In Collaboration Between VVJ x The Birdhouse
Tweet tweet ya lil chickadees! Are you feeling feathered and fabulous?! You ready to soar like an eagle or strut like a peacock? Get plucked and preened for the FIRST EVER >>> BIRDHOUSE BALL
VENUE:
THE BIRDHOUSE - 44 W 4th AVE
7PM DOORS > 8PM BALL
After Party to follow Ball <3
TICKETS:
$15 ~ EARLY BIRD SPECTATOR
$20 to $30 ~ ADVANCED SPECTATOR
$10 ~ COMPETITOR
No one turned away for lack of funds - Pay What You Can available in advance, as well as at the door, capacity permitting. If you're in need email birdhouseon4th@gmail.com to reserve yours, no questions asked.
Minors may attend the ball with a guardian - Please email guardian info to birdhouseon4th@gmail.com 2 days before the ball.
Host: Mother Vancouver Posh Gvasalia
DJ: Father Gago Gvasalia
Commentator: Notorious 007 (SEA)
JUDGES - TBA ;)
~ BALL CATEGORIES & EFFECTS ~
OTA VIRGIN PERFORMANCE - 1 TROPHY
Who’s your fav Tweety, Daffy or Donald? Maybe it’s Woody or Zazu? Perhaps even Toucan Sam? Bring it in a look inspired by your favorite cartoon bird. And make the judges tweet with excitement.
Virgin Categories in ballroom = not yet winning the respective category/ and or never walked category
OTA VIRGIN RUNWAY - 1 TROPHY
What’s that I see over? A northern…no it’s a red billed…no A…A.. It’s a BIRD WATCHER! Come in your best bird watcher look and make the judges take note as you walk the runway.
Virgin Categories in ballroom = not yet winning the respective category/ / and or never walked category
OTA RUNWAY (EUROPEAN, AMERICAN, DRAGS) - 3 TROPHY + $100CAD cash prize
PINK! Like the colour of my….flamingo! Be inspired by the radiant colour of our most beloved walking bird - and strut the runway in the best colour ever, pink! Top three European, American and Drags battle for Cash.
CLUB KID FACE - 1 TROPHY + $100CAD cash prize
Feeling the far out feathered fantasy? Give us your most creative and weird face effect inspired by our feathered friends - must incorporate feathers or feather effects in the make up. Think budgie meets Leigh Bowery or Walt Paper meets warbler.
BIZARRE - 1 TROPHY + $100CAD cash prize
Channel your inner magpie collector. Do you like shiny things?? Shimmer like trash or treasure. Create a wild and bizarre look that would make a magpie go mad! Must incorporate metallic and/or reflective materials.
SEX SIREN (MF, FF, GNC) - 3 TROPHY + $100CAD cash prize
Feeling flaming? Are you HOT & sexy?! Make the judges feel your heat in your best fiery PHOENIX inspired effect. Legendary birds only ;)
TAG TEAM PERFORMANCE - 2 TROPHIES + $200CAD cash prize
Bring it to the lake…Swan Lake that is! We want to see you in your best White Swan / Black Swan tag team performance. Live your Tchaikovsky fantasy in your best black and white ballet inspired looks. Tag team pairs do not have to be house affiliated, and walk the category as a pair.
OTA BEST DRESSED (MF, FF, GNC) - 3 TROPHY + $100CAD cash prize
Quote the Raven “Nevermore” … just bring it in your best dark sided fashion, think goth meet couture, evening wear so glamours you could just die.
>>> LAND/CULTURAL ACKNOWLEDGEMENT & CONSENT <<<
This event is being held on the stolen, ancestral territories of the Musqueam, Skxwú7mesh-ulh, and Tsleil-Waututh nations. As we live and organize queer space as settlers on these lands, we have an obligation to continuously work to repair harms perpetrated upon Indigenous communities, presently and historically. Settler colonialism has brought (and continues to bring) untold violence to these lands, via unlawful resource extraction, racism in medical and foster care systems, and the intergenerational trauma of residential schools.
As an organization that is founded by non Black and Latinx people we acknowledge our ongoing need to question and reflect on how we navigate practicing our ballroom scene here in Vancouver, BC. We know we do not have all the answers and are always looking to be better. We are always seeking and open to how we can better support the Queer/Trans Black and Brown folks that founded the culture we love and share through VVJ.
Creating safe space has always been at the heart of ballroom culture and we hope that this event can be a safe space for everybody to enjoy. Oppressive attitudes and behaviours including but not limited to misogyny, transphobia, racism, fat phobia, ableism, and general bigotry are not welcome here. Racism, Anti-Blackness, homophobia, transphobia and sexism are ongoing battles that are being experienced in America, Canada and the rest of the world. We all have a lot of work to do in the ongoing fight for equality and have compiled a list of resources to help you support, donate, educate and take action to help you wherever you may be in your continued unlearning/relearning process.
If there are ways VVJ / The Birdhouse can better create an inclusive and safe space please do inform us by e-mail at info@vanvoguejam.com so that we may listen to your input and improve on this for future events. For questions/feedback you may reach The Birdhouse at Birdhouseon4th@gmail.com
>>> HISTORY <<<
Ballroom culture, drag ball culture, the house-ballroom community, and similar terms describe an underground queer subculture in which people "walk" (i.e., compete), perform, dance, lip-sync, and model in different categories, which are designed to simultaneously epitomize and satirize gender constructs, occupations, and social classes, while also offering an escape from reality. Category participants are required to “walk” one by one to receive full approval from all judges, known as ‘receiving your 10s’. Competitors are judged on their abilities, “effect” (costumes, appearance, theatrics, presentation), and perceived “realness” (embodied and/or visual believability, authenticity). Those who make their 10s battle one on one against each other for trophies, prizes, and glory.
Ballroom culture emerged in the late 1960s in New York City, birthed by the Black and Latinx LGBTQ2S+ community who were excluded from the drag pageant world of white America. The development of the Ballroom scene created safe and inclusive spaces for these communities to explore and experience life styles from which they were excluded due to systemic oppression.
Vogue is a freestyle competitive dance form that utilizes 5 key elements in an improvised battle with other competitors. Currently (although open to interpretation within various vogue communities), the five popular elements of Vogue Performance are catwalk, hands, duckwalk, spins and dips, and floor performance.
“For decades, ballroom, ball or house culture has been a way for queer blacks and Latinos to live their best lives – that is, to figure out how to respond to a society that devalued their lives and attempted to erase their presence. Through elaborate performances incorporating and commenting on race, class and gender, the ball community has historically reflected the American Dream and one’s exclusion from it.” - Les Fabian Brathwaith (Quote from Rolling Stones).
>>> A BALL <<<
An event that hosts a series of competitive categories, each with their own focus. Having been birthed in NYC by communities of Queer Black and Latinex people out of a need for safe nightlife spaces due to the discrimination they faced, balls are typically centred around creating safe space for LGBTQIA2+ POC.
Spectators, competitors, and judges, come together to celebrate people within their communities and compete against each other in different categories. Some of the most popular categories are Vogue Performance, Sex Siren, Hands, Runway, Bazaar, and Face. Each of these categories have specific requirements, and competitors are judged by a panel on how well they accomplish them. Before competing against others, category participants are required to “walk” one by one to receive full approval from all judges, known as ‘receiving your 10s’. Competitors who make their 10s battle one on one against each other to impress the judges until there is one winner.
QUESTIONS?
Please contact VVJ for more information at info@vanvoguejam.com for information on The Birdhouse please email Birdhouseon4th@gmail.com