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More than a fifth of lesbian, gay, bisexual and

transgender people have experienced abuse

in the past year.

Attacks both verbal and physical.

It seems homophobia is even more widespread now.

Anti LGBT hate crime in Britain have increased significantly.

The figures for transgender people are even higher.

Official statistics from the British government

show a steady rise in racial or religiously aggravated offences.

The referendum it would seem has given a minority an excuse

to voice latent hatred.

Stonewall say it's not clear what precisely might be

driving this apparent rise in anti LGBT hate crime.

Four in five, that's 80 percent

of LGBT people that experienced a hate crime

didn't report it at all.

They didn't feel that would be taken seriously.

For me Vogue was-being a working class,

mixed-race male from up North,

I absolutely took to Vogue and I absolutely loved it.

What we've tried to recreate was something which was us.

You will hear lots of voguers saying

when you're dancing and you're performing

tell your story.

When you're battling in a solo tell your story.

When you're walking on a catwalk in an outfit tell your story.

We are selling a Northern story.

It's about showing off. Voguing is about showing off.

Because I myself am trans, when you're trans

people react to you in a very different way.

And so for me to just like stand there,

naked on stage pretty much

and have people like...

cheer for me and, you know,

encourage me and tell me that I'm fabulous

and that I'm beautiful - I carry

that fierce stage persona every day.

Vogue inspired -

I was inspired by Vogue because it was more

of an escapism.

They had this amazing energy when they were performing.

I was 15/16? Sort of not wanting to be at home.

So coming out onto a gay scene.

What was really exciting is that after the club had finished

about 3 a.m. we would go to the cathedral grounds

in Liverpool. There's a runway,

a brick runway like an L shape

and we would promenade and compete on there.

So what we'd do is we'd

copy each other and learn off each other.

I think it's important that it becomes culture

and not just queer culture.

I think when people see what a vogue ball consists of

they want to be involved because they see it as a positive thing.

Yeah, I'd like to go, erm real close. Don't mind us.

There's nothin' like this in Burnley.

Woooo I love that bit!

When I hit that dance floor even if it's just in a club

with my friends.

It's just nice to feel like, the colourful lights

on your skin and live a fantasy or livee right now.

Live right in the present moment.

The Manchester vogue ball to me means confidence.

It means freedom to express who you are.

Doesn't matter where you're from Doesn't matter what you like

Doesn't matter who you are you are going to be accepted.

It's so elegant yet so, like, ratchet, classy, ghetto.

I don't know what it is, but every time I see the bitch

I flip

Somebody must have told her her vogue is sick

Somebody needs to tell here she needs to quit.

I don't want to see a bitch let it all out

Bring it back for to count of three

One for the money, two for the set,

DJ, drop the beat

I don't think I really realized about queer history

and what an integral part of queer history voguing

and the vogue ballroom scene is until I became

surrounded by other queer people.

Let's go way back. Let's go back to the 1930s.

Drag queens used to have these things called drag balls

like a pageant or a competition

They'd have different sections and gowns just like Miss World.

Men would dress up and they'd be glamorous

and they're very private

but very magical.

And that evolved into

the balls later in the years, 30s, 40s, 50s

where people start to pose and dress like movie stars

and channel movie stars of the day.

Racism was prevalent.

So the black drag queens would never do as well

as the White drag queens because of the perception

of white being more beautiful.

So what happens is a lot of these black drag queens

then went away and created their own balls.

The American way built on the segregation

of black and Latino gay kids.

Through desperate times they created a world

where they felt safe, where they were looked after,

where they could be a star for that night.

And they start forming houses

and coming together as a their familial groups

because they'd been rejected so much

by the white drag ball scene

That became then a runway thing

and people would sit on either side

and be Karl Lagerfeld with their fans

and judge you on your glamour

judge you on your authenticity

or on your style or on your...

on your realness.

Could you look like a real woman was obviously a starting point

but then could you look like a "real man?"

So it became could you pass for a movie star

even though you can't be one?

Could you pass for a President even though couldn't be one?

Or the president of a bank? Or an Ivy League student?

You have sections like executive realness.

How convincing, even though you're poor

you're black and you're gay,

Can you look as an executive?

How well can you look as a straight person?

So you could have a straight person realness.

Or butch realness. Or fem realness.

Anything that gay people felt like they could either

not be part of

or that you will have to pass for straight to be

or black people thought they could never be part of

or you'd have to pass for white to be.

As time went on that kind of developed into

the wider ballroom scene going into the 70s where

it was a real place for black people, Latinos,

trans people, gay people,

those people who were really marginalized

in their day-to-day lives

it became a place for them to come together

and celebrate each other.

Yes?Let me ask you something.

Why do you feel there's more freedom in New York

to express oneself than anywhere else in the world?

Why? Because there's so much of everything in New York.

There was a lot of baggage that came with those times.

There was a lot of repression

like, outside the ball scene.

And the reason why

it comes to life so much

in the ballroom is cos like it's their moment to shine.

And even now, like sometimes people haven't been applauded

until they get into the Vogue Ball.

Generally to enter the ball you'll enter as a house.

Now each house usually has a mother or a father.

So you get these houses which would consist of

disenfranchised poor black and Latino guys

with drag queens at the helm

and generally it was drag queens cos they were the ones who

were normally workin'.

So they'll have some money.

It's called the house and ballroom culture

because the balls are the places that the people go

to dance and walk.

But it's the houses and the house structures

that underlie those competitions,

that is the social bonding that keeps the people together.

Go on Rene.

Yeah we definitely feel like a family

A dysfunctional one but it's a family nevertheless.

Are we doin' this? Are we all getting naked?

No

I'm like...

Because vogue is bringing together people who

are marginalized in their everyday life

it became so much about aspiration

and for a lot of those young queers it was about

looking at the fashion magazines,

looking at the life of the rich and famous,

looking at the celebrities,

looking at the fashion,

looking at the poses of these gazelle-like women

and they would go out mopping, which is where you steal stuff

to to get glamorized

and they'd get dressed up for the evening and be

and be stars to the evening before going back on the street.

The way vogue came to Liverpool was

There was voguers from New York or from the states

in Ibiza and some Liverpudlians at the same time.

Three guys who were living in london

who were from Liverpool.

They came to Liverpool, brought this style.

I started being a club kid seeing these

five or six people doin' this dance form

and I just fell in love with it straight away.

I know that Darren and his friends

after, you know nights out,

seven o'clock in the morning

would go outside that cathedral

that is right outside this flat now

in the grounds of the cathedral

and they would dance on the graves

voguin' in the graveyards of the cathedral

so there was nowhere for them to go, the vogue kids

so they were findin' anywhere.

They would be dippin' and twirlin'

and posin' and droppin'.

So I decided to take a risk in 2006 and I set up

House of Suarez.

I asked three dancers to get involved.

That's all they need to know that we're the best

and they will follow and they will look up

and they will emulate.

I'm one of Darren's par-dancers

in the House the Suarez

and then this is what we're doin' now.

In 2008 I done a collaboration vogue ball in the Adelphi Hotel

which was a huge success.

So from that success I decided to go alone.

And then we broke away as the House of Suarez

and we did the Justice Vogue Ball cos

one of Darren's good friends got killed

in a homophobic attack and we was like,

if we was to serve justice to society how would we do it?

So we decided to do it as a vogue ball.

The Justice Vogue Ball was a personal note

to a friend of mine who was murdered.

He was murdered over 20 years ago and

it was a homophobic attack.

It was a brutal murder and people got away with it

and stuff. So that was like a justice ball,

it was in remembrance to my friend.

I've known Darren since we were 11.

Snotty-nosed little teenagers,

who are just as, I'd say as feminite

now as we was then.

We did alright.

I think we've talked about being wierd

but we've not actually shown you.

Oh lord.

Like let's just be really avant garde. Fuck with them.

We're a very queer house, and we're very multiracial,

multicultural. We all come from different backgrounds.

That's really the spirit that we love to keep.

One of the things that me and Josh always say

is like we need a dancer for this or that

and then we'll be like "But is he a faggot?"

"Like, IS HE A FAGGOT?"

That's what I seek in people.

I would never ask performers to do something I wouldn't do.

But there's pretty much fuck all I wouldn't do.

Apart from drink and do drugs. Say no kids.

We are very punk in our kind of mentality and in the way

that we choose to present ourselves.

You know like the people that are in our house

like you don't just get fabulous people without them

having experienced life in the way.

That's what one of the things that really binds us together

and I think we enable each other to really

let our arses hang out a bit. And I like that.

Josh and Grace started the element of this house

so they are the mothers,

/father technically,

and then they've brought us who are the kids

into the house so it's a very family/friends group,

creative house.

When you're the mother of a house that's

what you kind of do.

You've got to make sure your children look their best,

feel their best, can perform to their best.

Josh obviously does all the choreography and helps

them with their dance.

I'm kind of -

help more with helping with character and

I do all the costumes and the makeup.

So yeah it's pretty dangerous.

So it's a very kind of creative space to be in

but as mothers we obviously decide

what the concepts are and where we're

gonna be going and what the direction

of the house is.

But then we also kind of nurture.

Being part of this house is like really done a lot

for me and someone who's very young and someone who is...

like gender fluid but didn't really know that

or didn't know what it was before I came into the house.

People think vogue, people think queer/gay.

But we've realised, we've all come together, I'm not gay

but I'm definitely queer.

Yeah.

It's such a misguidance when people are like,

"Oh you have to be gay to be queer."

Oh no you do not.

Because I'm not gay.

I just wears mummy's dress.

The House of Suarez is a family of,

not just performers, people who create costumes,

people who mix music, people who can dance,

people who can do paperwork, people who can raise funds.

That's the house. It's not just about dancers.

A joke? You gonna do a joke?

Spacing through from the top.

I don't talk to my family so it's strange that voguing

came to me because

I have no connection with my family. Yet,

I found Darren

well Darren found me etc.

And then now I'm in the House so Darren is like my dad,

which is strange.

Well, mother.

So again.

5 6 7 8,

1 2 3 4

5 6 7 8.

1 2 3-

There's a reason why it was called the House of Ghetto

and there's a reason why it's six black females

and I was originally gonna call it the House of Austerity,

because it's got a ring to it,

but I wanted a name that was more reflective of me

and my sensibilities so I though, yeah Ghetto.

When people assume that Ghetto's like angry black woman

and it's just like... No. It's it's not.

And then we're the models for it.

And that's what Ghetto really is, in vogue.

Yes. Yeah. Yeah.

Like it's that getaway from the everyday job,

being a mummy.

Is that like just that get away to go to relax,

let off some steam.

I think it's representing us in a different light

because a lot of people always stereotype black

females as angry and, I know we're the House of Ghetto, but

to me it represents us differently and actually

puts us there, cos black females are sometimes not

looked at, at all, great.

Like if you see someone walking down the street somebody will

probably like move away or think that you're angry

just cos of the way that you've said something.

If you get what I mean.

So I just think the representation

is a-is a great one.

Just shows that we're not all just angry and black.

Angry black women.

We're not.

Obviously having a baby,

I just thought like dancing and performing again

that was just kind of done for me. Because,

erm, I did have an agent when I left dance school

and obviously had the baby I gave him a call.

No answer.

OK I'll give you a minute,

I'll call you again. No answer.

Darren was just there like "No not for you.

C'mon we'll get you back on it" and like it like I said

I've never looked back since.

And there's me thinking like I was done dancing

and for him to just say "No come on.

You can do this, like, I've got you.

'You're doing the ball." And it was just amazing, like,

I just felt, no I can't do this. D'ya know what I mean?

You should use what you've got to help other people

and I've been given some little form of platform where

I can help some other people and I've chose

a certain demographic.

Me personally I take it on into my everyday life now.

I walk down the street like I'm still in vogue ball.

You don't stop!

Vogue's one of those styles where the history is a bit

transient and there's different people who say different things.

The dance style vogue actually started in the late 70s

and there was a dance called whackin'

which was a precursor to Vogue in L.A.

It's a funk style. It's very party.

It's whacking your arms around,

but there's a quality of sensuality to whackin'

L.A. was all about film and movies

and then by the time the dance form reached New York it mutated

into something else because they brought their

dance training, kung fu, then gymnastics and yoga.

The actual movements of vogue come from modelling.

It's called vogue because it's from a fashion magazine.

It's all the poses.

Yeah. But there is also, this is where it's conflictin',

there's also a kind of,

I don't know if it's a legendary it is actual fact.

I had a specialist over,

a legend called Aviance Milan and he mentioned

that it was started in the prisons.

Said it started in the jail.

Battling. That's where the battling came from

so like disputes would be settled through voguing.

So instead of fighting the guys would throw shapes

based on famous film stars or photographic poses.

It would be so sick. I would love to be in that ward.

Slay!

Within the vogue dance style specifically

there's three forms. So Old way is I think pre-90s,

New way is post 90s, and Vogue Fem is very prevalent.

Fem. New way. Old way. Hand performance. There's loads,

but House of Suarez and Darren has taught me a New Way.

So lets - New way,

New way adds in an element of contortion.

So if you're here then you start contortin'.

Vogue Fem is kind of more down and here. A lot more,

with the hands and a lot more feminine.

Then Old way is very kind of structured and it really

hits the beat cos the music - Yeah - was a lot slower. So,

yeah. So that's a kind of quick hybrid

of the techniques and not done very well.

So thanks for me on the spot.

Sorry!

A dip is like a death drop.

There's numerous ways to get to the end result.

Turn it into a dip girl. Turn it into a dip.

So soft and cunt!

Cute. Cute.

Soft and cunt!

Cute.

Yaaaaaaas! Yaaaaaaaas!

Cute.

Cute.

Houses are like you've got the House of Cards,

which is Paul Fearne's who's an ex-boyfriend of mine.

He lives and breathes for it.

He's so passionate about how he enters and he's -

in fact it's a bit scary. You'd think I should -

I should be the drill sergeant but he's -

he's evil with his dancers, really evil.

We walk in we have to cut the atmosphere

because he's like kicking off on them left right and -

he's a perfectionist you see.

When you say blood sweat and tears into the dance floor

it literally is.

Like, very week one of us goes home cryin'.

Every single week.

It's just - he really pushes us.

I feel everything he does for us just makes us ten times better.

You know you need dancers with fire.

You need dancers who want to compete.

You know, you need dancers that will feel no way

about giving pure shade.

So I'd like to win the same again for Manchester. Okay?

Yeah. Make it happen. Thanks. Yeah.

For me personally I'd love to win it.

If I win it...sick.

But if I don't I know that I have gone on stage

and done the best that I can and I've just

shown what I love to do and what I just want

to give to the world is just happiness and -

watch me dance. I'm amazin'. Watch me dance.

I want to compete but I also wanna

to celebrate what we're doin'

I'm going to beat you, obviously,

but let's work together just in this back-and-forth

dance fight, this battle of life.

And if I lose I go okay, but we had a sick battle.

That was sick. Well done.

I applaud you for that, because you slayed.

In battles because obviously you're against someone

tryna get the judges to be like "Yes you're the winner."

So occasionally things can get a little bit catty,

like, but you just have to ignore it and just be like....

Oh my Lord!

Ohhhhhhh!

Ryan from House of Suarez

and House Decay.

Are we talking about a battle here?

Yes ma'am. Yes ma'am.

Do we have a winner, beautiful judges?

Yes we do.

House of Decay won.

Let's face it a bitch was evil.

She pulled out every single trick.

Every single trick.

Of course. It's all about the body.

Oh my God it was insane.

I was in shock that I actually got put through

and to be up against Ryan. It's like,

let's just have fun onstage.

And just do I thing into what we love.

I never see it as a competition,

but I won!

In the vogue ball everyone's just equal.

It's all about just churning out that look.

A place to be able

to express yourself

and also be comfortable

with your sexuality

as well.

This is going to turn into like an African goddess,

witch doctor, voodoo priestess, kinda mystical bitch.

With a bit of a basic tribal face underneath the mask.

Like, have loads of piercings going along. Auburns, gold,

bronze.

That's kind of good actually.

Hmmm.

Put like crinoline underneath so it'll puff out.

So it's gonna add more drama.

Making the costumes and seeing the costumes on stage

performance and then see everybody's reaction.

That is the best ever.

It really is.

Just get me giddy on.

This is what I kill gender with.

I made this one.

Flawlessness is so boring. Yeah.

Mine and Grace's financial situation comes down a lot

to like our vision and Grace's creativity and skills to make

like a bed sheet look as fucking fabulous

and couture going down that runway and expensive.

We wanna fuck with people.

Like I get off on fucking people up.

Why do you think you get off on fucking people up?

Cos they fucked me up so much as a child.

Oh come on!

It's me just returning the energy that was put into me.

Like, if you got two people, you got a woman and a man,

and you got the woman and you put her in like

a football strip and

gave her a short-back- and-sides hair cut

and she has no makeup on or anything.

And then you got the guy and you, like, you know,

sissied him up a bit,

made him look all cute, maybe a bit of make-up,

and then they both walk down the street.

I guarantee the woman in a bloody football strip

wouldn't get an eye batted at her because

it's not degrading to represent masculine features,

but unfortunately in our society, even to this day

to be feminine, to be female is degrading.

When I was a young queer kid in high school in rural Cumbria

goin' to school in like the girl's school uniform

and getting battered every day and stuff.

I felt so alone.

I didn't have anyone and it fucked me up

for many many years,

because I was this super-sociable,

super-extroverted person who didn't have any friends!

You know.

And makeover is complete.

At that time in my life there was this overpowering

voice telling me that everything that I was doing was wrong.

There was no counter-voice for that.

A lot of my performances are kind of using

the trans body as a canvas.

Displaying the things that I don't feel

confident or comfortable with and in doing so

it's like a kind of theatrical exorcism,

because I get to express myself

and then I have this roomfull of queers

and supportive, like-minded people celebrating those

things about me.

Why is she gagging so?

She bring it to ya every ball.

Obviously everyone should feel like they do at the ball

all the time.

Like that should just be how it is.

Everyone should just feel included whenever. So yeah,

but I think at the same time is that ever going to happen?

But there's always the ball and the ball will always be there,

which is nice. So.

And that's one of the beautiful things about this scene

is that it will always retain a core word-of-mouth,

underground side.

Because you can't just walk down the street

as a flaming black queen.

You will still get people shouting at you

tryna fight you.

So you know unfortunate as that sounds there will

always be an aspect where it will always be underground,

because mainstream civilization hasn't accepted this shit yet.

So.

My dad recently passed away. Passed away last week.

Having the sporadic family that I have,

it's all over in Jamaica. I'm half Jamaican.

It's a bit difficult to supply funds and stuff.

I try to take on the responsibility.

I guess it's my way of grieving with things

and try and raise money via a GoFundMe

and this fundraiser that we're doin'.

The Fundraiser's called Celebrate Life because

my dad wasn't a serious person and I'm definitely not.

This is a community response

and we have come here tonight

as extended family.

It's about love.

It's about support and it's about giving

people like me the opportunity,

maybe a little bit of an exhibitionist

at some level,

the opportunity to appear on a raised dias,

and almost feel, dare I suggest valid.

For me it was a very beautiful moment to really realize

that I was surrounded by not just LGBT people

but like artists and creatives that were there for not just me

but like it was a community response.

Massive thank you to everyone tonight.

I think like the passing of my dad really has put

into perspective that life's too fucking short.

Let's keep it Shirley Bassey.

Let's keep it light and frothy.

It's part of our community, is that people can die.

People are gonna get killed and people are gonna

have drug overdoses.

People are going to contract sexually transmitted diseases.

For transgender people it's not easy to get a job.

It's really not easy to get a job.

People look at you and think you're weird

and that you're like, an unhinged person.

Especially like at the beginnings of your

transition when you literally look like

a man in a dress and you're just trying to -

it's like the worst.

So that would just sit round there like that.

Oh my God.

They are sticking out more.

Oh. My. God.

That's actually alright innit.

I think we've got it yeah.

Unfortunately to be black you have to be better.

And it's - we're still in that world where the UK is very

institutionally racist and you do have to be

better than a lot of your counterparts to succeed in life.

But I, like I tell the girls, that's the situation.

Own it and just strive for the best.

As a black company as black females you're gonna work -

have to work twice as hard to achieve twice as little

so we just have to be twice as good.

That's why everything's -

- Well we're gonna bring it. - Preach Darren.

No this - no it does work hun. What you do - yeah.

No wonder it's going down. You're pumpin'

and air's coming back out

I still made this bit up, but it's alright.

We've got tomorrow and Thursday still.

Yeah.

So we'll be fine.

It's excite!

I literally want you to- Pull his head back?

Yeah.

And right, you got to tease it. Don't put it straight in.

Then when you're here, place it here.

And let him come and then bite it there.

If they had advert running on viral I'd be eating apples,

oranges, mangos, bananas.

Well, being a gay black man on the gay scene,

it's - for me it's -

there doesn't seem to really be a place basically.

Initially I did feel like I was supposed

to fit into something and now I've realized

that I don't need to fit in fuck-all.

I can do my own thing.

Legend on the runway!

Legend on the runway!

Fashionista!

Legendary!

But yeah you can get turned away from doors.

I've not been turned away as such but I've seen other

people get turned away and they would say well

you know basically you're not gay because you're black

and it's like, what you're a bit butch,

so you know you're not fittin' a stereotype.

So you get turned away and that's,

that's annoying.

The years ahead of us are gonna be really really

interesting creatively because there's gonna be a lot -

there's a lot of very disenfranchised queer people.

I definitely feel it.

But when you historically look at things that have

happened in reaction to heightened political

negativity against minorities it's always

times of great creativity.

Creating this armor for yourself and saying no.

Like most kind of, underground subcultures

there's a music that goes with it.

Kind of queer visceral sexy dance music.

It has to be synced up to the very specific

categories of the people who were coming down the runway

and what they were representing.

Are we in the South?

- Are we in London? - No!

No we're in Manchester, so fuckin' act like it

You bunch of bastards.

DJing at balls is some of the hardest

DJing I've ever done.

Because they're very demanding audiences not just

within the rules of what they have,

and what they need to hear for their own categories,

but also just in terms of "I'm not feeling it."

"I'm not dancing to this, I'm just not feeling it."

Well there's different voguing scenes in the UK.

The one that I get to host isn't the most kind of rootsy,

ghetto-ey, authentic, old-school one.

Yeah the Northern scene is more commercial

and the Southern scene is more hardcore.

For instance in London there's a lot less choreography,

whereas here there's much more choreo

and they do bigger routines with more people involved here.

Up North we're a lot more theatrical.

We're a lot more performance and like there's a lot more

up on stage sort of thing.

One year we had a house thaT was elderly white women.

And so it's-it's much more secular and it's much more

embracing of different-of all these different cultures.

It's not a pure black gay event.

Some people would say

the evolution of voguing

that you get in the North here

is cultural appropriation.

I was still grew up as a Christian

young guy from Devon.

I knew I was different to how my family wanted to be and how

the church wanted me to be.

So it's tough when you just say, "Yeah I can sympathize."

and people are like, "No you can't."

But then there's elements where you can.

I've known what it's like to have similar things.

To question who you are.

To have your sexuality kind of almost tear a hole,

because I was really into the church as a kid

and with my family and whatnot and so that kind of, you know

it was quite a conflict for me,

because I was like "Who I am is not okay."

And so and I can sympathize with that.

That's essentially I feel that's one

of the most important bits of any any human

in any community.

Obviously official Adidas.

Motorbike outfits.

It's the wonder of rubber,

you can literally get anythink made in it.

As a human, we are - we are, you know,

a species that thrives on community. We need community.

We need to belong.

We need to feel part of something or we just,

you know, people do awful things. And,

you know,

and that all comes out of not belonging and not

having that place to go to so,

A vogue ball or a fetish event or drag club can be

those things for people that feel like they don't fit

into the normal mould that don't fit

don't feel they are part of the normal real world.

Are we proud of what?

Proud of diversity. No it makes me physically sick.

I voted Brexit.

Ultimately vogue is all about socialism.

It's all about passing your skills on and lifting

people up and giving people opportunities and giving

people the opportunity to shine.

We went to my gran's for dinner the other day and we literally

the journey there was like the worst journey.

Like it was three guys who walked past me

who shouted like, "Oy mate,

what's up with your fucking face?" Like that.

And me and Grace both went, "Sorry love,

just being shagging your dad. It was really rough!"

And they were like - popping back at us.

And I was like, "Sorry can't hear you!

Just gonna fuck your dad! Bye!"

I mean, I don't think many people can -

can say that they know what it feels like to be

literally laughed at on the street.

For their existence.

Just actually laughing at my existence.

Some people that really affects people and

really take it to heart. We just got on the train.

And I always sense it in the beginning

of our performances,

it's a bit of a, "What the fuck are they doing?"

And you've got me comin' on stage in a fucking jockstrap

spittin' fuckin' teeth at them.

Get ready to fall backwards into a crowd of people

because I will push you off my motherfucking stage.

Because you're gonna get dashed.

You're gonna get dashed now.

You wouldn't believe how nervous I'll be before I go onstage.

I feel like outside of the ballroom I'm very

quiet and I keep myself to myself.

Like I say things when I feel like I need to,

but otherwise I'm very quiet. You don't really hear me.

But then as soon as I'm on stage I think,

"There's my voice. Now you can hear me."

The way that women are highly sexualized in everything

and the way that gay men are so - are hit so hard,

we all suffer in some kind of sense.

Gay men are like they're so receptive to us as well.

Yeah.And so welcomin'

and the fact that we feel comfortable with each other.

We have a common denominator, we just want you fabulous.

That's what it is.

Like when I'm going onstage I'm like,

"We're not going on stage for second place."

And all the houses think that.

Paul is very competitive. Yeah.

Paul likes to win.

Will he beat you if you don't win?

Yeah. Yeah probably..

Competition, that usually suggests,

that usually suggest that there's other sides have

an equal opportunity to win.

Oh.

And we don't win anything.

We're returning as the best house

and I wanna keep that title.

This year it's going to be a tough one cos

for the first time ever all the houses

from Liverpool have signed up.

All the killer strong houses

so the show is going to be phenomenal.

I'd say our main competition would be House of Decay

with Josh and Grace. Hmm hmm...

Very fierce they are.

So it's the ball is Saturday, how do you feel?

Is it?! Shit!

Did you remember?!

Oh my God. We've not done anything!

Oh my God, what are we gonna do?!

Okay so guys it's -

we've got a vogue ball next Saturday and basically

we just need to clean up everything we're doing today.

So the last section needs really working with the line,

the execution,

the performance and definitely with your direction as well.

Darren's brought over the two judges from the Netherlands

and stuff to judge,

which is really nice cos they've not performed

here and they get to see the Manchester Ball.

So it's a first time for me also in Manchester,

so I'm really excited to see what's going to happen tonight.

But I'm as a dancer so I know exactly what to look for

in Choreography, Sex Siren, all that.

So it's gonna be exciting.

You know I think people might not be aware of

the history of it,

but I think it's really important

that that doesn't disappear.

It's not just about the dancing but there is

more to it than that and Ricky's really excellent

in bringing across.

The Ball started in Harlem back in the day when there

was absolutely no chance for a young black

boy to be president.

Now any motherfucker can do it.

And then, that aside,

it is a really great celebration of gay culture and there's just

a great atmosphere. It really, really is. It's fabulous.

I think the guys, House of Suarez,

House of Ghetto, the two Darrens,

they've done an amazing thing keeping this alive.

I've been doing this since they started

doing the vogue balls in Liverpool and Manchester.

So I do spring and autumn collections.

My job is to work up and down this runway. Not walk,

work up and down this runway and try and whip the crowd

into a fever that they will never forget or never

recover from.

Politically obviously 1980s, Reagan, AIDS, homophobia,

politically now what - why do we need vogue now?

Aids, homophobia, politics.

Politics at the most thrilling and scary time

it's been since the 60s.

People are on the streets with pussy hats on. People -

people are rediscovering feminism and gay rights

and people are arguing about black lives matter

and all lives matter and all these different issues.

Everybody is a Facebook political warrior.

I think it's an incredible time.

We've never been able to communicate as quickly

and as widely as we can now.

We've got extraordinary people in power some of whom

we like some of whom we don't.

Every election is a nail biting rollercoaster.

Will the right get in? Will the left get in?

What freedoms will we have? What laws will they put in?

What things will they take away?

It's such an exciting time and everybody needs to be

engaged on every level.

And of course you wanna get out on the street,

you want to get in the voting booth do you wanna

start having conversations,

but also you've got to embody it.

You've got to be a beacon for what is possible

in the world.

So there's never been a more important time to be yourself.

The greatest revolution that anybody can instigate

is to truly be themselves it's so rare

and this is an opportunity to be yourself.

This is our first ball. Very excited.

What are you expecting to see tonight?

Hopefully wall to wall gay soup. Yes.

Well it's Andy Warhol Campbell's Soup inspired.

Camp belle cream.

I mean it's just casual look we're dealing with right now.

Just like Tesco, Asda, just a little jaunt.

Because vogue is real.

Because it is a celebration making beauty out of nothing.

And particularly at this time when there is more and more

prejudice and diversity seems to be less and less celebrated.

And identity seems to become more and more fluid

vogue kind of brings that celebration of you are

into one place.

And it doesn't matter whether you're gay,

straight, black, white, dressed in jeans,

dressed in a dress,

it doesn't matter about any of it.

It's everyone together in that place,

celebrating beauty and power.

It's time we brought the icons back.

This is the Icons Ball.

Every single one of us can be more than people

see on the outside.

Every single one of us can transcend.

We are all made of the stuff of stars

and every single one of us can own that tonight!

People kind of get spat out into the street and just go,

"What does happened to me?"

It's obviously a kind of life's-changing

experience for people.

It's just such an exciting atmosphere.

It makes you just feel really proud. You know,

kind of,

having grown up through the 90s and gone out

clubbing at Paradise Factory and like kind of just being

part of the gay scene here, to like -

to just sort of just be -

that freedom that people have to express themselves

and what that means to people. You know,

it's just makes you feel, kind of, really, like,

it's just a great thing to be a part of.

Yes. What she said.

Yes, be proud of who you are. Be proud of what you can do.

Be proud of who you could be.

Just enjoy every single cell and fibre of your being

and just forget about all the Trump crap that's

going on outside the door.

And just be your god and goddess self.

I love how flamboyant it is. You know, it's heartwarming,

cos it's so many people and everyone's cheering.

It's makes you want to cheer as well.

It just makes you feel great.

So tonight House of Decay are serving you iconic

video game realness. We've got Tekken characters,

Street Fighter characters and Mortal Kombat characters.

This is like mine and Josh's opportunity to live

our childhood dream.

I get to be Sindel and he gets to be Cammy.

It's gonna be cute. S'gonna be fierce.

D'ya wanna see my outfit?

Hiiiiiii

Like that?

I won with the House of Decay for Fantasy Category.

My name's Arca, boy name is Simon Peters.

It's just a great creative output for me, like,

I love these sorts of events.

It's a great cultural aspects to Manchester.

It's different from like, your normal nights

that you would find on like Canal Street

or like a more commercial kind of nights.

It means everything to me.

It means that you're being acknowledged.

Obviously the crowd loved it, the judges loved it,

so yeah it means a lot.

To be honest I think the House has made me the person

that I am today.

It allowed me to express myself the way I want to.

And for them to allow straight,

white women to participate and feel accepted -

sometimes it's nice to be on the flip side.

You know rather than be in the majority,

I'm now the minority and I love that.

You can feel the energy.

Like even as we're here talking to you guys

you could just feel bouncin'.

You just can't deny the fact that it is going off tonight.

I think being involved with it,

I think definitely crosses those barriers

and molds everyone into one. Exactly of course. Gay guys,

straight girl.

It's all kicking off. It's all amazing.

Am I talking to you or it? It's all kicking off.

Everything is just started. We're about,

we're probably at the middle level of the vogue ball

at the moment and it's brilliant

people are charged. People are very articulant.

And people are very blinded by what they've just seen. But,

it's about to get better. So we're all bracing.

We're bucklin' our seat belts and I'm gonna go.

Heeeeey!

Tell us how that went.

Really fun. Not performing like my best.

I'm probably say I was 90% on that.

Everyone did me proud though. So far we've already won two,

we've won Fantasy and we won Solo, such deserves.

Simon deserves it, Aston deserves it.

We've worked really hard so whether we win

or lose walking away winners and that's what it's about.

I'm very proud and hope we win best house

because I think we deserve it.

If there's anything I can say it that I've,

me and Grace have kept the mutley children in check

and I definitely feel like - like -

we had a good consistency tonight.

We made that up in like 48 hours.

And also I mean me and Grace got to fill out

a childhood fantasy. And like,

the ball is about living your dreams.

And I don't I'm dressed like Cammy and gettin' my life.

Can you run through everything

that went wrong in the run up to it?

Where do I begin? Because there's so much.

Things like previous members who said they'd

be here not turning up.

Then people who said they would do it and replace that person-

dancers are really fucking flaky.

And they're not really organized. And it was -

this van has something much more important to say than I do.

And this person with the child as well also has something

more important to say than I do.

One of my dancers turned up and said she were ill.

She didn't dance until the day before the show.

One of them was on a Jennifer Hudson music video

Costume malfunction.

Hair malfunctioned.

Things not turning up when it arrived. I think -

I think why it affects me so deeply

is because when I have an intense vision

and it's something so specific - yeah I'm lenient when it's-

When it's little things like, I don't know,

maybe like the glove snapping.

I had to tack that like last two seconds.

This happened fuckin' two seconds before going on stage.

If you get run over Aston I will be so fuckin' sad.

Ch - Ch - Chun Li.

Can a runner make sure these guys don't get run over?

Anna!

Everyone give a pose.

What's the,

What's the House in everybody's mouth?

Decay.

London's my - my town, so it's a great city,

but they're not -

here they understand what I mean when I'm talking about rising

from oppression and rising from - they get that.

They understand that here and so to me it's-

this is the best place to do it.

Somewhere where they,

whether they're black, or gay, or not,

they understand what those things mean.

They understand what it's like to be

under the thumb and have to rise and look fierce.

Manchester! I know, I know, I know.

Obviously there's always people going

"Well they're appropriating our culture."

But, you know imitation is the best form of flattery, right?

The most sincere form of flattery.

And so for me it's not a spirit that

has to be just held for ourselves.

That core has to be remembered and honored,

but I feel like everything is for everybody

and we should be sharing and and interacting,

because the whole point of vogue ball is that you're

appropriating and the vogue ball you are appropriating

all those worlds outside that you are not allowed to be in:

the world of the supermodel, the world of the movie star,

the world of the Wall Street Banker,

that world of privilege and success.

So the vogue ball is about appropriating and reclaiming,

why not offer that to other people?

There's an inner. black gay child in everyone,

there's an inner drag queen in everybody,

there's an inner drag king in everybody.

There's - you know,

we're all inside one another like Russian dolls

and we should every now and then you should just

take off your fake skin and show what the real skin

that you've got underneath,

which is not always what people think it is.

It stays with you.

Whenever it comes one of these I go home

and it's like vibrating through me for the next few weeks

just like colour and glitter and that feeling of,

"I can go and be fierce in my life too."

I just want more. I think -

I think once a year is not enough.

You have to give them what they want. If they -

they do just chant Ghetto don't they?

They just say "Ghetto! Ghetto!" The house and then you just say,

"OK. I really have to show them how good we are."

Just as you thought it was safe,

they brought you the imperial House

of Ghetto.

Ghetto! Ghetto! Ghetto!

Ghetto!

Ghetto!

Ghetto!

Like a proud mother!

Woooooo!

Just to shout loud enough that people know

that they're not alone and it's okay to be freaky

and it's okay to express yourself however

you want to express yourself.

I don't really want for fame and fortune but if at least

I've got a voice and people -

it can be heard and it would have just

made my life so much better to just have someone go,

"You're not the only one love." You know I mean?

Like just one person.

Anyone that feels like they're not safe or they can't be

themselves needs somewhere. They need that safe place,

they need somewhere they can belong.

Even though austerity is hittin' there's two ways

You can either go, "Oh poor me.

This is so hard."

Or throw a vogue ball and celebrate life

and what you've got and owning what you are.