Daniella Matthews-Trigg
Program Associate
Highlights of Creating Change:
Ballroom 101!
Reposted at http://www.keystothecloset.blogspot.com
Last year, The Network tabled at Creating Change, and while that provided a
really great opportunity for me to talk to almost every person who attended the
conference, I didn't have much of a chance to attend sessions. This year, our
tactic was different, and I found myself pouring over the conference book,
completely overwhelmed by the diversity of sessions, and the fact that every
single session I REALLY wanted to attend was at the exact same time as every
OTHER session I REALLY wanted to attend.
Photo from Skillz Ball 2012 (photo credits go to The Rainbow
Times)
"Ballroom 101: Calling All the Children to School" was
one of the sessions that I instantly circled in my booklet. And then set like,
three alarm reminders in my phone so I wouldn't miss it. Since watching Paris is Burning
a few years ago, I have been completely fascinated by Ballroom culture and it's
role in queer communities of color. Last July, the LifeSkills team at Fenway Health hosted a
ball as a community outreach event to spread awareness about their study (for
young trans women), other studies at Fenway, and the health services available
at Fenway. The event was a HUGE success!
Commonly called "Drag Balls", balls are competitive
dance and performance events based on categories that highlight the talents,
creativity, skills and attributes of participants.
Bursting into public consciousness between 1989 and 1991, the
culture of drag balls and voguing can be traced back to the second half of the
19th century. Harlem’s Hamilton Lodge staged its first queer masquerade ball in
1869, and some 20 years later a medical student stumbled into another ball that
was taking place in Walhalla Hall on the Lower East Side. He witnessed 500
same-sex male and female couples ‘waltzing sedately to the music of a good
band’.
Balls however, are much more than just "events". Balls
represent cultural pride within queer communities of color. Balls are organized
and hosted by the heads of "houses", which are chosen-family kinship
networks that provide both community (in the form of safety, stability, and
sometimes housing) and mentorship to community members (and especially youth),
not only for the balls, but for life as a queer person.
The Ballroom 101 session at Creating Change focused largely on
the use of Balls to facilitate conversations about safer sex and HIV/Aids in
the 1980's and early 90's. I kept thinking about Lifeskills' Skillz Ball and what
an innovative throwback to public health outreach techniques used during the
height of the HIV/Aids epidemic. Outreach at Balls, which by definition
are attended by traditionally disenfranchised and high risk communities, is the
perfect opportunity for community engagement in public health campaigns.
While outreach at Balls has often been about sexual health and
HIV (which is greatly needed and so, so important!), the expansion into other
areas of health as well, such as tobacco use in LGBT communities, and
healthcare access for those without insurance, could so easily be done.
So much of creating healthy individuals and communities is about
empowerment, and Balls, which have always represented safe spaces, free
expression, acceptance, and creativity, are ideal opportunities for public
health outreach and targeted health campaigns!
If you have not yet seen Paris
is Burning, you can watch the full film here: (andddd you should
get on that right away.)
For more information
on Voguing and the House Ballroom
Scene of NYC 1989-92 and Harlem's Drag Ball History
