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The Whoriental Kiki Ball by Parisa Juicy

Last month, the Berlin ballroom scene had another amazing event happening that gave me the opportunity to capture some exciting photos. The Whoriental Festival at Gretchen had many amazing performances and highlights, but one of the biggest one was the Kiki Ball hosted by German Overseer Parisa Juicy. It was the second edition of this ball and I think creating a special ball to empower ballroom participants from the SWANA region is a wonderful idea, especially since I felt they equally embraced people from several more cultures around the world that might not have their own spotlight on them.

With this concept, the ball had indeed a different vibe and aesthetic and I was so here for it! Thanks to Parisa for creating this space and also inviting me into it – it’s greatly appreciated! I hope my photos do the ball justice!

Transpride Festival: Workdatcvnt Kiki Ball by Calvin 007 & Mandrake 007

by Frank | Ballroom, Photos

Trans Masc community project Workdatcvnt hosted a Kiki Ball at SO36 celebrating their second anniversary and of course we were there to capture the action!

It was great to see so much trans masc representation on the runway – the community has grown so much – of course also thanks to the amazing work of Workdatcvnt. I remember that trans masc participants were practically nowhere to be seen when I started to capture balls all those years ago. And now this community is thriving and often the ones who make all the heads turn at the balls.

The Nostalgia Ball by David GG

by Frank | Ballroom, Photos

The Berlin Pride weekend was such an eventful weekend, and The Nostalgia Ball by David GG was an absolute highlight of it. This major scene ball was a follow-up to last year’s Superheroes 2 Ball that happened on the same day and same place at Holzmarkt’s Säälchen – only with a new theme for this year. And the turn-out was insane. I think I haven’t seen such a long line of spectators and ballroom members from wide and far outside of any ballroom venue. Of course, when David invite’s the people show up!

The night had so many special moments: The host David was welcomed into the House of Gorgeous Gucci, the wonderful Jamila got a special honor for her community work with the Ballroom Pier, and then there was one more special honor that I didn’t quite see coming.

The Colors of Pride II Kiki Ball by Mother Gina Angels & Papi 007

by Frank | Ballroom, Photos

The Berlin Pride weekend was a total blast and one of its major highlights was the second Colors of Pride Kiki Ball hosted once again by the wonderful mother Gina Angels and the charming Papi 007 at the colorful space of The Social Hub Berlin. Last year, the ball was a surprise smash success with such a wild turn-up of participants and spectators that hardly fit into the space. This year was no exception and the kiki was such a fun spectacle that will go into the ballroom history books. Gina and Papi just know how to put something like this together and bring in a crowd, congratulations!

The Social Hub is also such a perfect space for a ball, its colorful interior and exterior being a good match for the theme. And they all made sure that everyone was well fed and lubricated for the action. Special thanks to Hennessy who supported the ball and gave a couple of rounds of shots to everyone.

As Ballroom customs have it, the kiki began with the LSS and special honors, and those were especially gratifying for me, as two of my favorite ballroom personalities received legendary status this evening. One was the amazing Bree who is not only a fantastic performer, but also my favorite ballroom DJ. Congratulations, diva! The second honor went to David who has been somewhat of a guiding light into the ballroom scene for me. Just a day before I was contemplating with a friend why David of all people hasn’t gotten the legendary title before many others around him – and bam! – a day later after his own ball on Friday he received his title. Finally! Congratulations, David! (The coverage of David’s Nostalgia Ball will follow shortly…)

The Revolution Ball by the Iconic House of Saint Laurent

by Frank | Ballroom, Photos

Earlier this month, the Revolution Ball hosted by the Iconic House of Saint Laurent took place at Hebbel am Ufer HAU2 theater. This was a Major Ball, and those have become kind of rare here since the Kiki Scene has been on the rise for the past years and host balls more regularly. So the more reason for us to appreciate the Revolution Ball as it brought a lot of international ballroom members to Berlin to be judges, MCs and special guests. The line-up was stacked with Icons, Legends and stars: European Catalyst Grandfather Archie Burnett Ninja, Icon Arnold Saint Laurent, Icon Arturo Miyake-Mugler, Icon Founding Father Michael Margiela, Icon Queen Tempress, Tabytha Maison-Margiela, Legendary Overall Mother Asia Allure, Legendary Mother Fujiko Ninja, Legendary NYC Mother Jonovia Lanvin, Legendary Mother Lasseindra Lanvin, Legendary Father Suave Saint Laurent, Legendary Naïmah 007, Legendary Father Typhoon Basquiat, and newly crowned Legend Zoe 007. This was not a typical judges board for Berlin, never have we seen so many important, influential and founding members of the international scene here in town. And the high energy during the LSS call really showed that.

The Doechii Kiki Ball by Mother Dream and Everston Louboutin

by Frank | Ballroom, Photos

The Ballroom summer season in Berlin is open and the Doechii Kiki Ball by mother Dream and Everston Louboutin was just the perfect function to kick things off. I’m still gagged by how amazing the kiki was – definitely one of my favorites in a long time. There were so many stunning new talents on the runway I have never seen before. All the ballroom community projects and families have been cooking up fresh members left and right and my camera didn’t even know where to look first. Rarely have the beginner categories looked so advanced. The faces were facing, the outfits were fire and the dips went hard.

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The Cuntemporary Kiki Ball by Dante Telfar & Joana Juicy Couture

by Frank | Ballroom, Photos

The Wilhelm Hallen saw their first ballroom take over last weekend for their Berlin Art Week kick-off and the art was shaking on the walls! The Cuntemporary Mini Kiki Ball hosted by Father Dante Telfar and Princess Joana Juicy Couture was a testament that ballroom and voguing are a true art form. Of course, we were present at the function to capture the hottest moments on the runway. Enjoy!

If you were performing at the ball and want to check if I snapped your moment here is the complete set with lots more photos than here as a download. Make sure to tag us when you post the photos.

The Earthly Delights Mini Ball by Ambrosia & LaQuefa

by Frank | Ballroom, Photos

Last month was already such a blessing with all the ballroom events around Pride, this month the action continued with an extra special ball happening during the Long Night of Museums in the beautiful hall of the Museum for Communications. Embedded into a very diverse and very queer-friendly program that also included a performance show by Fifi Fantome and her crew the Earthly Delights Mini Ball hosted by Ambrosia and LaQuefa 007 went down. It was all very mini, very demure, very mindful toward the holy halls and floors of the museum.

The Colors of Pride Kiki Ball by Gina Angels & Papi 007

by Frank | Ballroom, Photos, Tanz

Following our big photo series of the Superheroes Ball from Friday we are already back with another ballroom set from the Colors of Pride Kiki Ball hosted by Gina Angels and Papi 007 at the Social Hub on Saturday.

I was a bit late to the function, but nonetheless I managed to capture some killer performances. The energy was really high, the performers were on fire. Having seen many of these young ballroom members compete over the last couple of years it was great to see their progress – they are more talented and beautiful than ever. It’s great to see how people really grow into themselves with so much grace and confidence. It was also fun to see The Social Hub being transformed into a ballroom arena – the vibe was such a good match to the space.

I’m really proud of this photo set – it’s done with a different much smaller camera from the Superheroes ball and therefore has a different aesthetic but I think it really brought out some other aspects and details of a ball than my usual photos. I hope you enjoy it!

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The Superheroes Ball 2 by David Elle

by Frank | Ballroom, Photos

This past weekend was not only the Berlin Pride weekend, but also a big happening for the Ballroom Community with 3 balls and several smaller events going on. A big highlight was the Major Ball hosted by father David Elle on Friday at Säälchen with support by IFA. We were especially excited about this one as it’s the first one he hosted there since the Ocean, Pride and Superheroes ball in 2019 and 2020 that we all covered here as well. It’s been a while since we saw such a big turn-up from ballroom community here in Berlin and I have to say: everyone looked more gorgeous than ever! It was a great pleasure to capture the ball and all the amazing performers. And I was happy to hear that the ball managed to raise 6000 EUR for the Riccardo Simonetti Initiative

Stay tuned for another photo set for the Colors of Pride Kiki Ball by Gina Angels and Papi 007 that will follow shortly…

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