A Carneval of Horror - A Weekend Extravaganza
The Ballroom Community or Ballroom scene designates a community which is rooted in the New York Black and LatinX LGBTIQ+ community. These persons, marginalised by white, heterosexual society, come together for so-called balls to have a creative exchange over different fashion and performance categories, mainly voguing, and to compete with each other. Voguing as a dance style came up in the 70s and has been named after the Vogue magazine. It is characterised by a fast, rhythmic sequencing of modelling poses. The Ballroom and voguing culture are still young in Europe, and they offer a safe space for bodies that are marginalised and underrepresented by heteronormative, Eurocentric social structures.
The Shapes & Shades Kollektiv came together in 2019 to offer workshops and panel discussions, and to offer people interested in Ballroom culture insight into its history as well as to encourage more people to become part of the scene.
By now, the scene has become established in Europe and Asia; and in Germany, the Berlin Ballroom scene has become a popular international meeting point and safe space for young queer people to have a creative exchange, and to celebrate. The origins of German Ballroom and voguing culture, however, lie here in Düsseldorf, where the first voguing events took place at tanzhaus nrw back in 2008 and where Germany’s first house was founded in 2012, the House of Melody (now the House of Saint Laurent).
Registration and information for participants: shapesundshades@gmail.com
Admission for spectators at the box office, only cash payment possible
The Horror Movies Kiki Function
Fri 28.10. 20:00
Due to the Ballroom scene’s immense expansion, an adjacent scene developed and consolidated itself around ten years ago, called the Kiki scene. This has a strong emphasis on local LGBTIQ+ youth work, education, health education, but also on the introduction into the main scene. A Kiki function is a little sister to the ball. While Balls can sometimes be large events now, requiring a high level of creativity and skill, Kiki functions are more playful, the jury panel is smaller, and the category themes are easier to realise so that even beginners can try and participate. This Kiki uses the motto “Horror Movies”. Each category references a horror movie.
Major Ball
Sat 29.10., all Info: https://fb.me/e/3kH9ikufq
Workshops
Fri 28.10. + Sat 29.10.
To convey an understanding of Ballroom and the performative arts within the culture, the Shapes & Shades Festival offers various workshops with the international jury. All categories feature their rules and their separate history. Therefore, it is important to gather information to participate in a workshop.
Please find information and registration for the workshops here:
A production by the Shapes & Shades collective in cooperation with tanzhaus nrw. Funded by the Alliance of International Production Houses, funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media.
