The queer liberation of Hong Kong’s burgeoning underground ballroom scene
Kiki House of Sassy Savage, inspired by a global proliferation of ballroom subculture, is building a safe space for queer expression
Wings are unfurled. Horns glint under purple lights. Figures strut and spin down a narrow runway as music throbs and cheers echo off the walls in a studio tucked away in Kennedy Town. It is a balmy Saturday night in April, and this is no ordinary costume party. Forbidden Forest Ball is a performance and queer self-expression in Hong Kong’s growing underground ballroom scene, a subculture grown from the marginalised queer and transgender communities of 1970s Harlem in New York, offering sanctuary for those who feel pushed to the fringes.
Since launching in 2020, the house has grown into a family of 11 members, united not just by craft but by kinship.
“On that runway, you get your moment,” says Kiki. “Even if it’s just 45 seconds, that’s your spotlight. You’re powerful. You’re free.”
For the uninitiated, the idea of balls may conjure Viennese waltzes or society galas. But in the queer scene, the term is loaded with subversion, deliberately borrowing the language of the elite to reframe acts of resistance and reimagination. Ballroom, here, is a creative battleground, as well as a safe haven, where walkers compete in categories such as Runway, Realness, Face and Performance (Vogue): where beauty, gender and identity can be reimagined on their own terms.