From the Cakewalk to the Catwalk: A Survey of New York’s Black and Latino LGBTQ Ball/House Culture

Ball/House Culture or “Ballroom” is a Black and Latino LGBTQ subculture rooted in New York City that is a celebration of fashion, language, music and dance. Ballroom has enjoyed many mainstream moments, most notably in the late 1980s with music videos like Madonna’s “Vogue” as well as the 1989 documentary film, Paris is Burning. Today, many are familiar with the culture through shows like Pose and My House. Ballroom culture has an extensive history with multiple genesis points that include drag ball culture during The Harlem Renaissance, 19th century charity balls in New York City as well as Antebellum Slavery plantation practices, West African dance traditions and Medieval European court systems. To understand the complexity of this culture and its relationship to a uniquely “Black Atlantic” experience, this course will examine Ballroom Culture by homing in on its unique aesthetics, language, musical production, customs related to kinship and family, as well as its most well-known dance form, “voguing.”