User:Ashkin4it/sandbox

Ashkin4it (talk) 09:21, 9 December 2014 (UTC)

History

The Ballroom culture has existed for at least five decades. However, it remains largely underground and unknown for this particular community of Blacks and Latinos/as. It began in Harlem more than 50 years ago, and has now expanded rapidly to other major cities such as Chicago, Atlanta, Baltimore, Charlotte, Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia. Moreover, with the advancements of social media, it has migrated to other countries such as Canada, Japan and the UK (Bailey, 2013). Ball Culture also known as ‘house ball culture,’ was first captured in Jennie Livingston’s documentary called Paris is Burning (1990), which I will discuss in the following sections.

Space and Performance

According to Bailey (2011), LGBTQ black youth are often forced out of their home or choose to leave because their own biological families do not accept them. In addition, Black LGBTQ youth are also largely excluded from marginalized gay spaces, such as gay neighborhoods, bars and clubs that are labeled as white. It is then that the ballroom community serves as a spatial practice of possibilities for these youth. By using performance, marginalized LGBT youth carve out and transform normative geographies into spaces of common celebration, affirmation, and support. Moreover, it is through the social configuration of the house, the kinship system in the community, that provides the labor that biological families and homes are unable to do. Drawing from Sonjah Stanley Niaah (2008), performance geography highlights the way that people living in particular locations use strategies of performance not only to survive the challenges of urban life, but also to transform and give new meaning to location. For ballroom communities, performance is the interconnection between the social configuration of the house and the ball events that the house organizes. It is through performance that members of the community claim space to forge alternative possibilities for themselves that they otherwise won’t find in other spaces.

Runway

Within the runway, there are various forms of performance in which performers are judged on such as ‘voguing,’ runaway walking and other categories. Voguing started as drag pageants, but has now expanded to include specific categories: Reading: to read a person is to highlight and exaggerate all of the flaws of a person, from their ridiculous clothes, to their flawed makeup and anything else the reader can come up with. It is a battle of wit, in which the winner is one who gets the crowd to laugh the most. Shade: shade is an art form that developed from Reading. Rather than the aim to insult, someone works with the medium of backhanded compliments. An example is to suggest that someone’s beautiful dress makes people almost forget that she has a five o’clock shadow (House of Nuance). The Vogue form of dance can be broken into five different components that can be used in a ball: -Duckwalk: The duck walk is similar to Russian folk dancing in that it involves squatting on your heels and kicking your feet out as you move forward on the beat. -Catwalk: Catwalking is an exaggerated feminine walk where the legs are crossed over each other, the hips are thrust from side to side, and the hands are thrown forward in opposition to the legs. -Hands: In performance, the hands of the performer often told a story. This is the component of performing used to throw shade. For example miming an expression of horror at the way the opponents face looks. -Floorwork: This component demonstrates the competitors’ sensuality as they roll, twist, and otherwise move on the ground in such a way as to capture the attention of the judges. -Spins and Dips: This is the showiest component of vogue. These are the turns on beat, and the drops to the floor. A spin or dip is only done correctly when it executed with the climax happening on the beat (House of Nuance). Another component of performance is the Runway. There are two types of runway walking: -All-American Runway: This form of runway accentuates all the masculine qualities of the model. In general, this walk requires the model to walk with their feet shoulder width apart and with very little in the way of dramatics (House of Nuance). -European Runway: In European runway, the model exaggerates the feminine. Often competitors will walk in high heels though this is not a requirement of the category. European allows for dramatics, which is to say responding to competitors and the environment (House of Nuance). In addition to runway and components of the actual performance, members of the ball scene are judged on various other categories: -Realness: This category of realness comes from a time when blending in with heterosexuals, or “passing”, was a key component of gay life. The challenge of this category is to present yourself as heterosexual as you can project. There are three types of realness: Thug, Executive, and Schoolboy. -Thug: To project an image of a straight, tough man who is a touch aggressive. Executive: To be a straight executive: powerful, wealthy and dominant. Schoolboy: Youthful and intelligent, the typical “school-yard” look. -Face: The face category is about who has a classically beautiful face. Judges examine the eyes, the nose, the teeth, the lips and the structure of the face. While the category may call for an effect, ultimately the judges will only look at the face of a competitor, which should not have much makeup and should appear flawless. -Body: This category is about health. The judges will be looking for someone who looks attractive, and healthy. Do not confuse this with sexiness, as there is a completely different category for that. -Sex Siren: Participants will do their best to tease, and titillate the judges. Some do so by stripping all their clothes off, others do it through erotic dancing, and some combine the two in order to attempt to win (House of Nuance).

Gender System

According to Bailey (2013), the gender system is a collection of gender and sexual subjectivities that extend beyond the binary categories of dominant society such as male/female, gay/lesbian, man/woman etc. A member chooses to identify with a certain category based on their walk (performance). This system includes six categories: Butch Queens, Femme Queens, Butch Queens up in Drag, Butches, Women, Men and house parents. Those in the women category are primarily straight, feminine lesbians or queer. Overall, the gender system does not completely break from the hegemonic norms of sex, gender and sexuality, but it offers more gender and sexual identities from which to choose.

House Roles The gender system specially serves to define what role members play in the house. According to Arnold & Bailey (2009) in Ballroom culture, houses, are kinship structures that are configured socially rather than biologically. The purpose is to provide a home or gathering place for members. In these houses, such members serve as ‘mothers’ or ‘fathers,’ in other words, house parents. The purpose of house parents is to provide guidance for their ‘children’ of various ages, race, and ethnic background. For example, house mothers perform some of the same ‘motherly qualities’ such as cooking, cleaning, and being nurturing. On the other hand, house fathers typically serve as the mentors of their ‘children.’ They provide guidance, uphold the house reputation, and serve as authority figures. For the most part, the division of labor for house parents is very much alike to heteronormative gender roles.

HIV Overview

Bailey has noted through his observations and research of Ballroom culture, that there are woes of African Diaspora by Black Queers because they don’t conform to hegemonic sexual and gender norms that makeup a typical American family. Bailey argues that because Black queers feel a societal displacement, they are more reluctant to seek help and educational issues about HIV/AIDs if they were to not be a part of a ballroom community. Therefore, a ballroom community is also the place where Black Queers can eliminate their feeling of marginalization and displacement and become educated on many of the risks of HIV/AIDS, in a comfortable and supportive environment. AIDS is said to have originated in communities defined by African Diaspora in post-colonial geographies.

In Ballroom communities, houses that consist of mainly Black participants encompass African- Americans from nearly every nationality. In the community houses Black queers from Europe, South/Central America, the Caribbean and the United States have a place to converse and discuss the issues they face as part of the LBGTQ community. With a collective community that encompasses people who have/will go through the same struggles as themselves they are more open to discussing the issues they face and the precautions they need to take in order to not contract diseases such as HIV/AIDS. Bailey has noted that house moms and dads help the participants (and their “kids”) of their house to fill out forms to get testing, drive them to the testing, provide them with money to pay for the testing and are able to talk to them about the guide them about what protection they will need in order to not contract diseases. The house moms and dads serving as mentors is especially important for the younger house members, who are usually around the age of 18-19 because these members often join the house out of high school and have had little guidance on the information and materials they will need for protecting themselves.

Furthermore Bailey notes that Black Ballroom houses make an effort to take their participants to speeches and functions about black queer youth. At these functions the participants are able to get a better understanding of the issues that they might be facing as a person of color in the LBQTQ Community. Bailey notes that Black Ballroom houses are needed, even with the diversification of America because, “claims for inclusion in the nation state made exclusively on the grounds of racial accommodation can never be accommodated” (p 55). Bailey made this statement to argue that Black Ballroom houses are a space un-parallel to other houses for Black LBGTQ members because Black Queers will never fully be integrated into society, thus a house where they can have support and learn about their identity gives them a chance to thrive in a community that already marginalizes them Blacks, and Queers.

Specifications of Ballroom House Culture

A specific example of Ballroom house’s that are aimed at uniting the Black LBGTQ community and fighting against HIV are the ballroom houses in Baltimore. In the article: In Baltimore, Ballroom culture is transforming the fight against HIV, Kevin Rector exposes how the Baltimore Ballroom houses have helped provide an outlet for a community faced with the threat of HIV. In this article, Rector interviews Keith Holt, a leader of the Baltimore Ballroom community, to get a better understanding of the houses and their participants. Keith Holt, who goes by the name Keith Ebony, belongs to the Ebony house and serves as a house leader and HIV ambassador to help spread the message of HIV to inside and outside the Ballroom communities of Baltimore. Additionally, Holt serves as a youth coordinator of the Baltimore’s health departments division of clinical services. Holt makes an effort to support and attend events where HIV testing is present. Recently Holt attended the 2014 Black Pride Celebration which offered HIV testing and precautionary speeches on unprotected sex in the Ballroom community. Holt and other leaders of Ballroom houses are well respected and receive the title of “legendary” in the ballroom community sense they have been members of their houses for more than a decade and have won many titles on the runway (p 2). Due to Holt having a legendary status, ballroom youth and even ballroom elders look to him for guidance; a ballroom participant from a neighboring house even states that, “we know this is a community we need to put resources into…and you will listen to that person more (referring to Holt and the other legendaries) more than you will listen to the random model on the poster saying “wrap it up”” (p 4). Additionally Holt states that not everyone in the Ballroom community “is out” and that because of this, the Ballroom community provides a safe place for queer youth, and especially queer Black youth, to thrive. Through this article we are given more accurate insight on the Ballroom community and on Keith Holt and how he helps to maintain his Baltimore Ballroom community and spread the message about HIV/AIDS. Without personal articles such as this one, the Ballroom community would feel as if it was a distant concept, when in reality it a Ballroom house might be just around the corner. Self Identity & Presentation

Additionally, in the article Identity of Self-Presentation in the House/Ball Culture: A Primer of Social Workers Diana Rowan examines and analyzes of the concepts of identity and self-presentation of members in the house/ball community and how these concepts aid in preventing HIV/AIDS. Rowan states that the Ballroom community has multiple intersecting risk factors for oppression, specifically race and youth, which is why social workers take a particular interest in this community. Social workers have coined the term, MSM, men who have sex with men to describe the sexual behaviors that people of the Ballroom community exhibit and which they believe leads to the increased risk of HIV. It is noted that many of the participants in Ballroom houses don’t identify as gay, but exhibit MSM behavior. For social workers who work with the Ballroom community this serves as a problem because their main job is to facilitate a healthy and safe environment for all Ballroom participants, but if the participants aren’t being completely honest about their sexual identity in their daily lives, they are worried that such people are capable of carrying and hiding/de-emphasizing the disease of HIV.

Social workers in the Ballroom community state that over-dramatized self-presentation of Ball participants is what leads to the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the community. Rowan and the social workers describe the Ball community as a familial structure based on materiality as much as unity between black queer youth. Many of the Ball houses are named after famous fashion designers (House of Chanel, House of Manolo-Blahnik, ECT), the house members are expected to obtain expensive dresses and items for their Ball runway competitions and members of the Ball community must always “stay fresh” and display that they have a affluent life. The standards of the Ballroom community for its members to outsiders seem obscene, but the Ball community has always been known for its lavish appeal and originated in New York during the Harlem Renaissance on the 1920’s and 1930’s in the midst of flourishing Black night-life and culture. During this time, black men would dress up as women (and vice versa), and perform shows and dances for white onlookers who came for the excitement of “exotic” theatricals. Furthermore, during the Harlem Renaissance, ballroom culture emerged in Chicago, but it wasn’t until the 19760’s and 1970’s when ballroom culture started to appeal specifically towards gay and transgendered people of color. Even though Ball culture thrives on materiality, studies form Rowan show that in 2008, 45% of ball members made less than $10,000 a year and that only 18% earned more than $30,000. Due to many Ball participants being expected to pay for lavish clothing and events on little income, many are forced to sell their bodies and go into prostitution. A study by social workers in 2010 of 504 member of the New York City Ball culture found that 17% of the Ball participants were HIV positive and 73% of participants were unaware of their HIV status prior to testing being done. Thus, the need to present oneself as affluent to support expensive Ball shows, can lead to the contraction of HIV (according to social workers) by increasing the incentive for members to sell their bodies in exchange for cash.

Cultural Influence

New York’s legendary Ballroom Culture has been a huge inspiration for performers since the 1980’s, all the way up until today. Central to the balls are extravagant pageantry and voguing— a form of angular, improvisational and competitive dancing that can be compared to break dancing— which reached mainstream popularity through Madonna's 1990 hit "Vogue". (Today, the debate lingers as to whether people like Madonna were important ambassadors for gay Latino and black men within the ballroom scene, or merely opportunists who pilfered the culture for their own benefit and moved on.) More recently, a group called House of LaDosha, a dance-rap and performance group in Brooklyn, showcases fringe artists from almost every type of genre. However, they all have a few things in common: they are wildly flamboyant, mostly dressed in drag, and determined to keep up the high energy all night. Hip-hop’s identity seems to be pulling heavy inspiration from Ballroom Culture today, more than ever. There are rappers like A$AP Rocky or Soulja Boy that are harkening back to hip-hop's earlier days and labeling themselves "pretty." There is Nicki Minaj's decision to stage high-budgeted, flamboyantly costumed performances consistently on national television. For the first time ever, XXL even listed a woman in the 2012 edition of their annual list of hip-hop freshmen.

Zebra Katz, an American rapper, is widely known for his 2012 breakout single “Ima Read.” The music video for “Ima Read” shows a sort-of grey-washed dystopia take on a private school where masked, gender-neutral figures sporting school-girl outfits and waist-length braids haunt abandoned hallways. Meanwhile, Kantz portrays a school teacher, marking big red F’s on papers, chanting, “I’ma read that b*tch/ I’ma teach that b*tch/ I’ma take that b*tch to college/ I’ma give that b*tch some knowledge/ I’ma read/ I’ma read/ I’ma read…” Zebra Katz explains, “It's a fine line that I'm playing here. I'm trying to see how cleverly I can walk a tightrope… You have [fans from] the ball culture," he says, “And then you have hip-hop heads who are gonna say this is ‘hard’ because it's very minimal and to-the-point.”

To the average listener, "Ima Read" comes off as a twisted pro-education anthem. According to Kantz, in some ways, it is. However, ultimately it is a bow to Ballroom Culture. Throughout the entirety of the song, he consistently raps, “I’ma read/I’ma read/I’ma read,” which is a reference to the vogue slang "reading,” which is to verbally insult someone on the dance floor. Sometimes the ballroom references made by this wave of rappers are as blatant and simple as naming a song "Ima Read" or tagging song uploads with "vogue" and other related terms. However, there are deeper and more understated roots that connect to a lineage of communal cultural experiences shared by gay African Americans and Latinos in New York City. Le1f, aka Khalif Diouf, the wunderkind rapper and producer comments on Ballroom Culture, “When I first found out about voguing as a teenager, it was an eye-opening experience because it felt like an innate way of moving. And a lot of my music is made with the intentions of movement and dance… But it's the cultural side-- the experience of being at a ball-- that's affected what I rap about. The fact that there's a scene that's existed for so long with such a rich history, and is ceremonial, is really nice." He also added, “"It's also just a community of people who are so liberal and devoted to making good art, often collaboratively.”

Chantal Regnault, director and photographer, released gorgeous photo book “Voguing and the House Ballroom Scene of New York 1989-1992” in 2011. It includes a quote from black cultural critic Frank Leon Roberts, "A rich taxonomy of gender personas and identities flooded in: thugged-out hustlers who were 'new' to gay culture, butch lesbians with erotic attachments to gay men, bootleg black designers and fashionistas eager to put their garments 'to test' in a new urban scene." His characterization of the ball-culture scene, here, does not sound so different from the web of subcultures thriving in New York today.