Legendary Looks: My Ballroom Story
Felix Rodriguez

Featuring archival work by filmmaker Felix Rodriguez, Legendary Looks: My Ballroom Story is part of a multi-site exhibition that explores the extraordinary artistry and cultural legacy of the house ballroom community. Unfolding across Pioneer Works, ArtsWestchester, and City Lore throughout the summer, Legendary Looks is co-curated by Legendary NYC Mother Jonovia Chase Lanvin, Icon International Mother Twiggy Pucci Garçon and Icon Ballroom Hall of Famer Founder Michael Roberson Maison-Margiela—three prominent leaders known for their work in elevating and sustaining the rich legacy of house ballroom culture.

The house ballroom community is a working-class Black, Nuyorican, and Latinx queer and trans cultural formation that emerged in New York City during the 1960s and which grew out of the African American drag ball scene of late-19th century Harlem. The community is organized around an alternative kinship system of cross-generational, non-biological families called “Houses.” “Mothers” and “Fathers” provide members, or “children,” with safety, social and economic support, as well as training and mentorship in Ballroom’s expressive traditions. During “Balls”—ritual events where Houses compete with one another in various performance categories—competitors are judged by a panel of peers, usually masterful artists known as “Legends” and “Icons,” on their skill, attitude, effect (costume) and adherence to the community’s expansive gender system.

Rodriguez has documented this community since 1991, amassing an encyclopedic archive of New York’s Legends, Icons, Mothers, Fathers and Children. He began filming balls shortly after watching Paris Is Burning, a 1990 documentary that follows the lives of iconic ballroom personalities from the 1980s. After observing that fellow audience members in the cinema laughed at inappropriate times, the artist felt compelled to create his own recordings—which would be captured through the lens of an active participant and community member, as opposed to that of an outsider. At Pioneer Works, the multimedia installation highlights the crucial role that commentators—those who live narrate balls—play, while also chronicling their gradual, stylistic shifts between the 1990s and present day. This procession of video work, presented along a red carpet that recalls ball runways, draws viewers into a two-channel presentation meant to evoke a call-and-response.

In the artist’s own words, “From the moment I stepped into my first ball, I felt an energy so powerful it was as if my soul had found its rhythm. The room vibrated with creativity, resilience, and unshakable pride. It was more than a competition; it was a movement, a sanctuary, a celebration of survival. For over 30 years, I have dedicated myself to honoring those pioneers who created this movement—many of whom left us far too soon. Through my lens, their legacy lives on—unapologetic, fearless, and eternal.”

Legendary Looks: My Ballroom Story will culminate with a mini ball at Pioneer Works coinciding with the organization’s Second Sundays event on August 10th, 2025. It will also be on view concurrently with Legendary Looks: The Art of Effects and Design at ArtsWestchester, which delves into the often overlooked tradition of effects design in House Ballroom. These presentations will dovetail into the last and final part of the three-part series Legendary Looks: Presenting Our Legacy at City Lore—an installation that features collections of ball flyers, archival photos, costuming pieces, as well as video and audio excerpts from oral history interviews collected by the curators. Roberson notes, “Ballroom has been many things historically—the elixir of healing, the political gesture of organizing people, and using art and the public sphere as sites of resistance. It has been, and continues to be, a cultural expression responding to race, class, sexuality, and gender oppression.”

About the Artist

Felix Rodriguez is a filmmaker and archivist of the LGBTQ Ballroom community. He has documented and been recognized as a preservationist of this Ballroom scene since the early 1990s. Rodriguez received the Gay Men’s Health Crisis’ James Baldwin/Julia De Burgos Award for giving the ballroom community hope and life through his art. He is the 2022 Honoree of the Prime Latino Media Community Service Award and the winner of the Annual Gay City News IMPACT Award in 2022. In 2023, he won the Ballroom We Care Award for the contribution his archives have provided to the history of ballroom. He has conducted screenings and presentations of his archival LGBTQ+ ballroom footage, which have also been showcased on programs and social media platforms globally. Rodriguez is currently in the post-production phase of his documentary, My Ballroom Story, which he is directing. The film delves into his lifelong journey with self-acceptance.

About the Curators

Legendary NYC Mother Jonovia Chase of Xclusive Lanvin is a community stakeholder, producer, runway icon and creative force based in New York City. She represents House Lives Matter, an international initiative created by and for the House community and leads and collaborates with various organizations on initiatives focused on intersectional social justice and activism. Together with other community leaders, she co-founded the non-profit Venus Pellagatti Xtravaganza House, aimed at providing housing, healthcare and educational support for the trans and LGBTQ community in New Jersey, in partnership with Garden State Equality, Hudson Pride and House Lives Matter. Chase proudly serves as the NYC Mother of the Legendary House of Xclusive Lanvin and works as a consultant for Arts Westchester, New York University and the NYC Kiki Coalition. She is an executive producer for I'm Your Venus and is the curator of Fem Queen Honors, taking place this June at the Apollo Theater.

Icon International Mother Twiggy Pucci Garçon is a community organizer, director, producer, culture curator and performance artist. She worked to develop and implement organizational programs and movement-wide strategy at True Colors United for nearly a decade, protecting rights for young people experiencing homelessness. She has collaborated with Gucci, Coach, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, GLAAD, Adidas, Reebok and many other brands, artists, filmmakers, academics and policymakers to increase visibility of both creative and sociopolitical agendas. Twiggy is the International Mother of the Legendary International House of Comme des Garçons, the Chief Ambassador for the Center for Black Equity and Co-Founder of All Tea, No Shade Productions. She co-wrote Sara Jordenö’s award-winning documentary KIKI, is the Executive Producer of the Emmy-nominated dramatic reading All Boys Aren't Blue and Director of MnM, a short documentary film slated for broadcast on POV/PBS this summer. Twiggy is a 2023 Concordia Fellow, where she is developing her first feature-length documentary, CROWNED.

Icon Ballroom Hall of Famer Founder Michael Roberson Maison-Margiela is a leader, public health practitioner, activist, artist, and curator within the House Ballroom community, and is one of the most important figures in Ballroom today. He is the founder of three major Houses and is Father to hundreds of children in the community. Roberson works as Adjunct Professor at The New School and Union Theological Seminary, where he teaches courses on Ballroom history and Vogue’ology, a pedagogy that places Ballroom’s performance traditions within a politics of emancipation. He is also founder of The Federation of Ballroom Houses and co-creator of the National Black Gay Men’s Advocacy Group, an organization focused on tackling health disparities within Black/Latino LGBTQ+ and HBC communities.

About the Co-presenters

ArtsWestchester (ArtsW), established in 1965, is one of New York state’s largest private, not-for-profit cultural service organizations. ArtsW’s core offerings include a grants program for Westchester and Rockland-based artists & cultural orgs; a folk arts program that presents, promotes and preserves the artistic expressions of the region’s cultural communities through collaborative programming; and an exhibitions program that has shown the work of over 4,000 regional artists in 75+ exhibitions. It is one of few arts organizations in the U.S. with an ongoing commitment to supporting the expressive practices of House Ballroom. Since 2019, ArtsW has presented over 25 House Ballroom-led programs; and has helped administer over $400K in direct public and private support for HBC artists and organizations. A leading funder and advocate for the arts, ArtsW works to create an equitable, inclusive, vibrant and sustainable community in which the arts are integral to and integrated into every facet of life.

Founded in 1985, City Lore’s mission is to foster New York City—and America’s—living cultural heritage through education and public programs. It documents, presents, and advocates for New York City’s grassroots cultures to ensure their living legacy in stories and histories, places and traditions. It works in four cultural domains: urban folklore and history; preservation; arts education; and grassroots poetry traditions. City Lore encompasses a Lower East Side gallery, performances, the People’s Hall of Fame, an extensive archive of New York’s folk culture, a robust arts education program, a POEMobile that projects poems onto walls and buildings, and programs throughout the five boroughs. City Lore’s gallery is home for folk and community-based arts in New York City.

Legendary Looks: My Ballroom Story is made possible with support from the Coby Foundation, Ltd. and the Mid Atlantic Folk and Traditional Arts - Community Projects program of Mid Atlantic Arts. The exhibition at Pioneer Works is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in Partnership with the City Council, as well as the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.