Strike A Pose: Ballroom Culture Since The '70s

1A

NPR

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4.3 • 4.5K Ratings

🗓️ 15 June 2023

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Forget the waltz and the tango. For this show, we're headed to a different kind of ball. In these spaces, Houses compete in different walking and dancing competitions.

It's long influenced important parts of American pop culture. Beyoncé's "Renaissance," Madonna's "Vogue", the award-winning show "Pose,"and HBO Max's reality show "Legendary" all highlight or borrow from ballroom culture. Its history has also been recorded in documentaries like "Paris Is Burning" or the more recent "How Do I Look."

We discuss the history of ballroom culture, what it looks like today, and how it can be a place for political organization.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Now when I say ballroom, what comes to mind?
0:11.5	Is it this?
0:15.8	Or maybe it's this?
0:22.7	The ballroom is also this.
0:46.2	Ballrooms roots stretch back to at least the 1920s, but it reached new heights in the 70s
0:51.5	and 80s as a space where members of New York City's black and Latinx LGBTQ community gathered
0:57.6	and celebrated.
0:59.1	Marcel Christian LeBezia is widely credited with hosting New York's first black drag
1:03.8	ball in 1962, and by 1990 ballroom culture was being referenced by Madonna.
1:10.1	Today ballroom culture is pop culture, from RuPaul's Drag Race to Beyoncé's latest album
1:16.3	Renaissance.
1:18.0	With the break we dig into the history of ballroom culture and what it looks like today.
1:22.6	I'm Jen Winkt, you're listening to the What A Podcast where we get to the heart of the
1:26.3	story, back with more in just a moment.
1:33.8	Let's get into the conversation and welcome our guests.
1:36.7	Joining us to walk us through the history of ballroom is Ricky Tucker.
1:40.0	He's a culture critic and the author of and the category is Inside New York's Vogue House
1:45.7	and Ballroom Community.
1:47.5	Well with us is Michael Robertson.
1:49.4	He's an adjunct professor at the New School and Union Theological Seminary in New York
1:53.5	City.
1:54.5	Welcome to you both.
	...

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