong></p><p class=""><strong>Marlon Bailey:</strong> “Ho are the central kship stcture the muny. And ho functn as fai. Most of the time they’re social nfiguratns, meang 's lled a hoe, but 's not necsarily a brick-and-mortar place. But, sometim is. The kship system is the un of safety, of affirmatn, of nurturg. You have hoe parents who, regardls of age — ballroom, chronologil age is really not the ma foc of stat. It is how long you've been the scene; how proment you are the scene. And if you're a hoe mother or father, you are often elected or appoted by, sort of, a natnal hoe, or father, or mother. And you nurture your children — or what we ll the kids the hoe — where, basilly, they're the members. And there's a real sophistited kship system that is not jt about mothers and fathers, but 's also about nts and uncl, and siblgs have certa kds of relatnships. And ho also are the enti that put on the balls. In my book I say there are no balls whout ho, and there are no ho whout balls.”</p><p class=""><strong>Marlon Bailey:</strong> “Often for many members of the ballroom muny, their hoe is the only fay they know and have that is clive, that affirms them. That supports them. That also t them about HIV, and other STDs and STIs. And is also one of the only means to which they n learn about themselv, and velop as full-blown human begs. Bee often — not all the time, but often, and too often, I should say — the fai and muni of orig eher are unwillg, or unable to be that support system, and that nurturg and affirmative space — and safe space — for members of the muny. The members — particularly LGBTQ people of lor — suffer om homelsns, om socenomic privatn, a whole range of issu that the hoe actually helps to migate some of those issu.”</p><p class=""><strong>On what means to be visible</strong></p><p class=""><strong>Rashaad Newsome:</strong> “I thk what I'm terted , how, you know, people are gog to thk crilly about the visibily of the game ballroom. And how they're gog to e their voice the kd of rporate spac that they start to occupy, to kd of effect change for themselv and the muny. I jt feel like too often people get that visibily, and they get the spac, and they're quiet. And I thk there is so much ballroom that needs to be alt wh. There's this whole ia … about ballroom kd of beg this utopian space, safe space for black queers. And some ways is. But a lot of ways, 's not. So much of those spac are g om vlence, and dimishment and abandonment.</p><p class="nt-medium">"And I jt thk the notn that we're gog to go over here and create this space and those thgs are gog to be non-existent are not real. I thk we have to kd of al wh that. And a lot of the ways that I see folk alg wh that is rooted the culture of domatn, which teach that we need thgs to have power, rather than thkg about power om wh. And an equable society, you know, black folk, particularly black queer folk, are not given the same opportuni to get quote-unquote 'thgs.' And so when your value is hged on, you know, that kd of ia, then you n be stuck a paradigm that you n't really break ee om. And so a lot of the work I'm tryg to do is kd of try to get people ... to lonize and thkg about, you know, the power wh.”</p><span><h3>Caller Highlights</h3></span><p class=""><strong>On the experience of watchg a ball live</strong></p><p class=""><strong>Caller Vansa, om Richmond, Virgia:</strong> “This is a weird analogy, but 's kd of like hockey. You don't really get hockey until you go and watch hockey live. And 's the same thg wh a ball. You don't really get a ball — RuPl do a fabulo job of by showg the different aspects of the culture. But I really hontly believe that until you've experienced — until you’re there, until you feel to your re; you hear the mic, you see the performanc. It's somethg that nnot — close. It do. It nnot be exprsed unls you actually wns . The energy the room is, my opn, everythg about a ball. Bee you feel when somebody do somethg fabulo, and outlandish and betiful — everybody rponds to . And vibrat through your bon. So they e close, a sense, to brg to mastream. But the realy is, is everyone should go out more and see a ball live.”</p><p class=""><strong>On the importance of unrstandg the history of ballroom culture </strong></p><p class=""><strong>Caller Cleis, om Baltimore, Maryland:</strong> “I am actually the blood of Pepper LaBeija, who I knew as Willie Jackson. And I have a special sight on the origatn and ntuatn of this wonrful culture that very specific black and brown dividuals created. And I am so happy that Billy Porter and wonrful members of the muny like Jamal Milan have gaed opportuni and televisn programs like ‘Pose.’ But I'm also very disappoted, and I have enormo rervatns about the centerg of black and brown origatn and ntuatn the mastream displays of the culture.</p><p class="nt-medium">"I'm also disappoted the lack of actual factual, ncrete rmatn gathered om the origators, both first generatn that me to the muny, and changed om the prev ball culture the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. Around 1973, the first facto LaBeija ball. And then that's the ball that Crystal and Lottie and Pepper and Marcel LaBeija all created. And om that pot till now, that's the first generatn. The send generatns' movg forward. Although a lot of the actual facts have been visible li. And bee so many of the origators and members of my blood fay, and of my chosen fay, have died of AIDS or vlence, those facts have been lost to history. And the keepers of them are not heard om.”</p><span><h3>From The Readg List</h3></span><p class=""><strong>The Philalphia Inquirer</strong>: "<a href=">Legendary: 30 Years of Philly Ballroom</a>" — "Meechie Lanv do not simply walk on stage. When he’s preparg to h the ballroom nway, wrapped a midnight-black fox fur over a ctom su, his motivatns n eper than fashn, his ambns aim higher than wng over judg.</p><p class="nt-medium">"'When I walk balls, I walk for three people: me, my hoe, my cy,' Meechie says.</p><p class="nt-medium">"So, on that night Charlotte, N.C., he waed to go last after 14 men strolled out fe furs, leather glov, signer shas, even jeweled masks. Each had sntered out dividually, but Meechie had other plans.</p><p class="nt-medium">"Hundreds stood on the floor to view the actn. Sr more watched om the balny. The beat om Ariana Gran’s '7 Rgs' beeped through the venue like a rgtone. The bt-drsed tegory lled for petors to brg as if were only 13 gre outsi stead of a typil North Carola summer night.</p><p class="nt-medium">"The chants for his hoe went up. The lights the club shed down. Unr the ballroom glow, Meechie knows, he n be somebody different. And that night, he was lookg like a goth unrlord who had drsed for every funeral but his own.</p><p class="nt-medium">"Meechie pulled up wh a four-man fashn squad, all wearg black om head to toe. They rted him out as he swayed toward the judg so they uld have a look at the triple-rg choker around his neck and his lightng-bolt-shape eyewear. Members of his entourage unlatched his Gucci belt and peeled off his fur. They revealed the jet-black metallic crodile bro of his su. He’d signed that himself. He turned to face the judg. Tens across the board.</p><p class="nt-medium">"Meechie would go on to survive every battle of bt drsed and w the tegory. The $1,313 grand prize was his – and Philalphia’s."</p><p class=""><strong>The New York Tim</strong>: "<a href=">Opn: Has the Ballroom Scene Outgrown ‘Realns’?</a>" — "'The tegory is love!' Billy Porter shouted om the podium last month after acceptg an Emmy for his role on 'Pose,' the FX show about New York Cy’s ballroom scene durg the 1980s and ’90s. His words exprsed the posivy around L.G.B.T.Q. acceptance, echog 'Love Is the Msage,' the tle of a classic ballroom track om the Philalphia-based soul band MFSB that was featured promently a Season 1 episo.</p><p class="nt-medium">"Mr. Porter’s w is part of a strg of recent events that have accelerated L.G.B.T.Q. visibily new ways: a passnate speech about trans rights at a Human Rights Campaign event given by his 'Pose' -star Domique Jackson; the town hall printial bat that have put L.G.B.T.Q. issu ont and center; and the news that the sger Sam Smh now intifi as nonbary.</p><p class="nt-medium">"As society has bee more clive, those of wh the ballroom scene — a muny of predomantly black and Lato L.G.B.T.Q. people who pete fashn and performance tegori like 'Vogug' at events lled 'balls' — are batg the ways which the changg cultural landspe affects how we view ourselv and approach our art. This is pecially te when to the ball’s 'Realns' tegory.</p><p class="nt-medium">"'Realns' is about portrayg archetyp ually associated wh straight culture through drs and dance; to be nsired 'real' at a ball, a performer mt 'pass' as straight if they are gay or as cisgenr if they are transgenr. In 'Paris is Burng,' the 1990 documentary about ball culture, tegori clud 'Schoolboy Realns' and 'Banjee Girl Realns.' "</p><p class=""><strong>The New York Tim</strong>: "<a href=">Two Vogue Shows Strike Art-World Pos</a>" — "If vogueg is taken out of s origal ntext, what is the st?</p><p class="nt-medium">"That’s the ncern that has been raised whenever vogueg, which veloped s ago as a petn form unrground balls, maly for black and Lato gay men, gets some mastream attentn — as has aga recently, wh the succs of 'Pose' on FX.</p><p class="nt-medium">"Usually, the discsn is about appropriatn and misreprentatn. But those weren’t the issu raised by two performanc New York this weekend — Rashaad Newsome’s 'Five' and Kia LaBeija’s 'Untled: The Black Act.' The vogue-ballroom crentials of both productns were strong, which left the seemgly ls ght qutn: If you take vogue dancers out of the ballroom and put them a theater, what do the new ntext mand?</p><p class="nt-medium">"In the se of 'Five,' at New York Live Arts, the ntext was actually at a double remove, sce the work has prevly been prented maly art galleri and mms. What might serve, those settgs, as a challenge to fns of drawg and sculpture, seemed the theater like somethg ls than a substantial dance show."</p><p class=""><strong>Washgton Post</strong>: "<a href=">On ‘Pose,’ dancg isn’t jt about self-exprsn. It’s a survival skill for trans women.</a>" — "On a recent afternoon, a few floors above the ballroom set where the FX seri 'Pose' is filmg, a rehearsal stud pounds wh the 1990 dance-club h 'Strike It Up.' Lemy Maldonado, a ballroom in known as the Wonr Woman of Vogue, is tryg to get her dancers to feel the beat wh their hips.</p><p class="nt-medium">"'Pump, pump, girl,' Maldonado mands one young woman blue stiletto booti and a sheer top drippg ge. 'You’re dog whout even rg!'</p><p class="nt-medium">"Snappg her hnch si to si and crisscrossg her thighs wh every step, Maldonado monstrat a full-out, queen-of-the-twalk stt, Naomi Campbell style. She drops her voice and purrs, wh a note of reverence: 'You on the nway, dahlg.'</p><p class="nt-medium">"Perfectg the mov and the sassu is ccial this show. 'Pose,' which begs s send season June 11, is part fay drama, part mil extravaganza, as you’d expect om creators Ryan Murphy and Brad Falch, of 'Glee' and 'Amerin Horror Story.' (Wrer Steven Canals jos them as a -creator.) Premierg durg Pri Month, as did last year, the seri centers on the trans women and gay men of lor New York’s unrground ballroom culture."</p><p class=""><strong>INTO</strong>: "<a href=">The Colonizatn of Ballroom Culture</a>" — "I remember gog on Twter one day lookg for the perfect 'vogue' gif to pair up wh a tweet. I was shocked and appalled by the first clips g up beg those of var whe people. There was Madonna, Channg Tatum, and the ltle whe boy, Brendan Jordan, who kda vogued on that famo news clip, followed wh tons of prs and appearanc that surely led to somefancial ga.</p><p class="nt-medium">"Madonna did not vent vogueg. Madonna is not the founr of ballroom culture.</p><p class="nt-medium">"Madonna, like most other culture vultur, ed a muny for their style, dance, and passn until she uldn’t and placed back on the shelf, leavg the members of that muny and their opprsn behd her as she moved on to her next big h.</p><p class="nt-medium">"Many people’s first reference to the word 'vogue' and dance style known as vogug om her 1990 number 1 h, 'Vogue.' Stiff arms, and strikg pos, adorned wh queer people dancg around her as ornaments has been graed to the lexin of mic history as a revolutnary moment pop culture. But the actual culture om which this creativy and greatns was beg stripped ntu to supprsed and margalized. Those the vogug muny Madonna borrowed om don’t get to take off their Blackns and queerns and move on to the next thg."</p></sectn><sectn class="article-sectn--story-group article-sectn--centered"><p class=""><em>This program aired on December 11, 2019.</em></p></sectn><sectn class="article-sectn--story-group article-sectn--centered Tags_article-sectn--tags__NOKiB"><a data-ec="Article Tags" data-el="Film/TV" data-ea="Click" class="article-tag" href="/rad/programs/onpot/tag/screens">Film/TV</a></sectn></article><sectn class="article-sectn--story-group article-sectn--centered"><hear class="zone"><div class="zone-ner"><h2 class="zone-hdr">Related:</h2></div></hear><ul class="article-story-group"><li class="story-group-em"><a data-ec="Article Related Lks" data-el="Prervg The Queer Exuberance Of Vogug In A Roxbury Basement" data-ea="Click" class="story-group-lk" href="><span class="story-group-lk-source">The ARTery:<!-- --> </span>Prervg The Queer Exuberance Of Vogug In A Roxbury Basement</a></li><li class="story-group-em"><a data-ec="Article Related Lks" data-el="'You Jt Serve As Much As You Can': Mj Rodriguez On Ball Culture And 'Pose' " data-ea="Click" class="story-group-lk" href=">'You Jt Serve As Much As You Can': Mj Rodriguez On Ball Culture And 'Pose' </a></li></ul></sectn><sectn class="article-sectn--story-group article-sectn--centered"><div class="ntributor has-photo"><div class="ntributor-profile"><figure class="ntributor-profile-em ntributor-photo"><a href="/si/staff/meghna-chakrabarti"><picture><img src=" class="lazy rd-image" alt=""/></picture></a></figure><p class="ntributor-profile-em ntributor-b"><a class="ntributor-name" href="/si/staff/meghna-chakrabarti">Meghna Chakrabarti</a> <span class="ntributor-tle">Host, On Pot</span><br/>Meghna Chakrabarti is the host of On Pot.</p><p class="ntributor-more"><a class="ntributor-lk ntributor-b-lk" href="/si/staff/meghna-chakrabarti">More…</a></p></div></div><div class="ntributor has-photo"><div class="ntributor-profile"><figure class="ntributor-profile-em ntributor-photo"><a href="/si/staff/anna-bman"><picture><img src=" class="lazy rd-image" alt=""/></picture></a></figure><p class="ntributor-profile-em ntributor-b"><a class="ntributor-name" href="/si/staff/anna-bman">Anna Bman</a> <span class="ntributor-tle">Producer/Director, On Pot</span><br/>Anna Bman is a producer and director at On Pot.</p><p class="ntributor-more"><a class="ntributor-lk ntributor-b-lk" href="/si/staff/anna-bman">More…</a></p></div></div></sectn><sectn class="sectn--bo sectn--bp"><div class="uw bp--rponsive"><div class="bp-ner"><p class="bp-label">Advertisement</p><div class="bp-ntent bp-ntent--centered"><div></div><div id="adslot-375254"></div></div></div></div></sectn><div></div><div class="global-d-ponents onmand--is-playg"><div class="global-player"><d preload="to"></d><div class="global-player-bar"><div class="global-player-bar-left"><button class="global-player-bar-ntrol"><i class="in-play in-play--global-player-bar in-play--psed"><span class="in-play-shape"><span class="in-label" data-note="for-screen-rears">Rume</span></span></i></button><div class="global-player-label global-player-label--live"><div class="global-player-channel"><span>Listen Live</span></div><div class="global-player-tle"><a class="global-player-label-lk" href="/">Loadg...</a></div></div></div><div class="global-player-bar-right"><div class="global-player-x"><svg class="in in-close" viewBox="0 0 24 24" aria-labelledby="tle"><tle id="tle">Close

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