Saturday, April 10, 2010
Newark is Burning
Cakewalk to Catwalk
Curated by James Credle
Newark is Burning
Read a Wiretap feature on the
History of House Ball Culture
For the first time at NJPAC, a behind-the-scenes look at a culture called the "Ballrooom Scene." Some of you may recall the controversial, award-winning 1990 documentary Paris is Burning, the film that gave the world a glimpse into the "Harlem Drag Balls" that displayed stylish competition, fabulous haute couture fashion, gender-bending runway theatrics and one-of-a-kind dance performances. Now, NJPAC gets a catwalk of its own that will tell the story of this creative competition as well as honor the long history and love that reside in a community that has transfixed and evolved a social scene that has survived for nearly a century. There will be a post-performance discussion immediately following this Alternate Routes event.
Liberation in Truth Social Justice Center and Circle of Friends will host a late-night after-party at Aljira, a Center for Contemporary Art, located at 591 Broad Street (across the street from NJPAC). Show your ticket stub and receive 1/2 price admission.
Please note that this performance contains adult content and language.
Saturday, April 10, 2010 @ 7:30 pm
Directions
Directions
By Public Transportation
New Jersey Transit
is your ticket to a comfortable and quick ride to NJPAC. Trains in and out of nearby Newark's Penn Station and Broad Street Station embark for all New Jersey destinations on a timely and convenient schedule. Trains leave from all New Jersey destinations and from New York City's Penn Station at 34th Street, and run in and out of Newark's Penn Station and Broad Street Station. From either station, you can take the Newark Light Rail to get to NJPAC and back after the show. Newark's Penn Station is just 5 blocks from NJPAC. For information on NJ Transit trains, call 1-800 772-2222 or visit http://www.njtransit.com
Amtrak
The Newark Light Rail now connects Broad Street and Newark Penn stations (and everywhere in between) in 10 minutes or less! Modern, safe, clean light rail cars will leave you just steps away from NJPAC…for just $1.35! The Light Rail also provides service from NJPAC to Newark Penn Station and Broad Street Station after evening performances. For details, visit http://www.njtransit.com/nlr
Amtrak For information on Amtrak trains to Newark from New York City and other destinations, visit http://www.Amtrak.com
Amtrak The PATH Yellow Line leaves Manhattan from 33rd Street, 23rd Street, 14th Street, or Christopher Street. Follow signs for trains to Newark’s Penn Station. From Penn Station, you can take the Newark Light Rail service to get to NJPAC and back after the show. Newark's Penn Station is just 5 blocks from NJPAC. For information on PATH trains, call 1-800 243-PATH or visit the PATH web site.
Walking Directions from Penn Station: From the main waiting room at Penn Station, leave by the Raymond Plaza West exit, cross the bus and taxi pickup lanes, and turn to your right toward Raymond Boulevard. Turn left on Raymond Boulevard and walk 2 blocks (west) to Mulberry Street. Turn right, crossing Raymond Boulevard, and walk two blocks on Mulberry Street (north) to Center Street. NJPAC is directly across Center Street.
Directions
By Car
FROM THE SOUTH
via NJ Turnpike North
Follow NJ Turnpike North to Exit 15W (Newark/The Oranges). After toll booth follow Route 280 West to Exit 15A (Route 21 - Downtown/Arts). On the exit ramp, bear left going under Route 280 and, at bottom of ramp (traffic light), make a right onto Route 21 South (McCarter Highway). Follow Route 21 South to Center Street, make a right onto Center Street.
via Garden State Parkway North
Follow Garden State Parkway North to Exit 145 (Route 280). Follow Route 280 East to Exit 15 (Route 21 - Downtown/Arts). At bottom of ramp (traffic light), make a right onto Route 21 South, (McCarter Highway). Follow Route 21 South to Center Street, make a right onto Center Street.
FROM THE NORTH, NORTHEAST & NEW YORK CITY
via NJ Turnpike South
Follow NJ Turnpike North to Exit 15W (Newark/The Oranges). After toll booth follow Route 280 West to Exit 15A (Route 21 - Downtown/Arts). On the exit ramp, bear left going under Route 280 and, at bottom of ramp (traffic light), make a right onto Route 21 South (McCarter Highway). Follow Route 21 South to Center Street, make a right onto Center Street.
via Garden State Parkway South
Follow Garden State Parkway South to Exit 145. Follow signs to Route 280 East. Follow Route 280 East to Exit 15 (Route 21 - Downtown/Arts). At bottom of ramp (traffic light), make a right onto Route 21 South (McCarter Highway). Follow Route 21 South to Center Street, make a right onto Center Street.
from New York City
From George Washington Bridge or Lincoln Tunnell, follow signs to NJ Turnpike South. Take NJ Turnpike South to Exit 15W. From Holland Tunnel, follow signs to NJ Turnpike North. Take NJ Turnpike North to Exit 15W. Follow directions from Exit 15W above.
FROM THE WEST
via Route 280
Follow Route 280 East to Exit 15 (Route 21 South - Downtown/Arts). At bottom of ramp (traffic light), make a right onto Route 21 South (McCarter Highway). Follow Route 21 South to Center Street, make a right onto Center Street.
via Route 78
Follow Route 78 East to Exit 57 (Newark, Downtown/Arts). Stay to the right and follow signs to Route 21 North (McCarter Highway). You will travel across the viaduct into downtown Newark. Stay in the left three lanes and travel onto Route 21 North (McCarter Highway). Follow Route 21 North to Center Street, make a left onto Center Street. If you miss this turn, continue on Route 21 North to the Lombardy Street jughandle, then make the u-turn back to Route 21 South until you reach Center Street. Make a right onto Center Street.
NJPAC works closely with both NJ Transit and the DOT to minimize any inconvenience to NJPAC patrons. However, you may wish to allow additional time to reach the theater. Out of respect to our patrons and the artists, late seating is done only at the discretion of management. Up-to-date information on construction activities and conditions in the downtown Newark area is available from the following sources:
* Call 1-888-GO-NJPAC and press 3-2-1 for up-to-date information, 24 hours a day
* Tune in to WBGO/88.3 for traffic reports between 6-9 am and 4-6:30pm, weekdays only
* Online at http://www.njcommuter.com
* Watch for variable message signs displaying real-time travel updates on the main access roads into Newark (Routes 1/9, 22, 78, 280)
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Vogue’ology
Vogue’ology
We invite you to participate in Vogue’ology, an investigation of the terms of community organizing for the House/Ballroom community.
The Vogue’ology project grows out of our friendships and collaborations with you on many initiatives, all of which are rooted in love for the House/Ballroom community and concern for its well-being. Among the initiatives that have inspired Vogue’ology are:
1. the formation of the federation of houses
2. the formation of the House/Ballroom ministry
3. Vogue-evolution
4. an archiving of the community’s history
5. the development of the Kiki ball movement
6. the development of Vogue Theory
7. House/Ballroom specific HIV/AIDS prevention projects
The formation of the Vogue’ology project was prompted by Robert’s receipt of a fellowship from the Vera List Center for Art and Politics at the New School for Social Research in Manhattan.
The New School was established almost 100 years ago as an alternative to the elite institutions of Columbia and NYU. The founders were particularly concerned to enable working class adults in New York to continue their education by keeping costs very low. The New School was also an important location for progressive political movements and art experimentation. While it has lost some of its populist character, the democratic spirit of learning lives on and is there for us to draw from.
Vogue-ology is an opportunity for us to gather for a series of conversations aimed at clarifying and defining the terms, principles and themes that underlie the projects we are undertaking with and for the House/Ballroom community.
The primary question is: how best to organize the House/Ballroom community as a political constituency?
The House/Ballroom community is rich in power and resources and ought to be in a position to determine its destiny in all areas. Despite heavy burdens, the community should never be positioned as victims dependent on outsiders. We will reflect on the many ways in which this autonomy is being asserted as well as on the ways in which it is being undermined.
We propose meeting together a few times over the coming months with the aim of taking advantage of two opportunities at the New School:
1. The first is an invitation to meet in early May with a group of professors and students who are developing a critical gender studies program at the New School and to share the House/Ballroom community’s understandings of gender as well as its agenda for eliminating gender oppression and discrimination.
2. The second is to mount an exhibition in one of the galleries at Parsons School of Art and Design (one of the schools that make up the New School) concerned with the House/Ballroom Scene. We can convene a number of public programs in this venue, such as a report to the community on the work we have done in order to broaden the discussion of community organizing.
The Vera List Center is providing funding for refreshments for each meeting, funds to cover travel expenses and a modest honorarium for each participant. One or two anthropology students at the New School may be available to take notes at the meetings and to undertake research on our behalf.
Ultra-red
SCHOOL OF ECHOES
The New School Sessions - Vogue’ology
Vogue’ology, noun. 1. the study of vogueing; 2. the knowledge produced by vogueing
For a number of years, I and the eight other members of the sound-art collective, Ultra-red, have used our art practice to learn from and support communities engaged in political organizing. Our work is guided by our investments in:
1. ending the AIDS crisis;
2. fighting homophobia and transphobia, and advancing the sexual rights of women and others;
3. confronting the conditions of the war on the poor initiated by welfare reform, the unchecked growth in the prison industrial complex, and the disempowering of workers through systems of global capitalism;
4. struggles for affordable housing;
5. resisting the increasing militarization of border controls and asserting the rights of migrants and immigrants; and
6. developing venues for radical learning while actively monitoring mainstream education systems, which are almost always mechanism for perpetuating racial and class prejudices and privilege and producing docile workers.
Ultra-red’s working method is based on a very simple proposition: organizing is most effective when it arises from careful, systematic listening to the conditions of experience.
Thus, rather than having a collective follow a predetermined political analysis or scripts (a top-down approach to organizing), the collective comes together to listen carefully to each other and their broader context (a non-hierarchical approach most often used by religious communities such as the Quakers).
The collective organizes what it hears to produce a collective analysis that guides political action.
Like my colleagues, I am both a student of methods of organizing and an organizer myself. My political investments include all of those listed above, particularly as they relate to class, race and gender oppression.
My greatest learning about organizing and struggle has come from my engagement with the House/Ballroom community. The critical vibrancy and explosive power of this collective is a constant sort of inspiration. I am ever mindful, however, of the harsh struggle and hard love in which the children have been engaged for generations.
Following years of teaching and working as an artist in various parts of the United States, Europe and my birth country of South Africa, I was recently able to return home to New York at the invitation of the Vera List Center for Art and Politics at the New School.
I have a very modest fellowship for the year and the support of the Vera List Center to convene a group concerned with issues of community organizing.
When I received the invitation, I immediately decided to make myself and the resources of the fellowship available to my teachers (all of you) in the House/Ballroom community to contribute to the community’s ongoing struggle.
With Michael Roberson and Edgar Riviera-Colon as co-organizers of this process, I have had conversations with almost all of you over the past few months about what we might do together. I entered these conversations with a thought that we might together systematically organize the critical power of Vogue.
Vogue is not simply a dance style or performance structure. It is a critical vocabulary of power. It produces power and it also subjects the terms of power to play and critique. Vogue is about freedom and is also, consequently, about the control of freedom.
It is a way of generating knowledge through the body, hence the appropriateness of the term: Vogue’ology – the form of knowledge that is vogue. It is on par with other systems of knowledge with which I am familiar from years as a student, researcher and teacher in universities around the world. How can the power of vogue guide the political organizing of the House/Ballroom community?
By suggesting we bring Vogue’ology into the university, I do not mean that it simply be incorporated as another form of knowledge. I firmly believe that Vogue’ology can also challenge the university’s participation in systems of exclusion and prejudice.
The conversations leading up to this invitation have expanded the projects in which it is rooted and to which is may contribute. So rather than thinking only of studying vogue or registering the knowledge it produces, I am aware of initiatives:
1. to organize a service and advocacy resource for the community;
2. to document and archive the history of the House/Ballroom movement;
3. to give greater voice to the younger members of the community;
4. to organize a ministry that is particular to the members of the community;
5. to codify the theory of Vogue;
6. to develop prevention programs specifically for members of the community; and,
7. to be enterprising with the wealth of performance and creative talent and skill in the community in a manner that resists appropriation and exploitation.
Vogue’ology does not add yet another initiative to this list. Rather it is an opportunity to contemplate the terms and investments that are common to these projects so that they can be in conversation with each other. It is also an opportunity to initiate robust conversations with people outside the scene but with whom we have common cause.
One area of common struggle is gender discrimination and oppression. The harsh battles with gender activist groups and the exclusions of people of color and trans-people have enforced separations that have isolated and undermined the struggle against patriarchy.
Anne Snitow, a professor at the New School with a long history of political struggle in many causes, is actively working to establish a gender studies program. She is an ally and we have much to learn from her and to teach her and her colleagues.
I am working with Ann and the Gender Studies organizing committee and have suggested that they meet with the Vogue’ology team to share their investments, ideas and political agendas with us and we share our reflections with them. We can see how the notion of Gender Studies can be used to expand thinking and activism regarding the rights of trans-people, people engaged in commercial sex work, and the disempowering of people-of-color.
A central question for me is: how are members of the House/Ballroom community and members of other gender and sexual rights movements working for the power, rights and well-being of trans-sex-workers-of-color in New York City?
A second area for conversation is in the art gallery. Parsons School of Art and Design is a part of the New School and I have been asked to organize an exhibition in one of the galleries Fall 2010.
If the Vogue’ology group wants this space, we can have it. We can use the space to assemble an exhibition of the critical history of the House/Ballroom movement and we can use to the space to meet with members of the community to hear their reflections on this history and how the past open the present to a more liberated future. It is also a venue in which we can confront the culture industry and the exclusionary practices of the art work.
The gallery I have been offered has an enormous window looking out on 5th Avenue between 12th and 13th Streets so we can also address the street.
We invite you to participate in Vogue’ology, an investigation of the terms of community organizing for the House/Ballroom community.
The Vogue’ology project grows out of our friendships and collaborations with you on many initiatives, all of which are rooted in love for the House/Ballroom community and concern for its well-being. Among the initiatives that have inspired Vogue’ology are:
1. the formation of the federation of houses
2. the formation of the House/Ballroom ministry
3. Vogue-evolution
4. an archiving of the community’s history
5. the development of the Kiki ball movement
6. the development of Vogue Theory
7. House/Ballroom specific HIV/AIDS prevention projects
The formation of the Vogue’ology project was prompted by Robert’s receipt of a fellowship from the Vera List Center for Art and Politics at the New School for Social Research in Manhattan.
The New School was established almost 100 years ago as an alternative to the elite institutions of Columbia and NYU. The founders were particularly concerned to enable working class adults in New York to continue their education by keeping costs very low. The New School was also an important location for progressive political movements and art experimentation. While it has lost some of its populist character, the democratic spirit of learning lives on and is there for us to draw from.
Vogue-ology is an opportunity for us to gather for a series of conversations aimed at clarifying and defining the terms, principles and themes that underlie the projects we are undertaking with and for the House/Ballroom community.
The primary question is: how best to organize the House/Ballroom community as a political constituency?
The House/Ballroom community is rich in power and resources and ought to be in a position to determine its destiny in all areas. Despite heavy burdens, the community should never be positioned as victims dependent on outsiders. We will reflect on the many ways in which this autonomy is being asserted as well as on the ways in which it is being undermined.
We propose meeting together a few times over the coming months with the aim of taking advantage of two opportunities at the New School:
1. The first is an invitation to meet in early May with a group of professors and students who are developing a critical gender studies program at the New School and to share the House/Ballroom community’s understandings of gender as well as its agenda for eliminating gender oppression and discrimination.
2. The second is to mount an exhibition in one of the galleries at Parsons School of Art and Design (one of the schools that make up the New School) concerned with the House/Ballroom Scene. We can convene a number of public programs in this venue, such as a report to the community on the work we have done in order to broaden the discussion of community organizing.
The Vera List Center is providing funding for refreshments for each meeting, funds to cover travel expenses and a modest honorarium for each participant. One or two anthropology students at the New School may be available to take notes at the meetings and to undertake research on our behalf.
Ultra-red
SCHOOL OF ECHOES
The New School Sessions - Vogue’ology
Vogue’ology, noun. 1. the study of vogueing; 2. the knowledge produced by vogueing
For a number of years, I and the eight other members of the sound-art collective, Ultra-red, have used our art practice to learn from and support communities engaged in political organizing. Our work is guided by our investments in:
1. ending the AIDS crisis;
2. fighting homophobia and transphobia, and advancing the sexual rights of women and others;
3. confronting the conditions of the war on the poor initiated by welfare reform, the unchecked growth in the prison industrial complex, and the disempowering of workers through systems of global capitalism;
4. struggles for affordable housing;
5. resisting the increasing militarization of border controls and asserting the rights of migrants and immigrants; and
6. developing venues for radical learning while actively monitoring mainstream education systems, which are almost always mechanism for perpetuating racial and class prejudices and privilege and producing docile workers.
Ultra-red’s working method is based on a very simple proposition: organizing is most effective when it arises from careful, systematic listening to the conditions of experience.
Thus, rather than having a collective follow a predetermined political analysis or scripts (a top-down approach to organizing), the collective comes together to listen carefully to each other and their broader context (a non-hierarchical approach most often used by religious communities such as the Quakers).
The collective organizes what it hears to produce a collective analysis that guides political action.
Like my colleagues, I am both a student of methods of organizing and an organizer myself. My political investments include all of those listed above, particularly as they relate to class, race and gender oppression.
My greatest learning about organizing and struggle has come from my engagement with the House/Ballroom community. The critical vibrancy and explosive power of this collective is a constant sort of inspiration. I am ever mindful, however, of the harsh struggle and hard love in which the children have been engaged for generations.
Following years of teaching and working as an artist in various parts of the United States, Europe and my birth country of South Africa, I was recently able to return home to New York at the invitation of the Vera List Center for Art and Politics at the New School.
I have a very modest fellowship for the year and the support of the Vera List Center to convene a group concerned with issues of community organizing.
When I received the invitation, I immediately decided to make myself and the resources of the fellowship available to my teachers (all of you) in the House/Ballroom community to contribute to the community’s ongoing struggle.
With Michael Roberson and Edgar Riviera-Colon as co-organizers of this process, I have had conversations with almost all of you over the past few months about what we might do together. I entered these conversations with a thought that we might together systematically organize the critical power of Vogue.
Vogue is not simply a dance style or performance structure. It is a critical vocabulary of power. It produces power and it also subjects the terms of power to play and critique. Vogue is about freedom and is also, consequently, about the control of freedom.
It is a way of generating knowledge through the body, hence the appropriateness of the term: Vogue’ology – the form of knowledge that is vogue. It is on par with other systems of knowledge with which I am familiar from years as a student, researcher and teacher in universities around the world. How can the power of vogue guide the political organizing of the House/Ballroom community?
By suggesting we bring Vogue’ology into the university, I do not mean that it simply be incorporated as another form of knowledge. I firmly believe that Vogue’ology can also challenge the university’s participation in systems of exclusion and prejudice.
The conversations leading up to this invitation have expanded the projects in which it is rooted and to which is may contribute. So rather than thinking only of studying vogue or registering the knowledge it produces, I am aware of initiatives:
1. to organize a service and advocacy resource for the community;
2. to document and archive the history of the House/Ballroom movement;
3. to give greater voice to the younger members of the community;
4. to organize a ministry that is particular to the members of the community;
5. to codify the theory of Vogue;
6. to develop prevention programs specifically for members of the community; and,
7. to be enterprising with the wealth of performance and creative talent and skill in the community in a manner that resists appropriation and exploitation.
Vogue’ology does not add yet another initiative to this list. Rather it is an opportunity to contemplate the terms and investments that are common to these projects so that they can be in conversation with each other. It is also an opportunity to initiate robust conversations with people outside the scene but with whom we have common cause.
One area of common struggle is gender discrimination and oppression. The harsh battles with gender activist groups and the exclusions of people of color and trans-people have enforced separations that have isolated and undermined the struggle against patriarchy.
Anne Snitow, a professor at the New School with a long history of political struggle in many causes, is actively working to establish a gender studies program. She is an ally and we have much to learn from her and to teach her and her colleagues.
I am working with Ann and the Gender Studies organizing committee and have suggested that they meet with the Vogue’ology team to share their investments, ideas and political agendas with us and we share our reflections with them. We can see how the notion of Gender Studies can be used to expand thinking and activism regarding the rights of trans-people, people engaged in commercial sex work, and the disempowering of people-of-color.
A central question for me is: how are members of the House/Ballroom community and members of other gender and sexual rights movements working for the power, rights and well-being of trans-sex-workers-of-color in New York City?
A second area for conversation is in the art gallery. Parsons School of Art and Design is a part of the New School and I have been asked to organize an exhibition in one of the galleries Fall 2010.
If the Vogue’ology group wants this space, we can have it. We can use the space to assemble an exhibition of the critical history of the House/Ballroom movement and we can use to the space to meet with members of the community to hear their reflections on this history and how the past open the present to a more liberated future. It is also a venue in which we can confront the culture industry and the exclusionary practices of the art work.
The gallery I have been offered has an enormous window looking out on 5th Avenue between 12th and 13th Streets so we can also address the street.
Friday, January 29, 2010
GMHC & GMAD present I HAVE A DREAM Mini Ball Deluxe 2/12/10
GMHC & GMAD present I HAVE A DREAM Mini Ball Deluxe 2/12/10
LUNA LUIS ORTIZ- LEGACY
Community Health Specialist
Institute for Gay Men's Health @
GMHC
119 west 24th Street, 8th Floor
New York, NY 10011
Phone: 212- 367-1017
E-mail: LunaO@GMHC.org
Saturday, January 23, 2010
House of Tsunami first outreach community service at the NJ Globe.
This year 2010 The House of Tsunami is revamping its purpose and renewing our responsibility to this ballroom community.
We are giving time to one child at a time. We are networking all leaders to bring us all together to discuss what is needed to be changed. The world see us now people, we must move forward and instate structure and order. The House Of Tsunami will work with networking LGBT (Lesbian, Gays, Bi Sexual, and Transgenders) To bring more needed awareness to the unsafe practices of our youth. We will teach them to protect and show them that there is a better way to deal with their issues and pain.
The LGBT youth of this generation are at a disadvantage even with the wealth of services and information that's out there. I came from the 80's and survived without that information and services, because I had a loving LGBT community who taught me and guided me to the right direction. I was abused and homeless at 12. What healed me was the love, that I received from the LGBT community.
We are not the loving community we once was. Sure we can gather many for politics and laws. That's great. We are not gathering together to love one another. To share the stories we learned from our elders. To teach them not judge our LGBT youth. We live in a world of excess. Things need to be protected and moderated. Like our enriched ballroom community.
Sure there is negativity in the scene. That can be handled. The shining gems we have overshadowed that zone.
No more words. The 360 full circle is finally commencing.
Check out the UNITY page. (The page web address will change later)
http://www.myspace.com/1tremain
Please check out the Ballroom Status Criteria Blog I posted.
Be safe and teach one save one darlings..simple yet effective.
xoxo
Friday, January 22, 2010
Ballroom Status Criteria
We have set a date for this very important meeting for all Overall Parents and House Leaders. We only need 2 per House. Space is limited.
Date: April 3rd 2010
Time: 4pm -7pm
Place: The LGBT Community Center 208 West 13th Street NY 10011
Space is limited so please RSVP by March 1st.
Also anyone attending must be 22 years or older. LGBT center rules.
Please RSVP by emailing jamalmilan10@yahoo.com
BALLROOM COMMUNITY HALL OF RECORDS…
____________________________________________________________
There’s a great debate in the ballroom scene regarding “Ballroom Status”. Below are some criteria that I, Icon Jamal Milan have created for achieving ballroom status that may assist in resolving that dilemma. You should be able to speak to or about EACH POINT below as to why you deserve that title. We are all celebrities!
ALSO please listen to THE GREAT DEBATE ON QVIEW on http://www.blogtalkradio.com/qview/2010/01/15/the-great-debate-status-deeminglegend-statement-or
STAR - You are a BEGINNER in your talent/category!
· Anyone that walks virgin and/or regular categories for 1-2 years or more.
· You are just learning your talents (DJing, Commentating or Category)
· You have won major/mini balls in that timeframe.
· You have made it to the last battle and/or left a memorable impression on the runway.
· You have created a ballroom buzz about yourself and people are noticing you.
STATEMENT - You are ADMIRED for your talent/category!
· You have walked 1 or more categories or have been doing your talent for 3-5 years or more.
· You have won ALOT of major/mini balls in that time frame from STATE to STATE.
· You may have or may not have received honorary ballroom awards for your contributions in the scene.
· You have made it to the last battle and/or created memorable moments on the ballroom runway within that timeframe.
· You are becoming well known in the ballroom scene.
· You may have or may not have judged a major/mini ball.
· You are paying your dues, earning respect and recognition within the ballroom scene for your wins and the moments that you have created on the runway for your talent/category.
LEGEND - You are a MASTER of your talent/category!
· You have CONQURED your talent or 1 or more categories for 6-10 years or more.
· You have won MANY major/mini balls in that time frame from STATE to STATE.
· You are looked at as a Leader by your peers.
· You are very well known in the ballroom scene for the MANY wins and MANY moments that you have created on the runway for your talent/category.
· You may have or may not have been a parent of a house or a parent in a house.
· You may have or may not have judged major/mini balls.
· You may have or may not have thrown major/mini balls.
· You may have or may not have accomplishments outside of the ballroom scene that pertain to your talent/category.
· You may have or may not have received honorary ballroom awards for your contributions in the scene.
· You can STILL walk and WIN balls OR make it to the last battle over the old/new competition in your category to this day.
· Your name is a ballroom household name based off of the things that you have done on the runway.
· You are often imitated by others, spoken highly of and/or even feared when it comes to your talent/category because of all that you have accomplished with it.
HALL OF FAMER - You are the EPITOME of your talent/category!
· You have been involved within the ballroom scene for at least 15 years.
· You are considered a ballroom idol/treasure by many.
· Everyone knows who you are from STATE to STATE for your wins, accomplishments, moments and overall history for your talent/category.
· You are in a class of your own when it comes to your talent/category.
· You are well respected within the ballroom scene by your peers.
· You may have or may not have accomplishments outside of the ballroom scene that pertain to your talent/category.
· You are looked at as a Leader and Role Model by many.
· You have judged, commentated or were the DJ for MANY major/mini balls.
· You have given back to the ballroom community and/or the LGBT community in a MAJOR way.
· You may have or may not have thrown major/mini balls.
· You have received honorary ballroom awards for your contributions in the scene.
· You are often imitated by others, spoken highly of and/or even feared when it comes to your talent/category because of all that you have accomplished with it.
· Your name is and will FOREVER be stamped within ballroom history based on the wins, moments, accomplishments and LEGACY that you have created within the ballroom scene for your talent/category.
ICON - You are the BLUEPRINT of your talent/category!
· You have been involved within the ballroom scene for 20 years and beyond.
· You have won countless trophies throughout the years for 1 or more categories.
· You DO NOT have to walk balls anymore if you do not want to because you have created a ballroom LEGACY of your own within the ballroom scene.
· You have received honorary ballroom awards for your contributions in the scene.
· You are often imitated by others, spoken highly of and/or even feared when it comes to your talent/category because of all that you have done with it.
· You have created a LEGACY within your talent/category and/or you have created a LEGACY within the ballroom scene and/or the LGBT community.
· You are VERY well respected and looked at in the highest regard by many of your peers.
· You are a PIONEER within your talent/category and/or the ballroom scene.
· You have gone above and beyond for your talent/category and/or even changed the game when it comes to your talent/category.
· Your name is and will FOREVER be stamped within ballroom history based on the wins, moments, accomplishments and LEGACY that you have created within the ballroom scene for your talent/category.
HOUSE STATUS - All of the above “Ballroom Status Criteria” applies to Houses.
To be considered as a Legendary house your house should still be in existence and successful within the ballroom scene for 10 years and beyond. It is to be based on the overall wins and moments “As A House” and/or by your “House Members” individually as well as the amount of years that the House has been SUCCESSFUL while existing in the ballroom scene.
LOCAL STATUS - Competing only within your City/State/Region not traveling abroad to other regions to compete.
All of the “Ballroom Status Criteria” applies to you in regards to if you live in a City/State/Region where balls or the ballroom scene is not well known OR if you choose not to travel outside of your City/State/Region. In reality, no person/s from one State/Region can tell another who to honor and/or celebrate within there own ballroom community HOWEVER to those people who only wish to strive for and are comfortable with having “Local Status” must understand that it applies for that City/State/Region ONLY. Meaning, you cannot and should not expect to walk Out Of State as a Legend if you have never walked/won Out Of State as a Legend.
Hopefully this set criteria or one similar will be put into fruition by the masses in an effort to create a structured ballroom environment and to bring back the creativity, fun and overall fairness in the ballroom scene with stability for years to come. We as a community need to document our ballroom history so that we can refer to it and learn from it to better our future.
PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT
Date: April 3rd 2010
Time: 4pm -7pm
Place: The LGBT Community Center 208 West 13th Street NY 10011
Space is limited so please RSVP by March 1st.
Also anyone attending must be 22 years or older. LGBT center rules.
Please RSVP by emailing jamalmilan10@yahoo.com
BALLROOM COMMUNITY HALL OF RECORDS…
____________________________________________________________
There’s a great debate in the ballroom scene regarding “Ballroom Status”. Below are some criteria that I, Icon Jamal Milan have created for achieving ballroom status that may assist in resolving that dilemma. You should be able to speak to or about EACH POINT below as to why you deserve that title. We are all celebrities!
ALSO please listen to THE GREAT DEBATE ON QVIEW on http://www.blogtalkradio.com/qview/2010/01/15/the-great-debate-status-deeminglegend-statement-or
STAR - You are a BEGINNER in your talent/category!
· Anyone that walks virgin and/or regular categories for 1-2 years or more.
· You are just learning your talents (DJing, Commentating or Category)
· You have won major/mini balls in that timeframe.
· You have made it to the last battle and/or left a memorable impression on the runway.
· You have created a ballroom buzz about yourself and people are noticing you.
STATEMENT - You are ADMIRED for your talent/category!
· You have walked 1 or more categories or have been doing your talent for 3-5 years or more.
· You have won ALOT of major/mini balls in that time frame from STATE to STATE.
· You may have or may not have received honorary ballroom awards for your contributions in the scene.
· You have made it to the last battle and/or created memorable moments on the ballroom runway within that timeframe.
· You are becoming well known in the ballroom scene.
· You may have or may not have judged a major/mini ball.
· You are paying your dues, earning respect and recognition within the ballroom scene for your wins and the moments that you have created on the runway for your talent/category.
LEGEND - You are a MASTER of your talent/category!
· You have CONQURED your talent or 1 or more categories for 6-10 years or more.
· You have won MANY major/mini balls in that time frame from STATE to STATE.
· You are looked at as a Leader by your peers.
· You are very well known in the ballroom scene for the MANY wins and MANY moments that you have created on the runway for your talent/category.
· You may have or may not have been a parent of a house or a parent in a house.
· You may have or may not have judged major/mini balls.
· You may have or may not have thrown major/mini balls.
· You may have or may not have accomplishments outside of the ballroom scene that pertain to your talent/category.
· You may have or may not have received honorary ballroom awards for your contributions in the scene.
· You can STILL walk and WIN balls OR make it to the last battle over the old/new competition in your category to this day.
· Your name is a ballroom household name based off of the things that you have done on the runway.
· You are often imitated by others, spoken highly of and/or even feared when it comes to your talent/category because of all that you have accomplished with it.
HALL OF FAMER - You are the EPITOME of your talent/category!
· You have been involved within the ballroom scene for at least 15 years.
· You are considered a ballroom idol/treasure by many.
· Everyone knows who you are from STATE to STATE for your wins, accomplishments, moments and overall history for your talent/category.
· You are in a class of your own when it comes to your talent/category.
· You are well respected within the ballroom scene by your peers.
· You may have or may not have accomplishments outside of the ballroom scene that pertain to your talent/category.
· You are looked at as a Leader and Role Model by many.
· You have judged, commentated or were the DJ for MANY major/mini balls.
· You have given back to the ballroom community and/or the LGBT community in a MAJOR way.
· You may have or may not have thrown major/mini balls.
· You have received honorary ballroom awards for your contributions in the scene.
· You are often imitated by others, spoken highly of and/or even feared when it comes to your talent/category because of all that you have accomplished with it.
· Your name is and will FOREVER be stamped within ballroom history based on the wins, moments, accomplishments and LEGACY that you have created within the ballroom scene for your talent/category.
ICON - You are the BLUEPRINT of your talent/category!
· You have been involved within the ballroom scene for 20 years and beyond.
· You have won countless trophies throughout the years for 1 or more categories.
· You DO NOT have to walk balls anymore if you do not want to because you have created a ballroom LEGACY of your own within the ballroom scene.
· You have received honorary ballroom awards for your contributions in the scene.
· You are often imitated by others, spoken highly of and/or even feared when it comes to your talent/category because of all that you have done with it.
· You have created a LEGACY within your talent/category and/or you have created a LEGACY within the ballroom scene and/or the LGBT community.
· You are VERY well respected and looked at in the highest regard by many of your peers.
· You are a PIONEER within your talent/category and/or the ballroom scene.
· You have gone above and beyond for your talent/category and/or even changed the game when it comes to your talent/category.
· Your name is and will FOREVER be stamped within ballroom history based on the wins, moments, accomplishments and LEGACY that you have created within the ballroom scene for your talent/category.
HOUSE STATUS - All of the above “Ballroom Status Criteria” applies to Houses.
To be considered as a Legendary house your house should still be in existence and successful within the ballroom scene for 10 years and beyond. It is to be based on the overall wins and moments “As A House” and/or by your “House Members” individually as well as the amount of years that the House has been SUCCESSFUL while existing in the ballroom scene.
LOCAL STATUS - Competing only within your City/State/Region not traveling abroad to other regions to compete.
All of the “Ballroom Status Criteria” applies to you in regards to if you live in a City/State/Region where balls or the ballroom scene is not well known OR if you choose not to travel outside of your City/State/Region. In reality, no person/s from one State/Region can tell another who to honor and/or celebrate within there own ballroom community HOWEVER to those people who only wish to strive for and are comfortable with having “Local Status” must understand that it applies for that City/State/Region ONLY. Meaning, you cannot and should not expect to walk Out Of State as a Legend if you have never walked/won Out Of State as a Legend.
Hopefully this set criteria or one similar will be put into fruition by the masses in an effort to create a structured ballroom environment and to bring back the creativity, fun and overall fairness in the ballroom scene with stability for years to come. We as a community need to document our ballroom history so that we can refer to it and learn from it to better our future.
PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Friday, October 23, 2009
Friday, September 25, 2009
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
House Of Icon Ball 2009
Hello everyone.
I, Kristina and a host of Legends were chosen to judge the Icon Ball.
It was nice to see the Icon Jose Revlon, The Icon Himself Hector Xtravaganza,The Icon Sania Ebony, The Icon Himself Andre Miza and the Beautiful Mother Amiyah Miza. She a gentle refreshing soul I have gotten to grown to love. I love this LADY!
I might also add that the House Of Mizarahi (I hope I spelled it right)accommodated and personally took care of me very well. Thanks House Of MIZA!
Thank you Father James and Mother Ashely Icon for having me as always, it was a pleasure!
They open the doors on time! The ball started late due to the commentators arriving late. There was no liquor served, which I personally thought was a fantastic idea.
This ensure and it did mind you, that there were no fights, violence, and no arguments. Which lead to the reason why that Icon Ball ran smoothly. I do hope that House Leaders and Ball Promoters take note of this new change of direction and take notice from Father James Icon!
Mother Ashely Icon changed her tune this year. She showed us on how much she has grown spiritually and emotionally. I guess that what happens when you become a parent. I like to add my congratulations on her miracle! She gave out awards and send beautiful words of encouragement!
I also love love the food that I had the lovely privilege of tasting. Collar Greens, Baked macaroni and cheese, Baked honey glazed chicken and breaded fish fillet. In hefty portions, well worth the 10.00! Send my regards to the chef and please send my love to the serving staff. They were so sweet to me!
The security was tens!
I just have to explain two categories that have a few people questioning my judging ability. First and foremost, when I am on the panel, I am nobodies "girlfriend". I can literally count on my hand who are my real friends in this ballroom scene.
I am not known to be a "shady" judge"
I am a fair judge.
To my "associates" and "friends" in this scene, off the panel I am the sweet Kristina. On the panel I am a fair unbiased JUDGE. I do not play well with the "girlfriend" thing, nor do I need to play Ballroom Politics. I am already in the Hall Of fame. I earned that myself! It sure wasn't through my "girlfriends". So I do not need to pick anyone who does not fit what I feel, is what the
category calls for.
The Runway Category.
The runway category was rushed and the process of elimination system was used. So if the current dominating walker walks and the contender could not come stronger than the dominating walker, he was processed. Not "chopped". Just bring a more stronger walk and attitude next time.
Female Figure Face Body And Realness. Is you MUST have face. You MUST have body. You MUST be real.
Most that walk possessed either only one or two of those required elements. In my personal opinion, for I have been around and know exceptionally beautiful female figures, Is that Only Mother Naomi Legacy and The Sexy Amber Milan should have been the only two. I "chopped" the rest. They did not fit the bill in MY opinion. It is just an opinion and I come from a class of old school beauties of transsexuals. So my taste is VERY discriminating! We cannot allow this sort of foolishness to run rampant. I am FAIR.
I hope I help you understand my choices and understand why I made my decisions the way I did based on my opinion. There are others balls love.
Have a blessed and safe week.
Kisses
Mother Kristina Richards Tsunami
I, Kristina and a host of Legends were chosen to judge the Icon Ball.
It was nice to see the Icon Jose Revlon, The Icon Himself Hector Xtravaganza,The Icon Sania Ebony, The Icon Himself Andre Miza and the Beautiful Mother Amiyah Miza. She a gentle refreshing soul I have gotten to grown to love. I love this LADY!
I might also add that the House Of Mizarahi (I hope I spelled it right)accommodated and personally took care of me very well. Thanks House Of MIZA!
Thank you Father James and Mother Ashely Icon for having me as always, it was a pleasure!
They open the doors on time! The ball started late due to the commentators arriving late. There was no liquor served, which I personally thought was a fantastic idea.
This ensure and it did mind you, that there were no fights, violence, and no arguments. Which lead to the reason why that Icon Ball ran smoothly. I do hope that House Leaders and Ball Promoters take note of this new change of direction and take notice from Father James Icon!
Mother Ashely Icon changed her tune this year. She showed us on how much she has grown spiritually and emotionally. I guess that what happens when you become a parent. I like to add my congratulations on her miracle! She gave out awards and send beautiful words of encouragement!
I also love love the food that I had the lovely privilege of tasting. Collar Greens, Baked macaroni and cheese, Baked honey glazed chicken and breaded fish fillet. In hefty portions, well worth the 10.00! Send my regards to the chef and please send my love to the serving staff. They were so sweet to me!
The security was tens!
I just have to explain two categories that have a few people questioning my judging ability. First and foremost, when I am on the panel, I am nobodies "girlfriend". I can literally count on my hand who are my real friends in this ballroom scene.
I am not known to be a "shady" judge"
I am a fair judge.
To my "associates" and "friends" in this scene, off the panel I am the sweet Kristina. On the panel I am a fair unbiased JUDGE. I do not play well with the "girlfriend" thing, nor do I need to play Ballroom Politics. I am already in the Hall Of fame. I earned that myself! It sure wasn't through my "girlfriends". So I do not need to pick anyone who does not fit what I feel, is what the
category calls for.
The Runway Category.
The runway category was rushed and the process of elimination system was used. So if the current dominating walker walks and the contender could not come stronger than the dominating walker, he was processed. Not "chopped". Just bring a more stronger walk and attitude next time.
Female Figure Face Body And Realness. Is you MUST have face. You MUST have body. You MUST be real.
Most that walk possessed either only one or two of those required elements. In my personal opinion, for I have been around and know exceptionally beautiful female figures, Is that Only Mother Naomi Legacy and The Sexy Amber Milan should have been the only two. I "chopped" the rest. They did not fit the bill in MY opinion. It is just an opinion and I come from a class of old school beauties of transsexuals. So my taste is VERY discriminating! We cannot allow this sort of foolishness to run rampant. I am FAIR.
I hope I help you understand my choices and understand why I made my decisions the way I did based on my opinion. There are others balls love.
Have a blessed and safe week.
Kisses
Mother Kristina Richards Tsunami
Monday, March 9, 2009
Legendary Icon Female Figure Performance Mother Kristina Tsunami DJ Lucky 5000 Production 2009
Legendary Icon Female Figure Performance Mother Kristina Tsunami DJ Lucky 5000 Production 2009
Legendary Icon Female Figure Performance Mother Kristina Tsunami with DJ Lucky Mizarahi for DC Capital Awards Ball 5000.00 Production 2009
My New YouTube Page
http://www.youtube.com/user/MotherKristinaTsu
Legendary Icon Female Figure Performance Mother Kristina Tsunami with DJ Lucky Mizarahi for DC Capital Awards Ball 5000.00 Production 2009
My New YouTube Page
http://www.youtube.com/user/MotherKristinaTsu
DC 2009 Capital Awards Ball
Here is my take on Jasmine Couture's and DC Capital Awards with the $5000.00 Female Figure performance cash Prize.
Like you, we the House Of Tsunami had got into this 5000.00 prize months ago when it was first announced.
The House Of Tsunami rule and most important requirement is a you must either be working and/or in school.
If you did not possessed either requirement, but are willing to work on them with us for you to gain them,
then you're allowed entry. We carefully screen our applicants because, we do deal with many powerful networks and money.
So myself and the House Of Tsunami spent money twice on makeup, hair, hotel bookings, gas, food, tolls,
renting dance studio time, parking, costumes, and taking time out of our own busy lives to prepare for this category.
I was so excited like a "school child first Great Adventures field trip", that I did not any sleep from Friday!
I was packed by 5am Saturday Morning.
WE all met up by 12PM in the afternoon to drive out to DC
We arrived to DC from NY at 3pm.
I decided to stay far away from where the ballroom scene was lodging at
and stayed at the more expensive Embassy Suite.
By Paris family Hilton Corp.
http://embassysuites1.hilton.com/en_US/es/index.do
I do recommend this hotel chain Embassy suites.
Its a sweet and charming full amenities suite for 200.00 a night double bed.
I got a double bed. And the love seat in the living quarters was another sleep bed.
Well worth the extra cost.
We check in and prepared for this ball.
I did not want to be seen before my category.
I called at 8:30 pm to see if they had adjusted to daylight savings time
and to find out the new time adjustment for us to arrive.
I was going to wait until they called for my category and make my grand entrance.
You know you need time and space for yourself to prepare for your category, especially for $5000.00!
I was told by many sources that this category will be in the first category of the evening
The doors will open on time at 11pm as stated many times on http://www.walk4mewednesdays.com with the questions
answers and concern topic created by the Overall Father himself Harold and the flyer!
We arrive there at 11:00 pm and the doors was still closed.
Then I called and they said the 5000.00 will be in the first half, and the doors will open at 11:30 pm.
They open the doors at 1am and announced a few new rules.
First new rule was, we all had to get in because that there was a 600 room capacity limit
in the space that they were hosting, so there will be no waiting for categories outside!
Second rule was, once you get in the ball you you could not leave! If you left you had to pay another admission and
was not insured guaranteed entrance due to the 600 limit capacity!
So I myself, Kristina Tsunami had to go in with the others and mingle, get harassed,
and be drained before my big $5000.00 female performance category that I spent time and money for.
I was awake since Friday was awarded no chance for rest for this category of $5000.00!
But I knew getting this $5000.00 was not going to be easy. My best friend Leonard constantly reminded me,
as well as The Overall Father Tremain Tsunami. Tremain told me" Kristina you know you are not getting this $5000.00 easy.
You do not kiss butt in ballroom politics, so you are not favored".
I get in and then they announced the "no smoking in the building rule".
So you know the girls went downstairs and peed on the floor and smoked, took pills
did various drugs in front of many young impressionable gay women and men.
This drug and violence epidemic in our community has run rampant. It is destroying our gay ballroom community and
we are doing nothing about it.
I waited and waited and waited and waited almost fell asleep and dealt with the druggies and waited almost fell
asleep and dealt with non intellectual people
and waited and waited and almost fell asleep and watched my kids walked,
and waited and waited dealt with almost numerous breakout fights and
waited and dealt with drunks and waited until they finally announced the $5000.00 category!
at 8:am Sunday morning. That I Overall Mother Kristina Tsunami was literally exhausted!
I had no energy and I also found out they allow people in the building that did not follow the rules
in the building but charge them more for the 5000.00 category!
I was tired and upset at this charade of waiting for an important category of the year.
I go first but as I was performing I was running on empty.
I already went through my 5th Redbull.
I was done.
I would also like to make a statement and you take it as you may.
But while I was waiting in my tent for over 8 hours so no one can see me, sweating,
Mother Kelly Mizarahi was handing out the red flags in bunches to people,
notifying them as the flags for girlfriend votes.
"TO wave the flags for your girlfriends" Mother Kelly Miza stated passing out the red flags.
I know better and know red means no and asked my house kids to get the green ones.
She only handed out 3 green flags to my kids. And each one that ask for flags they were getting many reds and 3 to 5 greens.
This statement Mother Kelly Miza said to not only myself but a host of others
that are not able to tell the difference between red or green cause a big confusion on the voting in for 10's.
Here is the link to Mother Kristina Tsunami DC Capital Awards Ball $5000.00 entrance .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXSXvS2__nE
Leyomi Miza entrance link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTLOakL2KeI
Malaysia's Ebony entrance link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wseHIxgMWZs
Roxy Prodigy entrance link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R93rQ159EDE
Khan Lady entrance
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWRb4cYmxpU
This confusion resulted in me being "chopped" the first time.
I knew I wasn't at my best after being up and drained by this for over 24 hours, but I know that I wasn't a chop.
Selvin Khan the commentator had to explain again the voting system progress.
Again they voted on my entrance and I saw a sea of green flags and was granted access!
First Battle Malaysia Ebony Vs Leyomi Miza
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N81RAit0cAw
Malaysia stays
Bq face is called.
I am still waiting exhausted and upset.
Foxy Roxy Prodigy VS Khan Lady
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEsJQe11hV0
Foxy of course stays!
My turn..oh no!
Fights.
I mean a serious wave of violence erupted through out the ball!
I was very frighten!
I was told to go somewhere, and that they are going to still give out the cash.
I went towards the entrance and was sending my love to Mother Shannon Khan.
We talked and share love for one another until our senses were overwhelmed from the mace being sprayed....
All from inside.
That sure enough ensured of us not re-entering and not having the $5000.00 category finished!
SO... I would like to thank all that help me through-out this wonderful but exhausting and disappointing experience.
I drove many of my family and friends crazy over this twice announce category.
Thanks to Father Clarence and the House Of Stars!
They were so fabulous and accommodating to myself and The House of Tsunami!
We felt as one family!
Thanks HOUSE OF STARS!
Love you Clarence!
Thank DJ Lucky for the fabulous production darling.
Thanks Cassidy Tsunami for the lovely outfit.
Kisses
Overall Mother Kristina Richards Tsunami
xoxo
Like you, we the House Of Tsunami had got into this 5000.00 prize months ago when it was first announced.
The House Of Tsunami rule and most important requirement is a you must either be working and/or in school.
If you did not possessed either requirement, but are willing to work on them with us for you to gain them,
then you're allowed entry. We carefully screen our applicants because, we do deal with many powerful networks and money.
So myself and the House Of Tsunami spent money twice on makeup, hair, hotel bookings, gas, food, tolls,
renting dance studio time, parking, costumes, and taking time out of our own busy lives to prepare for this category.
I was so excited like a "school child first Great Adventures field trip", that I did not any sleep from Friday!
I was packed by 5am Saturday Morning.
WE all met up by 12PM in the afternoon to drive out to DC
We arrived to DC from NY at 3pm.
I decided to stay far away from where the ballroom scene was lodging at
and stayed at the more expensive Embassy Suite.
By Paris family Hilton Corp.
http://embassysuites1.hilton.com/en_US/es/index.do
I do recommend this hotel chain Embassy suites.
Its a sweet and charming full amenities suite for 200.00 a night double bed.
I got a double bed. And the love seat in the living quarters was another sleep bed.
Well worth the extra cost.
We check in and prepared for this ball.
I did not want to be seen before my category.
I called at 8:30 pm to see if they had adjusted to daylight savings time
and to find out the new time adjustment for us to arrive.
I was going to wait until they called for my category and make my grand entrance.
You know you need time and space for yourself to prepare for your category, especially for $5000.00!
I was told by many sources that this category will be in the first category of the evening
The doors will open on time at 11pm as stated many times on http://www.walk4mewednesdays.com with the questions
answers and concern topic created by the Overall Father himself Harold and the flyer!
We arrive there at 11:00 pm and the doors was still closed.
Then I called and they said the 5000.00 will be in the first half, and the doors will open at 11:30 pm.
They open the doors at 1am and announced a few new rules.
First new rule was, we all had to get in because that there was a 600 room capacity limit
in the space that they were hosting, so there will be no waiting for categories outside!
Second rule was, once you get in the ball you you could not leave! If you left you had to pay another admission and
was not insured guaranteed entrance due to the 600 limit capacity!
So I myself, Kristina Tsunami had to go in with the others and mingle, get harassed,
and be drained before my big $5000.00 female performance category that I spent time and money for.
I was awake since Friday was awarded no chance for rest for this category of $5000.00!
But I knew getting this $5000.00 was not going to be easy. My best friend Leonard constantly reminded me,
as well as The Overall Father Tremain Tsunami. Tremain told me" Kristina you know you are not getting this $5000.00 easy.
You do not kiss butt in ballroom politics, so you are not favored".
I get in and then they announced the "no smoking in the building rule".
So you know the girls went downstairs and peed on the floor and smoked, took pills
did various drugs in front of many young impressionable gay women and men.
This drug and violence epidemic in our community has run rampant. It is destroying our gay ballroom community and
we are doing nothing about it.
I waited and waited and waited and waited almost fell asleep and dealt with the druggies and waited almost fell
asleep and dealt with non intellectual people
and waited and waited and almost fell asleep and watched my kids walked,
and waited and waited dealt with almost numerous breakout fights and
waited and dealt with drunks and waited until they finally announced the $5000.00 category!
at 8:am Sunday morning. That I Overall Mother Kristina Tsunami was literally exhausted!
I had no energy and I also found out they allow people in the building that did not follow the rules
in the building but charge them more for the 5000.00 category!
I was tired and upset at this charade of waiting for an important category of the year.
I go first but as I was performing I was running on empty.
I already went through my 5th Redbull.
I was done.
I would also like to make a statement and you take it as you may.
But while I was waiting in my tent for over 8 hours so no one can see me, sweating,
Mother Kelly Mizarahi was handing out the red flags in bunches to people,
notifying them as the flags for girlfriend votes.
"TO wave the flags for your girlfriends" Mother Kelly Miza stated passing out the red flags.
I know better and know red means no and asked my house kids to get the green ones.
She only handed out 3 green flags to my kids. And each one that ask for flags they were getting many reds and 3 to 5 greens.
This statement Mother Kelly Miza said to not only myself but a host of others
that are not able to tell the difference between red or green cause a big confusion on the voting in for 10's.
Here is the link to Mother Kristina Tsunami DC Capital Awards Ball $5000.00 entrance .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXSXvS2__nE
Leyomi Miza entrance link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTLOakL2KeI
Malaysia's Ebony entrance link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wseHIxgMWZs
Roxy Prodigy entrance link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R93rQ159EDE
Khan Lady entrance
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWRb4cYmxpU
This confusion resulted in me being "chopped" the first time.
I knew I wasn't at my best after being up and drained by this for over 24 hours, but I know that I wasn't a chop.
Selvin Khan the commentator had to explain again the voting system progress.
Again they voted on my entrance and I saw a sea of green flags and was granted access!
First Battle Malaysia Ebony Vs Leyomi Miza
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N81RAit0cAw
Malaysia stays
Bq face is called.
I am still waiting exhausted and upset.
Foxy Roxy Prodigy VS Khan Lady
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEsJQe11hV0
Foxy of course stays!
My turn..oh no!
Fights.
I mean a serious wave of violence erupted through out the ball!
I was very frighten!
I was told to go somewhere, and that they are going to still give out the cash.
I went towards the entrance and was sending my love to Mother Shannon Khan.
We talked and share love for one another until our senses were overwhelmed from the mace being sprayed....
All from inside.
That sure enough ensured of us not re-entering and not having the $5000.00 category finished!
SO... I would like to thank all that help me through-out this wonderful but exhausting and disappointing experience.
I drove many of my family and friends crazy over this twice announce category.
Thanks to Father Clarence and the House Of Stars!
They were so fabulous and accommodating to myself and The House of Tsunami!
We felt as one family!
Thanks HOUSE OF STARS!
Love you Clarence!
Thank DJ Lucky for the fabulous production darling.
Thanks Cassidy Tsunami for the lovely outfit.
Kisses
Overall Mother Kristina Richards Tsunami
xoxo
Monday, March 2, 2009
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
My New My Space page and Blogger
I got inducted into the Ballroom Hall Of Fame in 2007.
Today I am a legend, an icon. My love whose appeal crosses everywhere and to everyone I meet.I remain one of the ballroom’s supreme embodiments of erotic sophistication.
I re-invent Fem Queen Vogue into a celebration of sex, femininity, and art. I introduced a movement style that was mesmerizing and new and, frequently sensual and erotic.
Today I am a legend, an icon of love whose appeal crosses everywhere she appears and everyone I meets. I remains one of the ballroom’s supreme embodiments of erotic sophistication.
Beloved by many, but it’s the new generation of ball children that hold me as the Queen Mother of love and pure enchantment.
I began my ballroom life in 1988. I bounced back at the Icon Ball as Kristina over all Mother of the new House of Tsunami in 2005.
Here I feel is where I would stay, I found home, “A place where I can still believe in dreams.” I grew as a person, as Mother Tsunami and proved again I could come back and be a mother.”
I has evolved with the times. I understands how to renew myself for my public’s attention span. I give them what they want. I love the drama of performance and art; the art of reinvention and the art of living and having a legacy.
Today I am a legend, an icon. My love whose appeal crosses everywhere and to everyone I meet.I remain one of the ballroom’s supreme embodiments of erotic sophistication.
I re-invent Fem Queen Vogue into a celebration of sex, femininity, and art. I introduced a movement style that was mesmerizing and new and, frequently sensual and erotic.
Today I am a legend, an icon of love whose appeal crosses everywhere she appears and everyone I meets. I remains one of the ballroom’s supreme embodiments of erotic sophistication.
Beloved by many, but it’s the new generation of ball children that hold me as the Queen Mother of love and pure enchantment.
I began my ballroom life in 1988. I bounced back at the Icon Ball as Kristina over all Mother of the new House of Tsunami in 2005.
Here I feel is where I would stay, I found home, “A place where I can still believe in dreams.” I grew as a person, as Mother Tsunami and proved again I could come back and be a mother.”
I has evolved with the times. I understands how to renew myself for my public’s attention span. I give them what they want. I love the drama of performance and art; the art of reinvention and the art of living and having a legacy.
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