Who is the TKBA?

The Toronto Kiki Ballroom Alliance is a for-youth-by-youth grassroots organisation that started from the need to bring Ballroom Arts and a sense of community into the City of Toronto.

Founded in 2010 by Legendary Twysted Miyake-Mugler and, Legendary Motha Vixen in 2010; as a space to nurture the needs of Black and other racialized LGBTQI+ youth facing various barriers and trauma. The TKBA provides a safe space for LGBTQI+ youth to be seen, protected and celebrated. The TKBA is modelled after the underground 1960's New York Ballroom Scene.

Meet The Houses

The Iconic House of Pink Lady

EST. 2010 | @thepinkagendato

The Supreme Kiki House of Siriano

EST. 2016 | @kikihouseofsiriano_

The Royal Haus of Poseida

EST. 2020 | @thehausofposeidafamily_

House of Juicy Couture Canada

EST. 2023 | @houseofjuicycouture_ca

The Kiki House of Old Navy

EST. 2014 | @oldnavy.ca

The Boutique Kiki House of Louboutin

EST. 2018 | @louboutin.ca

The Artistic Haus of Telfar

EST. 2021 | @hausoftelfar.ca

The Iconic International House of Versace

EST.2023 | @houseofversace.ca

The Kiki House of Greta Constantine

EST. 2015 | @kikihouseofconstantine

The Kiki House of Imperium

EST. 2020 | @officialhouseofimperium

The Haus of
Santa Evita

EST. 2022 | @misanta.laevita

Canadian House of Dior

EST. 2023 | @houseofdior.ca

History of Ballroom

In large cities, members of the underground LGBTQI+ community began to organise masquerade balls known as "drags”, in defiance of laws and violence - sexual, physical, and verbal they had experienced in other spaces and events.

The underground 1960s New York Ballroom Scene was created within Black and Latinx communities housing members as young as 12 years old. Sharing lived experiences of displacement by their biological family or labelled taboo by mainstream society.

In the face of these adversaries, the Ballroom floor is a place of asylum. Youth living with addiction, high risk for HIV transmission, homelessness, mental health struggles, food insecurity, discrimination, and dealing with challenges steaming from survival sex work find community in ballroom houses.

Ballroom members navigate urban spaces alone through "passing" to avoid discrimination and violence. Practising presentation through performance.

"It is to 'work the body' through performance and the overall presentation of self. Black queer members of the ballroom community use performance to 'unmark' themselves as sexual and gender-nonconforming subjects.

Unmarking oneself through performance or "passing" is a necessary strategy by which to avoid discrimination and violence in urban spaces." - Marlon M. Bailey (Feminist Studies - Vol. 37, No. 2, RACE AND TRANSGENDER STUDIES (Summer 2011), pp. 366).

Ballroom is survival, a lifeline for many marginalised by mainstream media.

Passing

The art of blending in or conforming with heteronormative cisgender society. This is done to avoid discrimination within traditionally unaccepting places, and for many alleviate dysphoria.