I Think About This A Lot: Can Ballroom Go Mainstream?
I recently finished Legendary on HBO Max. It’s a competition show featuring ballroom houses. Ballroom is a longstanding black/Latinx/queer subculture that came mostly to the public’s eye through the 1990 documentary Paris is Burning. Vogueing was then famously adapted by Madonna. (She didn’t fully steal it, she actually employed Willi Ninja, who is the father of vogue as her choreographer and dancer. This doesn’t mean there aren’t critical discussions to be had about Madonna using a subculture of underprivileged for her uses...) Drag and ballroom are not the same thing but have overlap, and RuPaul’s Drag Race has also brought it to the mainstream. All of your friends screaming YAS KWEEN and SHADE and TEA—that's all from ballroom. Many popular artists also borrow style, choreography, and moves from ballroom. Once you know what to look for, ballroom literally influenced everything successful in popular culture.
One major aspect of the ballroom/drag culture is realness. Can the person pass as someone they are trying to emulate? Can a trans person have the “realness” of a woman? It is both for violence prevention (for passing was necessary) and for a way to be proud and compete, to legitimate themselves. Thus, in Paris is Burning, many of the subjects long for luxury goods, because in NYC I the 80s (and now) to be real to be accepted was the white, rich standard.
Back to Legendary- it was breathtaking. The trans people of color and other usually marginalized people not just being visible but being at the forefront and not a cautionary tale. The energy of the dancing, the physical feats of voguing, the costumes. Even the pacing and editing is fabulous. It’s one of the best things I’ve seen in years. But, as a practitioner of culture, while I was enjoying, I had a million questions. I think these are questions that need to be asked when something from a subculture goes mainstream, especially for the consumption of white people.
Isn’t it great that more people are learning about this?
It depends who is telling it. The good thing, I think about Legendary, Pose, and Drag Race, the people in charge come directly from the subculture. Of course they need the support of the commercial conglomerates and other production, but both include those directly involved. (In fact, this is a major issue with the documentary; Jennie Livingston was an outsider.)
Is it bad to bring it to the mainstream?
Ballroom was originated by those without money; they gathered in shared spaces and competed with making do with a little bit of money. Legendary has a huge budget (in costumes alone) which ultimately changes the dynamic and stakes (winners got $10000). Then again, this could be seen as the people working hard rewarded as much as other entertainers.
How do I, a person in the privilege, have a right to feel about it?
The neon sign flashing CULTURAL APPROPRIATION was in the back of my mind every time I watched the show, but that is the wrong conversation to have here, I think. I think that a creator of a show cannot control what the audience does with it; hence the biggest contradiction of art. People may like it and use it out of its context. They may not know the history. But art should not require homework.
However, if you are interested in learning more, there is some great work done by writers both in and out of the ballroom subculture
Further info
Simmons, Nathaniel. “Speaking Like a Queen in RuPaul’s Drag Race: Towards a Speech Code of American Drag Queens.” Sexuality & Culture 18, no. 3 (September 2014): 630–48.
Harper, Phillip Harper. "The Subversive Edge": Paris Is Burning, Social Critique, and the Limits of Subjective Agency. Diacritics 24, no. 2/3 (Summer-Autumn, 1994), pp. 90-103
Bailey, Marlon M. Butch Queens up in Pumps: Gender, Performance, and Ballroom Culture in Detroit. Triangulations: Lesbian/Gay/Queer Theater/Drama/Performance. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2013.
hooks, bell. “Is Paris Burning?” in Black Looks: Race and Representation. New York: Routledge, 201
Dorian Corey
One of the featured queens in Paris is Burning is Dorian Corey, who is a damn delight. After her death, a mummified body was found in her apartment.
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