REVIEW
Sissy Ball 8 – The Doll House : Melbourne Town Hall
June 7
Am I in Amsterdam, Athens, or maybe it’s Brooklyn, New York City? No, I’m at the Sissy Ball 8 at the Melbourne Town Hall in its Victorian architectural splendour, hosting the underbelly of Ballroom. House versus House in a show-off dance romp that lasted five hours beckoned the call for durational drag and queer endurance performance. It reminded me of the 1969 Hollywood film ‘The Shoot Horses Don’t They?’ where the competitors dance their way to exhaustion and are eliminated along the way in the lure of the prize money.
Ballroom culture, founded on the force of Black and Latinx trans women who fought for their rights through the strength of creating an alternative family of belonging. A dance form for one’s self-determination to voice their opinion on conservative stereotypes of what and how a trans woman or person of difference or colour should behave. The physical velocity and ability to dance coordinate one’s body with such sheer physical strength and agility, deconstructing and reconfiguring the queer stage that tears down the catwalk of mediocrity.
Mother of the Doll House, Kianna Louboutin Oricci, and her queer hardcore and compassionate attitude, with the night’s co-MCs, Joshua 007, Jamaica Moana and DJ Seven Angels Garcon, introduced the dancers and kept the competition on a hot edge.
The energy in the performers was electrifying, but as the night progressed, fatigue and exhaustion set. Some of the leg kicks, spins, arm swinging taunts, and death drops were starting to jade and without lacklustre and gusto, and injuries were beginning to show in the dancers. Mind you, this was over four hours into the night, but that didn’t hold back the MC, Judges, DJ, and the audience who wanted more. “Yes more and more, push it more, go more; in; Three, Two, One, now hold that pose bitch.” This made the Ballroom explode, and the dancers went all out in battle mode. I lost count of how many death drops, slapping stage, finger flirting, wrist rolling, head posing, vogue poses, and pirouettes there were. The sexy veracity of the dancers hypnotised the audiences with seductive erotic moves, and I thought The Doll House Family would give the queer houses of Europe and the USA a run for their money.
The evening was programmed into a range of categories: strut, spin, dip, vogue, femme, best hair, fashion, beatbox, sex siren seductive cheekiness and more, with short breaks in between. I was hoping the DJ would play music for the audience, who eagerly crammed close to the stage; some danced to let off steam, but it didn’t match the atmosphere I’m used to, where, between acts the dancing was then turned over to the audience, who danced and posed with the performers when they came off stage. However, in the glam and spectacle of the Sissy Ball, where no holds were barred, I started dancing to the funky club music with my daughter Eleni, as we did at the God Save The Queens event the night before. She was dancing with her 64-year-old gay dad, and I was reminiscing about my own Ballroom dancing days as Ms Louli at Paradiso with the House of Hopelezz Family in Amsterdam. But this night of nights of night belonged to the star-studded cast of Doll House dancers as part of the inaugural Australian Dance Biennale’s program.
Ballroom is a conceptual happening spectacle that has permeated the contemporary dance world, and I was overly impressed with the quality of dance routines; all bodies, all sizes, all abilities, all welcome if they have respect, love and pride for the essence of Ballroom. Even though Ballroom is a form of street art born from the Ghetto’s, it is now on the world stage with high-class production and programming and part of an arts festival. This testifies to another important milestone for Melbourne, where de-stigmatising perceptions of the stereotyped queer, freaky, kooky and weird folk are not to be oppressed in social ghettos. Here, the LGBTQIA+ community are out loud and proud on stage, in the spotlight of an international arts festival and celebrates Ballroom as an embodiment and lifestyle art form that creates a safe place for the queer and trans community.
The performers took advantage of the screams and cheers of elation resonating into frequencies of queer joy from the crowd. Hundreds of queer finger-tapping rounds of applause from the audience elevated the dancers, where chance, attitude and improvisation created a night of sexy, sassy choreography that pumped everybody’s adrenaline to strut their stuff, having a fantastic night with the friendly partygoers.
Gritty, sexy, alluring and indeed caring for one another, when I noticed a polarisation of concern from the MC when the dancers went beyond their physical limits in the line of Ballroom competition. How long can they keep going without dropping dead like the dancers in the Shoot Horses film? They didn’t, because the MC would prepare the runway and ask the dancers to “Wait, take your time, don’t hurt yourself, we all have different abilities, and we need to respect the rights of others regardless of body shape.” This is the foundation of The Doll House, where support is strengthened by looking out for one another. However, the dancers have a boxing ring and a dance battle persona and are trying to prove “I’m better than you.” After their performance, they hugged and congratulated each other, checking if they were OK, and within a few minutes, the MC called them back on the catwalk to the Ballroom battle again. Eventually, a winner from each category was announced, and a variety of Golden Kitch Camp trophies were awarded to each winner.
Ballroom is alive and throbbing in Melbourne thanks to The Doll House Family and her performers alongside hundreds of partygoers, who were beautifully dressed and showed off their unique queer glamour at this happening event. Go Gurls!
5 out of 5 stars
Review by Christos Linou
