Get Your Tens

“Get your tens”

The judging panel is often composed of those who have achieved legendary (ten years of winning categories) or iconic (twenty years of winning categories) status. The panel is made up of elders. It is their duty to uphold the high standards of the Ballroom Scene through the dispersal of “tens.” For one to “get their tens” means that for at least one round of competition the individual meets the standard of “realness” necessary to compete within the ballroom, and to win the category means that the individual meets the standard of the daytime. This particular feature of the Ballroom scene extends back at least to the 1920s. In A Spectacle in Color: The Lesbian and Gay Subculture of Jazz Age Harlem, Eric Garber notes notes, “Harlem costume balls,” were places “where both men and women could dress as they pleased and dance with whom they wished” (5). According to Garber, noted queer Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes coined the term “spectacles in color” (5). Hughes claimed in, “This dance has been going on a long time,” asserted Hughes, “and is very famous among the male masqueraders of the eastern seaboard, who come from Boston and Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Atlantic City to attend” (Garber 5). Hughes insight informs my research. I have traveled to each of the cities listed to film Pier Kids, and have also included Atlanta, and Hollywood Florida to witness the current iteration of Hughes’ “spectacles in color.” It is important to note that Vogue Knights is the second evening event at Escuelita’s targeted towards the Ballroom scene. On Sunday nights one can also witness Rumble Ball where one can witness or participate in “beauty contest[s], in which fashionably dressed drags would vie for” various titles from Femme Queen Realness, Femme Queen Sex Siren, Thug Realness and so forth. The fashionable element is also an important aspect of the Ballroom scene to highlight.