Van Vogue Jam in partnership with Vancouver Pride Society presents
**Home Improvement Kiki Ball**
A Kiki Vogue Ball
The first of VVJ’s annual Home Improvement Ball, brought to you via the interweb. Don’t forget to bring your tool belt, cause this ball is gonna make you WERK for that grand prize. In collaboration with Vancouver Pride Society this is a free/by donation ball, with 50% of all donations will be donated to Black Lives Matter Vancouver.
WEDNESDAY JULY 29, 2020 - ONLINE
New Media Support by Chimerik 似不像
PDT - YVR, Seattle, Portland, LA: 5pm-9pm
EDT - Toronto, Montreal, NYC: 8pm-Midnight
PHT - Manila : 8am-Noon
**TICKETS**
All tickets are by donation
- Spectator
- Competitor
Once you have made a donation as a spectator or competitor you will receive the ball's online link.
**FEATURING**
HOST
Ralph Gvsalia 007 (Vancouver)
DJ
Charmed Monroe “DJ Black Cat” (Toronto)
GUEST JUDGES
Slim Xtravaganza (NYC)
Isla Ebony (LA)
Kevin Fraser (Vancouver)
Snoopy Lanvin (Toronto)
Xyza Mizrahi (Philippines)
**CATEGORIES** - $1700 total cash prize
All Categories are OTA (Open to All) unless otherwise stated.
Online Guidelines for Competitors:
Please register for categories by JUNE 27th in order to walk category.
*Each category may be subject to close registration, based on the amount of competitors per category.
You will be asked to log into meeting 1hr prior to your category start time.
If possible, a strong wifi connection will be preferred.
Please have a clear background/floor/space and be cautious of what your wearing so you don't blend in with your background (Black pants, with black background)
Be aware of lighting and make sure we can see you *Especially for FACE
All winners will be transferred money via PayPal or e-transfer and will be converted from its original CAD dollar.
Please contact for more information at info@vanvoguejam.com
Hands $200CAD - No Gloves No Loves
This category is open to all. Hands is a dance category ONLY ABOUT HANDS AND ARM CONTROL - competitors should be familiar with traditional hands category tracks to make their 10s and compete confidently.
Please keep those hands clean and put on some gloves before showing us the best of your Hands Performance. Competitors must wear a pair of any kind of gloves to qualify. NO GLOVES = no love (a chop).
Commentator $100CAD - How Can I Help You?
This is an OTA CHANTING CATEGORY - no dancing involved however an understanding of vogue chanting is required to make your 10s and compete.
Welcome us in with your best “How can I help you” customer service kunt chant for your 10’s, then battle it out for the grand prize! Competitors must wear a RED vest, jacket or shirt with a NAME TAG for your category effect.
Face $200CAD - Hard Hat
This category is OTA - there are no mandatory dance elements but it is encouraged for competitors to have an elementary understanding of face category techniques.
CAUTION, FACE WERKING ABOVE - Protect that flawless face of yours and make sure the competition doesn’t make it crack! Competitors must keep their complexion hazard-free with a HARD HAT for this category effect and serve all the traditional FACE elements.
*looking for traditional face, not club kid makeup or dramatic drags paint*
Virgin Vogue $100CAD - Vogue the House Down Boots
This category is open to anyone who has not competed in a Vogue Performance category at any other ball before. Competitors must be able to showcase all 5 elements confidently to make their 10s. Because of online sound discrepancy, we are aware that you may not always be or appear on the beat so it will also be about who can serve the best on their screen during 10’s and battles.
Kick it with the judges and put your best foot forward to make your 10’s. Will it be a Toot or a Boot? We say Boot! From steel-toed to thigh-high, Toot it in a boot of your choice for your virgin vogue performance!
Vogue Performance $500CAD - PPE (Personal Protective Equipment)
This category is OTA. Must show your 5 elements confidently to get your 10s and will battle live. Because of online sound discrepancy, we are aware that you will not be “on beat” so it will be about who can serve the best on their screen during 10’s and battles.
Put on some PPE, ya you know me! Safety is always our priority - especially now in the time of Miss RONA… so serve the safety with a splash of kunt. Road work? Hospital work? Essential services? Construction site? Riding your bike? Show the kids how you’re staying safe out there!
Runway $200CAD - Bed Bath and Beyond
This category is OTA - there are no mandatory dance elements but competitors should have an understanding of the difference between American (butch) and European (femme) runway styles. Both styles will be competing together with no restrictions around which genders are able to participate in either category.
Curtains, drapes, and linens - oh my! Too exhausted and don't want to leave the house? No problem, bring the house with you! You must incorporate some sort of home textile to your effect in order to get your 10’s: Curtain, Drapes, Linens, etc.
*online notes: Please have a hallway/long stretch of floor to showcase your walk.
Sex Siren $200CAD - Home Improvement
This category is OTA - there are no mandatory dance elements but competitors must be able to serve the judges body confidence and sensual sex appeal.
Call the plumber, because this faucet is WET. Serve us SEX in the most important place in the home, YOUR BATHROOM OR KITCHEN. Full 10’s and battle must take place in the bathroom or kitchen, or else it’s a chop.
*online notes: We advise you test your bathroom prior to entering, to make sure we can see your body in frame.
Bazaar $200CAD - Everything and the kitchen sink
This is an EFFECT (LOOKS) category - no dancing involved however movement is encouraged to show off your work and bring your effect to life.
IF YOU BUILD IT, THEY WILL COME. Use your creativity to give us your most creative home inspired bazaar look. Your look must be 100% original and created by YOU.
Realness $100CAD x 3 - Stepford Parents
Bring it in your best HOMEMAKER or BREADWINNER effect.
This category pays homage to the history of Ballroom. More specifically it honors the work queer folk had to do, and sometimes still need to do, in order to move through the polarizing binary gender system in today’s society in order to survive. In addition to traditional FF and MF Realness, we’ve included GNC Realness for those who do not conform to the gender binary.
FF Realness $100 - trans women and drag queens
MF Realness $100 - Butch queens, butch women, and transgender men
GNC Realness $100 - Gender Non Conforming
*GNC Realness are for those on the trans spectrum who do not conform to the gender binary.
**BALLROOM CULTURE**
TO ALL COMPETITORS:
Please come prepared knowing what to expect. If you are walking in a category for the first time PLEASE do your research and understand that there can only be one winner per category.
Look up videos on Youtube, come to a VVJ session, look at the resources on www.vanvoguejam.com, reach out to us by e-mail or on Instagram at @VANVOGUEJAM. Please use the resources around you to be prepared. We also encourage you to ask us for feedback before you compete so that you feel strong going into the ball.
We want everyone to have fun, to feel they were able to serve their best, and we want everyone to have a fair chance at competing but you WILL be chopped during your 10s and unable to compete if you are unprepared.
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.
**LAND/CULTURAL ACKNOWLEDGEMENT & CONSENT**
We would like to acknowledge that we are coming together virtually to celebrate on the unceded territory of the xwməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil- Waututh) Nations.
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.
Creative 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 an 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 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.