2/6/12

The Tea; 2012 Dorian Corey Awards given by Alvernian Prestiege


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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.

1 comment:

  1. 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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