An emerging ballroom scene exudes glamour and freedom in Caracas despite repression.
Mulan, the founder of the group House of Fantasy, performs a"death drop" at a ball hosted in a queer club in downtown Caracas, Venezuela.Phone cameras flash as neon colors dance across concrete walls. People strut, pose and “death drop” to the beat, as the screams of fans and friends meld with the music.
With nowhere to go, they were taken in by a trans sex worker in downtown Caracas. Staying on the streets but with the emotional support of a new mother figure, Mulan lived through a lot. One day, the mother figure told Mulan to leave. The next day, she was killed by her pimp, potentially saving Mulan from a similar fate. This kind of tragic death is not uncommon in Venezuela, with trans people often the victims of violence.
Mulan started House of Fantasy with the intention of creating a celebratory space for people like them. Now known as the “Housemother of Venezuela,” Beyond hosting balls, House of Fantasy holds free educational and dance workshops for anyone who is interested. The group says that this allows people to learn more about the “categories” of different ballroom performances, practice voguing and dig into the history of ball culture. It even screened the famous 1990 film “Paris Is Burning,” which documents how New York’s modern ballroom scene evolved and developed out of necessity among Black trans people in the 1980s.
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