We publish the text “Let’s take queer history into our own hands: Ballroom Culture” in english that was written in 2023 and presented in Antiviosi squat in Ioannina. The text was translated for BAB2025. We take a look at the history and the historical context in which ballroom culture was created and flourished and how we value it as part of the queer experience. We also draw a parallel to the Transvestite pageants that were held in Greece from some available sources. The text in greek can be found here: https://athens.indymedia.org/post/1623133/
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Let’s take queer history into our own hands: Ballroom Culture
The beginnings of the drag ball culture can be traced back to the second half of the 19th century in the USA. The first masquerade queer ball was held in 1869 at the Hamilton Lodge Hall in Harlem, New York, where 500 same-sex couples attended to dance. Its format was similar to that of a ball of the elite.
Balls as a form of entertainment were maintained in the following years, and by the beginning of the next century they had taken the form of drag balls, i.e. fashion shows with performances in which drag queens participated. The events were organized by white gay men and were spaces accepting to homosexual and bisexual visibility, and even trans identities. From the late 19th century, with the abolition of slavery, balls were able to be multiracial, which potentially meant the gradual participation of black people in them.
Continue reading Let’s take queer history into our own hands: Ballroom Culture (Greece)
