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Ballroom History: The 1960s, Paris is Burning, and Today

Matt Baume | August 3, 2025



For over a hundred years, the ballrooms of New York have been host to extravagant, exciting, and sometimes secret queer dance parties. And by looking back at old documentaries like Paris is Burning & The Queen, and at new ones like Kiki, we can start to reconstruct the history of queer dance parties, and ask — after fifty years of ballroom, how much has changed… and how much is still the same as it was a century ago?

Support Culture Cruise: http://patreon.com/mattbaume

My other videos about ballroom:
Paris is Burning: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76NACAZQjUU
The Queen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNJjzlRsB40

Queens at Heart: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/queensatheart
BET’s Queer as F**K: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okS1kJc1BCs
Ballroom Throwbacks Television: https://www.youtube.com/c/BALLROOMTHROWBACKS
Ballroom Culture: the Language of Vogue: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QS5j7PCSdtg
LEGENDARY: 30 Years of Philly Ballroom: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6EaBvrV6QI
My House: https://video.vice.com/en_us/show/my-house

Leiomy Maldonado: https://twitter.com/leiomy
Mj Rodriguez: Mj Rodriguez
Dominique Jackson: https://twitter.com/tyraaross

Kiki is available to stream here: https://amzn.to/32AwNCY

Written by Matt Baume

Comments

This post currently has 34 comments.

  5. @Queenmom46

    August 3, 2025 at 9:57 am

    Always remember who opened the doors for you to live out what you feel you are, your complete self. No more hiding, no more closets. It is my Her-story!

  11. @kxctus3379

    August 3, 2025 at 9:57 am

    This is not queer history but BLACK AND LATINO TRANSWOMEN history. Ballroom was made by the femqueens for the femqueens. This is something we shouldn’t forget.

  12. @JolynJessica

    August 3, 2025 at 9:57 am

    I myself am here because I am so interested in all kinds of styles of dance but learning the history is just as awesome, people of colour have so much talent, rhythm, going off topic of dance, my thoughts as a white, hetero but open minded woman: that is why that's why us white folks probably try to steal their styles and claim them as our own for hundreds of years, forgetting that afrika is the birthplacee of humanity, by spreading over the continent since then and getting lighter and lighter the further away we got, , we lost our roots which has made us so out of touch with the nature and each other in the Western world, racism in my opinion is the subconscious knowing of this. Earth cannot survive without diversity this is the underlying truth of an ecosystem, but yet people discriminate against diverse gender and sexuality and race. I see religion as we know it is part of the problem that causes the great divide as well since it was fabricated as a means of power and control to invoke fear in the masses, masking as being a good thing and using accounts and legends of good people and metaphors about ethical and moral ideas to hide it's true intentions, so people would be perceptive to its teachings or should I say doctrines, no matter if christian, muslim, Jewish or what ever. In Hinduism you are a god, able to create your own destiny, gods have no sex or better they often have both sexes, they value women, they aknowlade good and bad, or light and dark, balance, snakes are holy, just like in other old belief systems. Then comes the church and demonizes snakes, takes pan the god and protector of nature, the woods and uses his image as the appearance of Satan…..rant over.

  21. @MatteBlack2024

    August 3, 2025 at 9:57 am

    Nice, balanced primer despite omission of more nuanced topics including the impact of race on the evolution of ballroom. Despite the uber value of superficiality in the scene, it has provided refuge for deserving people.

  26. @fuzzykyrra

    August 3, 2025 at 9:57 am

    Thanks for this clip Matt. Gotta say that whilst it's clear the people featured in Paris is Burning feel the experience was negative for them, I must credit them and the director for helping the younger me overcome my fear/prejudices regarding drag queens, trans and queer folks and my internalised homophobia. I was an out gay 19 year old when I saw the film- but even though i was out, i had alot of self hatred that I projected onto the way I thought about drag queens and trans folks and what I thought were stereotypical "feminine" gay folks. The beautiful, creative, fearless individuals fearured in the film made me realise what a jerk I was- their hearts really shone through and all these years later I am still brought to tears when I watch clips from the film. ❤️

  30. @zuhrilahmaar4388

    August 3, 2025 at 9:57 am

    I feel like this video misses the mark of both scenes. We definitely know our history. Inaccurate videos like this distorts The history and terminology like calling Ballroom houses, drag houses like um i dont do drag smdh

  31. @TRUTHTEACHER2007

    August 3, 2025 at 9:57 am

    Those weren't dance parties, they were parents. And the whole Vouging thing was created by black and Puerto Rican because the white community didn't welcome people of interesting complexions in their parents. So they did what people of interesting complexions ostracized by white establishments always did. They made their own, created something spectacular and now those who originally rejected them want to graft themselves on to it, use their lingo, their creative expressions and act like they were always part of it too. There's a term for that sort of thing, but it escapes me right now….

Comments are closed.

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