The Category is Ballroom

The Category is Ballroom

Author: International Festival of Arts & Ideas October 31, 2023 Duration: 59:41

Strike a pose! Drag performer and Beyoncé impersonator Miss Shalae and ball performer Aishah “Spyder” Murray discuss the roots of ball culture, an art form that originated in the queer and trans BIPOC community in the late 19th century. Today’s ball attendees dance, vogue, and serve looks in a range of fashion styles. If you loved FX’s hit Pose, a drama spotlighting the legends, icons, and ferocious house mothers of New York’s underground balls, this talk is for you.

Michell'e Michaels - Beyonce Impersonator
Michell’e Michaels is a Bay Area native. Born and raised in Oakland California. She is known as the “#1 Beyonce impersonator in the world.” She has lit stages on fire from California to Paris leaving ashes behind. She is an artist in her own right as she uses Beyoncé’s music to tell a story and share a message from a black woman of trans experience perspective. Michell’e is a staple in the ballroom community as the overall mother and co-founder of the Haus of Basquiat and prides herself in helping educate the community by working with nonprofits on issues faced by the LGBT people.

Aishah "Spyder" Murray - Ball performer
Spyder is an internationally known Legend deemed for Old Way and Women’s Performance. Former mother of a prestigious Ballroom house From NYC, Spyder is an androgynous woman who is a Temple University graduate with a BA in Film and Media Arts and a graduate of Mohawk Valley Community College with an Associates in Graphic Design. Spyder hopes to change the negative images of her community in mass media on stage and behind the camera and also bring them to the big screen. She believes that her family, spiritual beliefs, working hard, truly going for what you want, and never taking no for an answer is the key to her success! A member of mainstream Ballroom for over 10 years, the Kiki scene, and the WBT scene she holds a host of knowledge that she hopes to share in order to inspire the next generation of Ballroom and those she inspires.

Thanks for listening and don't forget to subscribe on YouTube!


From the vibrant stages and conversations of New Haven's International Festival of Arts & Ideas comes Great Art, Big Ideas, a podcast that captures the festival's spirit of curious collision. Here, a choreographer might explain the geometry of movement alongside a physicist, or a playwright's process illuminates a community's untold history. This isn't a lecture series; it's a collection of dialogues where artistic practice and intellectual inquiry are inseparable, exploring everything from the deeply serious to the delightfully whimsical. Each episode is built on the belief that a novel and a scientific hypothesis can spark similar wonder, and that a performance can challenge assumptions as powerfully as a debate. You'll hear artists, thinkers, and innovators discuss the pressing topics that shape our local communities and the wider world, offering perspectives that often subvert expectations. Tuning into this podcast means accessing the festival's eclectic programming year-round, discovering how a single idea, examined through different lenses, can fundamentally shift your point of view. The conversations are designed to linger, prompting new connections long after the episode ends. It’s for anyone who finds fuel in the space where disciplines meet, where a big idea gives art its resonance and great art makes an idea tangible.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 37

Great Art, Big Ideas
Podcast Episodes
Women Navigating the New Normal: Exploring Prison Re-Entry [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 38:45
An honest discussion about the difficulties women face when returning home after prison, between Babz Rawls-Ivy and Tiheba Bain, who have been through the experience.Thanks for listening and don't forget to subscribe on…
Cultivating Community Through Business Entrepreneurship [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 47:12
Business entrepreneurs Jason Sobocinski, founder and owner of Black Hog Brewing Company, and Alisha Crutchfield-McLean, founder and owner of BLOOM, New Haven’s newest lifestyle hub, unite for a seminar on how to build a…
Andrea Jenkins: Black Love in the time of Social Justice [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 36:35
Minneapolis city council president Andrea Jenkins made national headlines in 2017 after becoming the country’s first out Black trans person elected to public office. In 2022 she created history again when voted council p…
Black Food with Bryant Terry [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:05:39
Critically acclaimed author, chef, and food justice activist Bryant Terry discusses his 2022 James Beard nominated books Black Food: Stories, Art, and Recipes from Across the African Diaspora and Vegetable Kingdom. Bryan…
The Power of Choice in Climate Change [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:03:11
In this episode Paul Greenberg talks about the future of our oceans and how we can make changes to help the environment. Greenberg’s writings on oceans, climate change, and the environment appears regularly in The New Yo…
Great Art, Big Ideas Trailer [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:28
Introducing Great Art, Big Ideas Podcast from the International Festival of Arts & Ideas in New Haven, CT. This series delves into the most pressing topics in our local community and around the world. All of this season'…