Sala Zenith, a club in the heart of Madrid, sold out once again on a Saturday night in March, for a performance by the up-and-coming KiKi House of Bodega from the city’s underground ballroom scene.
In a black latex chaps and a tight mesh shirt full of cut outs that framed his muscular frame, Kobu, the house father of Kiki House of Bodega, danced onto the stage and waved his arms and hands up and down in a voguing move.
Mirel, one of the house babies, jumped on stage in a bright red leotard with black thigh-high boots that matched her extravagant makeup. To applause, other house members paraded with confidence around the stage in tailored outfits made from latex, leather and fur. They “death dropped” on stage as smoothly as they came back up, and the crowd, dressed in sparkles, fishnets and satin, cheered them on. “The support of my house helps my slay on stage every time,” said Mirel.
Originating in New York City in the late 1960s, the ballroom scene spread to Europe and now to Spain in the last decade. Originally created as an alternative to the perceived racism in 1950s drag queen competitions, ballroom evolved over decades. The scene is made up of “houses” or groups who compete in their own competitions away from drag.
House is a term used to differentiate various groups rather than a physical place. Each house has a set structure including a “mother” and “father” who usually have more experience teaching house babies how to vogue and create performance outfits. They exert influence in deciding which members can participate in certain competitions.
While in Madrid, many gay spaces exclude BIPOC and transgender people, these houses are a welcoming hub for LGBTQ+ people. “Ballroom is still an alternative scene that is still growing.” said Pedro J. Jiménez, a certified guide of queer culture in Madrid. Currently, Spain has a total of about 8 Kiki houses and 5 major houses that are still growing as more people enter the scene. Kiki houses are generally for younger members in the scene to practice performing while major houses participate in more competitive balls.
A few times a month at the dance studio where he works, Kobu teaches how to vogue and walk in ballroom. He tries to highlight how the origins of voguing is related to race and queer culture by giving a history lesson before each class. To encourage BIPOC or queer people to come, he reduces the fees for them to sign up for the class.
In mid April, Kobu gave his history lesson before teaching a voguing class to NYU Madrid students. Ballroom was brought to Spain by a white, cis-gender Spanish woman who goes by Silvi ManneQueen in the mid 2010s, and focused only on the art of voguing and competition. “Many of the original elements like support and community values for people of color did not come to Spain when ballroom did,” said Kobu during the lesson.
For the past 5 years, Kobu led Bodega to become a more inclusive option for gay and transgender people. “I knew this was exactly what was missing from the queer space here,” said Kobu. Now, the house has grown to have 10 members in Spain, four of which reside in Madrid. Most of them are in their early to mid 20s with Kobu being the oldest at 27 years old.
After a few years of integrating the ballroom scene with the existing gay culture in Madrid, the different houses in the city started coordinating to host their own balls on a monthly basis.
The four Bodega members in Madrid gather on a daily basis, meeting at their apartments and going out together for meals. On a weekend night, it is typical to see Bodegas – a term for those in the Kiki House of Bodega – meet at one of their apartments to work on routines, outfits or get ready for a night out. The other members make trips to Madrid or Barcelona almost every other weekend for performances.
Their meetings tend to be at more odd hours because they have day jobs to support themselves. Unlike the NYC ball scene, where performing can be a full-time job, most of the house members in Madrid are employed and ballroom is more of a hobby. One of the house babies, León, works as a cyber security analyst while other members have careers in photography, dance and graphic design. Toro, the godmother of Kiki House of Bodega, works as a freelance marketer for different companies.
The house members help each other find work through their own connections. “Even though I don’t expect them to support me financially, Kobu has helped me find jobs and make a life for myself. I wouldn’t be where I am without my family,” said Toro. “I think we all try our best to look out for each other.”
On a spring weekend, six Bodega members gathered at Toro’s apartment to watch movies and cook dinner. “We all rely on each other, so it's also important that we all get along,”said Jayce, the house mother of Kiki House of Bodega, as she set the table.
The house mother and father have the final say in who comes in to ensure the house remains as a supportive environment.
León joined Bodega a few months ago, going through the process of being approved by the house mother and father. “Most people don’t understand that above anything else our house is a safe space, so we can’t just let anyone in,” said León. “I know it can be hard for others to find a house but there's nothing wrong with performing on your own until you find the house that is the right fit for you, which is exactly what I did.”
“As a person of color who is trans, it was always hard finding a community here, but now I have one with Bodega,” he added. “I have never been so supported in being my truest self the way I have in Kiki House of Bodega.”
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