Voguing Against All Odds: Photos of the Superheroes Ball

Voguing Against All Odds: Photos of the Superheroes Ball

Last week, we had the absolute pleasure to co-present the first IRL Voguing Ball in Berlin since the lockdown. It was hosted by the charming David Milan who already gave us the big Pride Ball and Ocean Ball last year that we also covered. The venue was once again the Säälchen at Holzmarkt – it’s just the perfect venue for a ball of this size!

The theme of this ball was Superheroes which was without a doubt the most specific and playful theme of the series. Of course there were a lot of classic superheroes and villains such as Spiderman and Catwoman. But the call for participation asked people to be creative, so you could also see everyday heroes such as nurses, single moms, activists – we even saw the first trans presidential candidate there.

As we are still living in a pandemic the circumstance for the event was quite different: Usually, over 1000 people show up for these balls, but to comply with the current legal safety measures this time only the participants and a few fellow house members were allowed into the venue. The usual spectators were able to watch a professional live stream of the ball either from the comfort of their homes or at the public viewing at Neuzeit Ost in collaboration with Mobile Kino. The required distancing and face mask rules also had to be respected, which was hard during the performances when the energy of the voguers was taking over, but I think the crowd did a fairly good job at complying.

It was a great ball, with a lot of stunning performances, great international participants, and a powerful audience. Of course, we took some impressions for you which you can enjoy below!

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The Pride Ball – A Voguing Extravaganza in Berlin

The Pride Ball – A Voguing Extravaganza in Berlin

The Ballroom scene might very well be my favorite thing about Berlin’s nightlife right now. I’m so happy there is a lot of movement going on at the moment with multiple voguing workshops taking place and balls happening more regularly. If you don’t know what the hell I’m talking about you can read up on the ballroom culture and voguing in some earlier pieces of us here and here.

This last Friday the magnificent David Milan from the House of Milan hosted his very first ball here in Berlin at Säälchen in conjunction with Pride Week and with support by Coca-Cola and Eastpak. It was a beautiful spectacle that united all the colors of the rainbow (literally and metaphorically) under one roof. The runway was on fire that night with some of the best outfits and performances I have seen in a while. I just love how regular outfit rules of Berlin’s club scene are totally turned upside down with people going for bold, colorful, extravagant and camp instead of the trendy, sporty all-black style. For me, the voguers are like the coolest people that I can imagine, but at the same time they are very welcoming and accepting of all kinds of people, so you will see a very diverse crowd embracing different identities, cultures, and shapes at their events.

The crowd of the Pride Ball was no exception, so much beauty, my camera could not have been happier. Of course, I took tons of photos and I created probably the biggest series of animated GIFs that I ever did for an event. I’m already excited for the next ball (which is happening at Schwuz on August 23) and also look forward to more movement in the ballroom culture of Berlin.

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