Kom kuier by Os Huis!
Our House is a collaborative initiative dedicated to building the educational infrastructure necessary for Ballroom culture to evolve and flourish across Cape Town and the African continent.
Our House is a home for queer and trans people and communities for developing and facilitating the reclamation of body, sexuality, and agency.
Our House hosts weekly classes, combining education, skills development and performance training.
BALLROOM EDUCATION AND CULTURE
Our House is the brainchild of Cheshire Vineyard and Zoey Black. The programme blends somatic practice and wellness strategies with the Ballroom Kiki Model as an engaging and impactful mechanism to empower queer and trans people and communities.
For queer and trans people, the body is often a site of trauma, surveillance, and violence, rather than one joy or freedom. Systemic transphobia and the legacy of spatial apartheid restrict not only where we can move but how we inhabit their own skin.
At Our House we choose celebration over spectacle, intimacy over extraction, abundance over scarcity. We depart from narratives that repeatedly frame our communities through pain, displacement and deficit, insisting instead on beauty, softness, humour, style, ceremony and collective care.
We are building the self-efficacy and resilience necessary to thrive abundantly.
Classes are held weekly, with 3 classes happening back to back.
Ballroom 101 is our staple class for fundamentals and we highly encourage everyone to addend. Education is key!
Vogue Femme, Old Way, Runway and Sex Siren classes are offered on a rotational basis, so check the calendar for which classes are happening when.
THE CLASSROOM
BALLROOM 101
This staple introductory class to the fundamentals of Ballroom culture, focusing on history, houses, technique, styles and categories. Through cultivating a supportive environment, this class is designed for all levels and genders to build confidence, knowledge, and find community within the larger Ballroom scene.
OLD WAY
This class teaches the foundational performance style originating in the 1960s, focusing on lines, precision and symmetry. Old Way emphasises angular poses inspired by fashion magazines, martial arts, and hieroglyphs. Open to all levels and genders.
VOGUE FEMME
This dance class teaches the five key elements (Hand Performance, Catwalk, Duckwalk, Floor Performance, and Spins & Dips) through understanding the deeper, emotional, and historical context of the movement and performance. This class builds confidence and skill for both beginner levels and competitive performance.
RUNWAY
Teaching two schools of walking, All-American Runway (masculine, sharp) and European Runway (feminine, expressive), this class is focused on elements like strutting, selling a look, and modelling with storytelling. This class is open to all levels and genders, building a powerful presence on the runway.
SEX SIREN
This embodied sex and sensuality class is focussed on sensual self-expression, confidence, and performance, utilising movement, body confidence, and sexual energy. This class is for all levels and genders, emphasising safety, sensuality and autonomy.
Project carried out with the support of Equality Without Borders, managed by the King Baudouin Foundation.
