Sometimes I feel like a motherless child, I long away from home.

No, that's not the Brian Lair show theme.

That voice belongs to Reverend King Austin, Jr.

And it was recorded last night at our Theatre of the Green Space.

The lyrics, as you can hear and as so many of you know, sometimes I feel like a motherless

child, a long way from home.

It's a sentiment here in Pride Month that much of the LGBTQ community can relate to

due to the historic ostracization from family and society due to their identities.

This reality led to the formation of the black ballroom community once upon a time too.

We see ballroom's influence sprinkled throughout pop culture, right?

It was introduced to the masses by Madonna with her song Vogue, fans of pop stars like Taylor

Swift and Beyoncé, call their idols mother and RuPaul, you'll remember, shed drag with

the masses first through his music career, and then through his Emmy award-winning reality

show RuPaul's Drag Race, shows like Pose.

And the famous documentary film, Paris's Burning, offer a window into the ballroom scene

of the 1980s and 90s.

But despite ballroom culture's influence, many in the community feel that ballroom doesn't

receive the credit that it deserves.

So let's learn more about ballroom for this conversation.

Here about the history and people from artist adjunct professor at the New School, Eugene

Land College, and Union Theological Seminary, Michael Roberson.

He insists that ballroom has something to say in 2023.

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