And the Category Is.

October 11, 2021
Art critic Tucker debuts with a lively if disjointed “love letter” to New York City’s ballroom community and its LGBTQ Black and Latinx performers. He describes the stylized dancing, or “voguing,” of ballroom participants as a manifestation of the idea that “bodily freedom can be a path to personal and social freedom,” and ballroom culture as “the invisible creating visibility for themselves.” Analyzing the structural framework of ballroom, Tucker contends that the “house” system, in which young people join adoptive “families” led by older members of the community, has its roots “in the human need for lineage and legacy,” and that performing in and attending balls helps make up for the spiritual loss of LGBTQ people who grew up attending church, but have been ostracized by their biological families. Tucker also discusses the evolution of the “realness categories” on which ballroom dancers are judged, and delves into how TV shows such as Pose and the funding of balls by big nonprofits have transformed ballroom culture. Extended, analytical interviews with influential dancers and activists including Lee Soulja shed valuable light on the history and meaning of ballroom, but Tucker’s lengthy forays into memoir occasionally distract from the larger themes of the book. Still, readers familiar with the ballroom scene will cherish this earnest and enthusiastic survey.