A one-night-only kink ballroom event hits the city to provide all keen contestants with time to shine on the dance floor
The word ballroom probably conjures up the image of starched shirts, but the Kinky Kiki Ball at Clwb Ifor Bach on 28 October aims to remove those preconceptions.
The event is the Welsh Ballroom Community’s first venture into kink culture, aiming to champion the ballroom scene in Wales.
The night will involve the community showing off their best moves in a performance of empowerment at Clwb Ifor Bach.
Specific categories will call for certain dress codes. The Best Dressed category will require competitors to wear their most eye-catching skin toned outfits with at least one accessory.
The judges will mark the competitors on factors such as technique and how they command the room.
Ballroom is so needed for so many people in the queer community
Leighton Rees
Twenty-two-year-old Alia Ramna, one of five judges for the ball, is looking forward to the event.
“As the first Welsh Pakistani femme queen on the scene, I want other people to join the community and find an escape from their often-unaccepting homes,” she said.
Ballroom dates back to the late 20th century, where it provided a space for LGBTQ+ youth in New York.
As LGBTQ+ people fought for rights in the United States, the ballroom community grew and made its way overseas.
Leighton Rees, founder of the Welsh Ballroom Community, created the group in 2020.
“I got into ballroom and vogueing when I saw the scene in London,” he said.
“It really spoke to me as an art form,” said the 35-year-old.
The dancer wanted to bring the community to Cardiff, as he could not see it represented here.
Rees added: “Ballroom is so needed. Not only as an art form, but as a coping mechanism for so many people in the queer community who have been rejected by their families.”