GNSE CLASS OF 2020

Mo’s thesis draws on interviews with members of the ballroom community and his own experience at balls to ask: if ballroom has become so mainstream - many of its regular attendees and those who consume its representations in media are straight and white - does its current manifestation depart from the scene’s radical roots as a queer space of resistance? Mo’s engagement with interviews and foundational queer texts leads him to re-define resistance, through critical attention to the ways that joy and pleasure contribute to queer and trans folks’ survival. Survival alone is a form of resistance in a world that was not built for you.