Latinx Drag Culture in the United States
New York City has been a center for drag culture for as early as the 1800s. The city’s sense of freedom and opportunities has been attracting many queer individuals who were start a new life. In the 1920’ the ballroom culture began to form in New York City. The balls were shows or competitions featuring drag performances. At the beginning racism was widely common in the balls. Black performers were expected to paint their faces white. A change started to occur in the 1960’ when the first exclusively black queer ball was founded by Marcel Christian on 1962. It was the ‘Glamorous Fashion House’ and inspired many other black groups to organize their own house. In the following years the ballroom culture became primarily African American. Only in 1982 Hector Valle founded the first Latino ball house, ‘The House of Xtravaganza’. This was a big step in the development of Latino drag culture. Since the ball scene was at the time ruled by African Americans, having their own house created a strong bond within the Latino drag community. Eventually the house was open up its door to members of all races and ethnic background. It is to this day one of the most successful houses in the ballroom scene.
Currently drag has grown and is popular all over the country and even the world. RuPaul’s Drag Race has played a big role in the popularization of drag around the world. There have been many queens from the NY drag scene on the show and a variety of latinx drag queens from all over the country. The winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race season six was a Latina queen known as Bianca Del Rio who has Cuban and Honduran roots. There have been at least two Puerto Rican drag queens on the show as well, one is Yara Sofia and the other is Alexis Mateo. Shows such as RuPaul’s drag race have increased the popularity of drag so that now shows in NYC are visible and not hidden anymore. An example of how RuPaul’s Drag Race has brought drag to light in New York is a group of queens known as “The Nobodies” who have been using RuPaul’s drag race as an outlet to perform. They host viewing parties at a bar and this allows them to get noticed. Without the show they might not be as popular but this gives them a chance to shine.
References[edit]
http://haenfler.sites.grinnell.edu/subcultures-and-scenes/underground-ball-culture/
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