Ballroom culture was created by Black and Brown trans women and queer people in Harlem, New York in the 60s. From this culture, 'Voguing' emerged as a dance style. Ballroom has influenced pop culture, fashion, art, music, dance, film, and even our vocabulary. Voguing and ballroom culture at large is rooted in the safety and community provided to queer and trans people of color. Get ready to be taken on a journey of glamour, poise and runway extravaganza. With ecstatic stories, performative showcases and immersive dancing.
For this edition we are especially happy to partner with Utrecht Ballroom Scene. Which is a community that centers queer and trans people of color and organizes weekly Voguing classes, workshops, balls, and other events that supports the joy, empowerment and wellbeing of the community in Utrecht.
BECOMING is a fluid bubble full of depth. Each edition is unique and offers a new queer perspective on identity and sexuality. Spectators and artists immerse themselves together in intimacy, party, sensuality, dialogue, art and glitter! At BECOMING, more is better, vulnerability is strength, party is depth and everyone is queer! In Theater Kikker we present four editions: A Rainbow Family, Decolonized, Trans & Loved and A Ball.
Line-up:
Hosting by Ro Rox Roxy Roxanna Verwey and Sharmila 007. Fergie 007 Basquiat tackles the struggle of living in two worlds. Two identities that are portrayed as being like oil and water. This dance performance aims to bring these two worlds together, their queerness and their Caribbean identity. Qotton Telfar performs 'A Knot Manifesto’, using the 'knot' is a metaphor for both Qotton's movement practice that is highly inspired by New Way Voguing, and also how their cultural, social, racial, gender identity intertwine. Duraa 007 and Lionel Mermaids present a performance that combines poetry and Old Way Vogue, celebrating those who came before us. Luluh 007 presents a Voguing Femme performance about living in our skin and her experiences in the world as a woman of trans experience. The Real Miss Colombia Mermaids will mix real-life experiences with behind-the-scenes glimpses of the ballroom community into a performance featuring her signature Sex Siren energy. Take a trip to Colombia and discover her culture! She will also DJ during our opening roll call and after party.
BECOMING is always a mix of English (80%) and Dutch (20%), and also non-linguistic elements and vibes. The event will be presented in simple English. Some of our performances might be in Dutch. If you don’t speak Dutch please join anyway, you will still be able to follow enough of it!
