Ball

Competitions

Ball
Competitions

Ball
Competitions

Our ball competitions take place at the extravagant George Peabody Library. Known as Baltimore’s “Cathedral of Books,” it is consistently ranked amongst the most beautiful libraries in the world. When it opened its doors in 1878, founder George Peabody intended the Library “to be well furnished in every department of knowledge and of the most approved books of the day.” We continue this legacy by staging the forms of knowledge created via arts and performance.

Ball competitions are ritual performances that call forth black and LGBTQ cultural traditions. The electronic music derives from modern progressions of the African drum, and is influenced by blues, jazz, gospel, and funk. Voguing, an improvised dance form, participates in a wide variety of black diasporic sonic and movement practices. Commentators, or masters of ceremony, are griots: the living archive of the community’s cultural knowledge. Above all, cultural critic madison moore argues, ballroom is a space “where queer people of color have removed themselves from the gendered and racist politics of everyday life and created their own unique social worlds, allowing them to live out alternative versions of sexuality and gender performance.”

Our ball competitions take place at the extravagant George Peabody Library. Known as Baltimore’s “Cathedral of Books,” it is consistently ranked amongst the most beautiful libraries in the world. When it opened its doors in 1878, founder George Peabody intended the Library “to be well furnished in every department of knowledge and of the most approved books of the day.” We continue this legacy by staging the forms of knowledge created via arts and performance.

Ball competitions are ritual performances that call forth black and LGBTQ cultural traditions. The electronic music derives from modern progressions of the African drum, and is influenced by blues, jazz, gospel, and funk. Voguing, an improvised dance form, participates in a wide variety of black diasporic sonic and movement practices. Commentators, or masters of ceremony, are griots: the living archive of the community’s cultural knowledge. Above all, cultural critic madison moore argues, ballroom is a space “where queer people of color have removed themselves from the gendered and racist politics of everyday life and created their own unique social worlds, allowing them to live out alternative versions of sexuality and gender performance.”

Our ball competitions take place at the extravagant George Peabody Library. Known as Baltimore’s “Cathedral of Books,” it is consistently ranked amongst the most beautiful libraries in the world. When it opened its doors in 1878, founder George Peabody intended the Library “to be well furnished in every department of knowledge and of the most approved books of the day.” We continue this legacy by staging the forms of knowledge created via arts and performance.

Ball competitions are ritual performances that call forth black and LGBTQ cultural traditions. The electronic music derives from modern progressions of the African drum, and is influenced by blues, jazz, gospel, and funk. Voguing, an improvised dance form, participates in a wide variety of black diasporic sonic and movement practices. Commentators, or masters of ceremony, are griots: the living archive of the community’s cultural knowledge. Above all, cultural critic madison moore argues, ballroom is a space “where queer people of color have removed themselves from the gendered and racist politics of everyday life and created their own unique social worlds, allowing them to live out alternative versions of sexuality and gender performance.”

A performer on the stage at the George Peabody Library

JAMES ICON: “The Peabody is a library, a source of information, a source of history. Ballroom is a place of history: there’s history in ballroom; there’s knowledge in ballroom. Ballroom likes everything elegant [and] the Peabody is an elegant establishment. So to combine the two was a great idea and it was a successful idea, because it emulated what ballroom is.”

Left: Eddie Revlon competes at the 2019 Peabody ball. Photo by Gerard Gaskin.

A performer on the stage at the George Peabody Library

JAMES ICON: “The Peabody is a library, a source of information, a source of history. Ballroom is a place of history: there’s history in ballroom; there’s knowledge in ballroom. Ballroom likes everything elegant [and] the Peabody is an elegant establishment. So to combine the two was a great idea and it was a successful idea, because it emulated what ballroom is.”

Left: Eddie Revlon competes at the 2019 Peabody ball. Photo by Gerard Gaskin.

Below: Eddie Revlon competes at the 2019 Peabody ball. Photo by Gerard Gaskin.

ICON ENRIQUE ST. LAURENT: “What I like about the ball is, in the categories where it’s [based] off books, people have to do research [to prepare their performances]. So, when you’re researching, you’re reading the book…When you’re reading, you’re learning…You guys are giving us a chance to display our talent in a wonderful place and we’re giving you guys a chance to see our talent… And we can grow together.”

Right: Icon Enrique St. Laurent welcomes ballroom competitors. Photo by Gerard Gaskin.

Person with a microphone

ICON ENRIQUE ST. LAURENT: “What I like about the ball is, in the categories where it’s [based] off books, people have to do research [to prepare their performances]. So, when you’re researching, you’re reading the book…When you’re reading, you’re learning…You guys are giving us a chance to display our talent in a wonderful place and we’re giving you guys a chance to see our talent… And we can grow together.”

Right: Icon Enrique St. Laurent welcomes ballroom competitors. Photo by Gerard Gaskin.

Below: Icon Enrique St. Laurent welcomes ballroom competitors. Photo by Gerard Gaskin.

Person with a microphone
A performer on the stage at the George Peabody Library

GREY MIZRAHI: “the Peabody Library is a grand scale. Ballroom is a grand scale. Ballroom is a lot to see. Like the looks is very over the top and the dance itself is very over the top and walking runway is very over the top, so this place is big. So it’s deserving of ballroom. Ballroom is deserving of it.”

Left: Grey Mizrahi competes at the 2019 Peabody ball. Photo by Gerard Gaskin.

A performer on the stage at the George Peabody Library

GREY MIZRHI: “the Peabody Library is a grand scale. Ballroom is a grand scale. Ballroom is a lot to see. Like the looks is very over the top and the dance itself is very over the top and walking runway is very over the top, so this place is big. So it’s deserving of ballroom. Ballroom is deserving of it.”

Left: Grey Mizrahi competes at the 2019 Peabody ball. Photo by Gerard Gaskin.

Below: Grey Mizrahi competes at the 2019 Peabody ball. Photo by Gerard Gaskin.