With Prince Sufi Andromeda

This class will focus on the different sub categories and how they are judged on their visual and behavioral ability to "pass" as cisgender or heterosexual within mainstream society.

This class is meant for any future or current realness walkers. None realness walkers and future judges who wish to learn more about the category are welcome to attend, but please be mindful of the space you take up in class discussions and during class exercises.

*Context:
Realness is an art form rooted in black and brown queer and trans survival, and is a founding category to ballroom history. For some trans men and trans women, walking realness remains a profound celebration of their private, everyday transition and their ability to live safely "in stealth" in the outside world. Mainstream media like RuPaul’s Drag Race has commercialized the term "realness" - diluting it into a simple catchphrase for "looking good," which strips away its political and historical depth as a tool against marginalization. Today, this category remains as a pillar category to ballroom communities worldwide, offering the future generation with tools of survival in disagreeable societies 2SLGBTQIA+ communities are forced to navigate. While it remains a major and highly competitive category, contemporary discussions heavily debate on how it fits into an evolving understanding of identity. With an honest critique of queer and trans safety concerns that remain today.

Realness gender break down definitions:
Trans women (Femme Queen), Trans Men (TM), cis women and AFAB who present masculine (Butches), cis men and AMAB who present masculine (Butch Queen), cis men and AMAB's who present female (Drags).

Class is in Pacific Time (UTC-7)

VANCOUVER BALLROOM ARTS SOCIETY is a Vancouver based non-profit organization helping to support and build the Ballroom scene in Vancouver, BC, Canada.

By facilitating pay what you can and open-to-all-levels weekly Ballroom Education, VBA seeks to help contribute towards building a culture of competition with the accessibility and safety of the 2sLGBTQIA+ and BIPOC community at its core.