Lasseindra Ninja

The mother. The matriarch. The creator, pioneer and keeper of the culture. Lasseindra Ninja, a French child of black immigrants, made Paris burn by bringing Ballroom to France. Not the ballroom of Waltz and Foxtrot, but that of queer and trans, black and brown people, who created this safe haven in the 1960s. They needed this space so they could be celebrated free from discrimination. Today, even though the world keeps progressing, these spaces are still necessary and growing strong. 

Traditionally in balls, participants vogue, walk like models in one-of-a-kind fashion creations or prove their ability to “pass” as straight. They also battle on the runway to win grand prizes for their houses (the social structure that defines chosen families). While this might sound like an underground event, the political ripple effects it has on mainstream culture are as widespread as the scene itself.

Ballroom started in the USA in the 1960s, where Lasseindra Ninja discovered it as a teenager. She started going to Balls, and was mesmerised by the freedom of the people; freedom to be who they wanted to be, celebrating queerness with even more power than the discrimination they faced in everyday life. Lasseindra had found her home.

Back in France, she started sharing her knowledge with a small group of people. Together with her sister Nikki Gucci, the International Mother of the Gorgeous House of Gucci, she made the scene grow in Paris, and eventually Europe. Fast-forward to today, and Lasseindra is the Legendary Mother of the Iconic House of Ninja -a title she doesn’t take lightly.

By pushing the scene forward and teaching ballroom as a culture, as opposed to teaching voguing as a dance style, she keeps breaking the hegemonic rules of what dance and culture are and who they are for. Through Ballroom, she nurtures young queer people of colour, providing them with a place of love and acceptance, as well as tools for survival. Ballroom teaches them that living your truth is fabulous, and being fabulous is the best way to fight racism, homophobia and transphobia.