The Uprising Galore Ball

Ballroom culture emerged as a response to social exclusion when Black and Latinx queer communities began to create their own scene and space. It gave rise to new forms of performance, dance, and fashion styles, but also to unique forms of solidarity in elective families promoting mutual community support and a shared history. Ballroom has created a space for knowledge that is not kept in archives, but lived and shared through bodies, generations and houses. 

The Uprising Galore Ball is part of the School of Self-Defense festival and will see artists and activists from Berlin, Brazil and European countries compete in various categories on Volksbühne’s main stage for a trophy.

The ball is committed to protest cultures with a focus on practices of resistance: The categories Realness, Runway and Performance will centre on visibility, belonging and self-determination. In the space between celebration and ritual, ballroom culture manifests as a social practice and culture that embodies its own unique history, and as a bid to collectively shape the future.