Photo by HATSUE
If you go to a ball thrown by CincyVogue, you won’t see any waltzes or string quartets. You will see some of the most creative and talented members of the local queer community work the runway. “Ballroom is essentially a competitive party born of the drag balls and drag pageants of the early ’50s and ’60s,” says co-leader of CincyVogue, Flowy Diesel Ebony. “It’s a subculture born out of racism and a need for marginalized groups to have their own space.”
There are two primary ball groups in town: the mainstream scene and the kiki scene. While the kiki scene is usually artsier and smaller, balls in the mainstream scene can feature 40 competitive categories in one night. Categories found at balls focus on particular looks, movements, attitudes, and performance typically involving hand choreography and vogueing. “I don’t think Performance was originally a category, but now it’s usually the biggest of the night,” says Ebony. “Everybody wants to see somebody slam their back.”
Photo by HATSUE
Vogue evolved in Black and Latino Harlem ballrooms from the 1960s to the 1980s, but the dance form is constantly growing and changing as new generations take to the runway. Ebony says that when you’re around ballroom enough, you learn how to vogue. “Ballroom as a dance style is mostly about a feeling. We call it ‘speaking the language.’ Once you learn the language, you can speak a little gibberish back and then you start to put together words and sentences.”
Some of the city’s biggest balls are thrown by CincyVogue, run by Ebony and DJ Jay. The group started around 2014, but it really exploded after COVID. At their balls you’ll find both individuals and “houses” (like teams with much closer emotional bonds) like Ebony and Jay’s House of Diesel battling it out for cash prizes. “At the end of the day, our group is always about a hug after the battle, the shade is left on the floor. We’re a community, we’re a culture, we’re a family,” they say.
Photo by HATSUE
And the families inside those competing houses are inclusive, safe spaces for members. “We have trans women of different races. We have nonbinary people; we have cisgender people. That’s what ballroom should look like,” Ebony says. “We’re blessed that with how diverse we are as a city we can cultivate that kind of space.”
Ebony knows how important their role in Diesel and CincyVogue is currently. “It’s cool to see everyone come out, have a drink, be gay. At this time, what’s more revolutionary than that? They don’t want us to do it. So we should do it. We should do it twice as loud.”
Photo by HATSUE
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