- I've been a dancer for 15 years professionally.

(laid-back music) The best thing that I get out of dancing is just being able to be my authentic self.

Just as a creative in general, it is always great to just be yourself and hope that people either take it in or not and it be okay all the time.

So, growing up, my main focus was hip-hop.

Over time, it grew into contemporary, modern.

(laid-back electronic music) But outside of that, I do do a lot of advocacy work within the LGBT community.

(singer vocalizing) (lively music) Ooh, I think that where I am now, it is important to pass the torch to the younger generation and let them know that there are spaces for them to be able to be their authentic self, and I wanna be able to create that.

(gentle upbeat music) (gentle upbeat music continues) (gentle upbeat music continues) (vehicles humming) We are at Paradise Social Lounge.

It is a lounge that pretty much is a space for creatives to just either showcase themselves or prepare to showcase themselves.

Upstairs we have a couple of dance studios.

Right here is the event space that we are in.

The person that owns the building, her name is Vanessa Moore, I have known her for about 15 years.

I'm just glad to be in a space like this because we don't have enough spaces like this here in Milwaukee where you can just create and just really cultivate your craft.

And I'm just happy to have known her all these years and know that she is staying true to just, like, that mission, making sure that she keeps a space here for us to be able to build and grow and create and just be ourselves.

(chair clatters) (lively electronic music) I owned a dance company called Revamped Dance Company.

Within Revamped Dance Company, my proudest moment was being able to dance on the Pridefest stage at the Summerfest ground.

So the biggest stage I believe they had was the Johnson Controls Stage, and we pretty much headlined that stage for about eight years.

It was a lot of work, but we've had some great times.

I met some great people, one of the best experiences that I've had.

With that company specifically, I am so thankful for it because I've met some of the most profound, important people in my life (chuckles) right now.

I call 'em my super friends.

They know who they are.

(laughs) They helped me become the person that I am today as far as dance, as far as the passion behind it.

(lively electronic music continues) - Everybody, let's start back.

Thank you for a very good morning, and we're gonna turn it over to Buda.

(participants cheering and whistling) - Hello, ladies and gents.

- Whoo-ooh!

- Today's the day.

(performers screaming) I was reached out to by Maria Gillespie, who was spearheading it with David Rousseve, a series called the UWM Winterdances, (upbeat music) which was a series of dances that had different styles and different perspectives of what that style means to them.

At the end of the show was a Ballroom-style concept of dance.

Ballroom is a culture within the LGBT community where people within that community were able to just be.

Ballroom is a safe space as well for people to just be able to talk about whatever they're going through with their selected family.

Within those selected family, we call those houses.

Within those houses, you compete at balls, as they call them.

You compete for prizes, notoriety, representation.

(air blowing) (performers chattering) - What is a house ball?

- Yeah.

- Oh, you wanna know?

We'll show you.

DJ, pump the music!

- What?

(lively music) (performer shouting) - The space is just so lively.

It's almost like organized chaos, if that makes sense.

Like, some people are either gonna get it, and some people aren't, and sometimes that can be uncomfortable, but people fear what they don't understand.

So you have to lay it out in the best way possible to be able to do that.

- [Announcer] Candace D (shouts indistinctly)!

Laputa!

- I was very shocked because I'd never done anything as grand as this Ballroom-wise, but obviously I jumped on board.

I was ecstatic to be able to do it.

(audience cheering) Ballroom can be a raunchy culture.

(laughs) It can be.

Just in general, everybody's not gonna be able to take that.

That's just what that is.

Everybody's not gonna be able to receive that.

It doesn't mean that they're negative or malicious about it.

It's just out of their norm.

So they may just impulsively be like, "Whoa, that's too much," right?

So I think that David did a more phenomenal job at making a little more positive and comical and open and engaging and warm.

I thank David for that because I was very scared about how this is going to come out, obviously, originally, but he did a great job at conveying that message.

(announcer shouting indistinctly) - Oh!

(record scratching) - This is not that kind of a ball.

- [Performer] Yeah, exactly, yeah.

- Well, it is now.

- [Richard] The thing that I love the most about dance is that it was inviting.

I have a competitive spirit, and even when I was being competitive within the dance community, with my friends, it was always friendly.

(performers shouting and cheering) It's not just about dance.

I know creatives that can sing.

I know creatives that can play instruments.

I know creatives that can paint.

The creatives here need to be seen.

- Whoo!

(audience clapping) - [Audience Member] Whoo!

- [Announcer] Thanks for watching "The Arts Page."

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