This Is Our House: The Resurgence of New York’s Voguing Balls

Hector Xtravaganza (Grandfather of the House of Xtravaganza)

Voguing broke into pop culture in 1990 with the debut of Madonna’s black-and-white “Vogue” video, which was choreographed by Jose Xtravaganza. When he was introduced to the pop princess at an audition he saw “this woman sitting on top of a speaker, with a long trench coat and all of her hair under a newspaper boy’s hat. Very stylish. She said to me, ‘I heard you’re the shit. I heard you’re the one who can do this vogue thing, and I wanna see.’” And thus the House of Xtravaganza inspired the first of the Material Girl’s manly reinventions.

Carmen Xtravaganza

House mother Carmen Xtravaganza (who I personally watched grow from a precocious brat into a beacon of responsibility) helps new members find themselves and make the transition into the transgender lifestyle. “I see them as they are, and how I was at their age, and how I struggled to become the person that I am—though they have it so much easier now.”

Q Xtravaganza

So what’s the philosophy of the House of Xtravaganza? According to Jose it’s a simple command for perpetual readiness: “To come done.”

Photography by Victoria Will. Special thanks to Greg Brier and Amalia.