In a large gallery at New Zealand’s national museum in Wellington, a 600-strong crowd cheered as a group of fabulously dressed performers took to the stage. In impossibly high heels, the predominantly Māori and Pasifika performers twisted their arms into geometric forms and contorted their bodies. Others paraded highly stylised costumes, embodying the struts and poses of supermodels, while a panel of judges presided over the show like royalty.
This was a vogue ball, a form of performance and self-expression developed by a queer Black and Latinx subculture in 1960s Harlem that has found life in New Zealand’s Māori and Pasifika queer communities. Ballroom culture, where collectives called ‘houses’ compete in ‘walks’ before judges, has been growing in New Zealand for over a decade, led by trans Pasifika and Māori people seeking safe spaces.
“There is something visceral about seeing black, brown, queer, indigenous bodies so authentically and unapologetically be themselves,” said Cypris Afakasi, known as Fatheir Fang of the Auckland-based Kiki House of Coven-Aucoin. Karamera, a Māori artist and house mother of Wellington’s Kiki House of Marama, added, “Every day for us is a survival … ballroom is an outlet for resistance.”
Early on, performances were held in living rooms; two years later, Karamera’s house has 16 members and venues have expanded to the national museum, Te Papa Tongarewa, which held the largest ever ball in New Zealand in October. “They were such an example of allyship,” Karamera said. Te Papa’s public programming manager, Rachel Fox, noted ballroom’s increasing visibility in New Zealand, partly due to public institutions platforming the culture.
While drawing from New York’s scene, the New Zealand community has taken on a distinct Māori and Pasifika tone in music, styling and cultural references. It also serves as a platform for political resistance: at a ball in late 2024, House of Marama member Kiwi ripped up a paper depicting the government’s controversial treaty principles bill, echoing a protest in parliament.
