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2012 Dorian Corey Awards given by Alvernian
Prestiege
Well let me first say I honestly have not been to a
ball in many years (double digits) LOL. But it was truly a delight to get out
and be amongst the ballroom community even though I felt like a true fish out of
water.
Only Alvernian and Michael Dupree could get me out like this. I first
must commend Alvernian for a job well done he has truly come a long way and is
one of the first in Philly along with The House of Excellence that re-birthed
ballroom back into the city of Philadelphia. It’s good to see his name has rung
loud and everywhere in ballroom communities all around the country. Love you
nephew!
As for the ball. *blank stare* I can see a lot has changed and a lot
of things have remained the same. If there has been any category that has
evolved into a FORCE of NATURE if you will is the Trans-Man category WOW!!!
Simply amazing to see gender to gender the transformation of these Men. Truly,
truly FAB reminds me of the late Duchess Ebony who back then grew facial hair
great for them.
As for the BQ category of REALNESS…..I have to give my
opinions on this I felt some people really should have not walked because
“clarity” was lost. mainly School boy and Pretty Boy realness. It had
some guys that did not look like boys. Definition of boy; A boy is a young male
human, usually child or adolescent. When he becomes an adult he's described as a
man. Which means NO FACIAL HAIR. I saw so many goatees some of them should have
been disqualified immediately.
This was the closest to a school boy! below lil' cutie :-)
I know it’s a new day but I also don’t understand this
FQ vs BQ in drags madness. I think that is stupid ( My opinion) and let me
explain clear layman’s term. At a ball if you walked a category in drags you
were considered a FEMME QUEEN regardless of you were on the streets as a BUTCH
QUEEN. For instance Pepper LaBeija and Paris Dupree were ballroom FEMME QUEENS.
This whole distinction of clarifying differently now is asinine at best. The
only categories that drag queens did not walk is Realness and body obviously
because they were not transsexuals. I think it’s discriminatory. At a ball a
femme is a femme and may the best femme win!
Performance BQ I think it’s all LOST this new vogue is
acrobatics 101 pop up and spin and hot the floor. No one vogues anymore and to
add that BQ vs FQ vs BQ in drags competes against each other? WTF?!?
Then again
I understand it’s a new day. But NO MA’AM.
See for yourself:
The body category. I truly FLATLINED and BQ’s are SEX
SIRENS???
However FQ queen performance Miss Iconic Voguer
was FAB she reminds me so much of Princess Mahogany whom you all know as Brenda
Continental Milan. She was the queen of Femme performance this of course is
before Melissa Xtrava and the rest of those fab girls who came
later.
Category Creativity is TOTALLY LOST no more, Futuristic, Punk
Rock, Extravaganza, Eveningwear, Nostalgia,etc what happened? Bring those
categories back PLEASE! As for houses I like how the houses all sit together and
are very productive in helping each other out for their categories. Shout out to
the House of Prodigy & House of Blahnik they definitely got House unity of
the evening.
Grand Prize first off they’re too many. You can’t please
everyone Grand Prize Overall is just that. Grand Prize Overall! It is the finale
of the ball. Back when I walked Grand you worked for that trophy and cash and
you had to battle a many of folk to win. That is the essence of it all to just
that WORK FOR IT! However the house that won for The Ultimate House safe sex
team battle in my opinion I thought should have not won neither them or the
Prodigy’s had 100% of what the category called for.
However The Prodigy’s had a
more clearer message about safe sex and to me that was more important than
anything else.
And can someone explain to me Women in Drags??? As for Mother
vs Mother. I did not see anything or anyone even come in light years to Pepper,
Paris, Angie, Dorian, and Avis. Sigh!
Overall I had a great time and the ball overall was GREAT. It
was good to connect with today’s ballroom community whom I chat with via
facebook.
In closing I will say I still see that overall UNITY is lost they
still want to fight, Judges still want to be shady on GP. And some are just
plain shady to each other. There is a difference between ballroom shade and
vicious shade. We need to love each other more because in this gay community is
minorities are still on the bottom of the scale as a community and we need to
change this A.S.A.P and preserve Ballroom legacy it is paramount that we do.
Once again to the Icon Alvernian a job well done!
Hat Tip the pics are via Ballroom throwbacks.
I so enjoyed your review/commentary on that event. It has been years since my last attendance at a ball ('06) and I also long for classic categories and things of that nature. Maybe some of the old and new can collaborate on function not to be forgotten. Thanks Efrem.
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