♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Waves crashing ] [ Up-tempo percussion music ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Music fades ] [ Waves continue crashing ] Wiles: The ancestors left us with hope.

Hope that we will continue the search for the meaning to life.

How do we find this understanding in a world that is still unknown to man... ...a life that is measured by time?

Hope.

Hope keeps pushing us forward in time, waiting for that day to find peace on Earth.

[ Waves crashing ] Time is not given.

It is already set for us to use it well.

The elders used storytelling as a way to remember the past and to teach the future generations.

[ Women vocalizing ] The future must not forget that there are lessons in those stories passed down.

[ Mid-tempo music playing ] Events in time, big and small, to further shape our ways of living.

♪♪ We are forever exploring self-expression, living in the moment and taking risks.

Finding our way in this life is not easy.

♪♪ Creating bonds that influence the paths we walk... every choice is affected by our surroundings and the connections we make with others.

We leave footprints in everyday routines.

Our past, present, and future measured by the time we spend learning from our mistakes and finding inspiration through... ...shared experiences.

♪♪ ♪♪ I always wanted... ...to be that American boy.

[ Chuckles ] I always wanted to live that American dream.

Right?

That's what we see as foreigners.

That coming here to the States, your dreams can come true.

That in those dark places in the world where opportunity... ...is not a resource... ...it was very difficult to find yourself.

It was very difficult to know that you had a chance to survive.

You don't always have to think staccato and, like, pose, pose, pose.

There's still, like, this whole groove that you can play with and there's still this little box that you can play within with the music, like... Yeah.

You can still dance and still sell face.

Both of y'all sell face differently, but it's very strong, right?

You both have these smiles that, like, when you smile I wanna watch you, right?

Like, y'all both have that.

So it's like, use that.

you have this elegance in it, And you have this elegance in it, but y'all also both could be very shady.

And this -- But the shady looks cute on y'all.

So, like, tap into that as well.

But, like, even when you're dancing, it's like... [ Indistinct conversation ] Personality.

One thing that he's taking over the battle is that he's being pers-- he's being... Man: Dynamic.

Right.

Dynamic with the personality.

It's relatable.

But you have to -- You have all -- You got to be able to hit that, make the emphasis.

The emphasis is going to draw me into that.

[ Up-tempo music playing ] ♪♪ [ Indistinct cheering ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Indistinct cheering continues ] ♪♪ I remember the communities, the kids start coming up... ...singing songs that they were taught from their parents, from their elders.

I remember us playing in the streets.

I remember watching drummers marching down... playing rhythms... ...telling stories... ...passing down history and knowledge.

Those are traditions.

Those are things that you pass down.

We call them [indistinct].

Drum circles.

Dance circles.

Traditions are not just... song and dance.

Traditions are... [ Indistinct conversations ] ...the way that we gathered together, the reasons why we gathered together.

Man: There's a couple of them out there.

Woman: Oh, my God.

The fourth one is successful too.

Traditions allowed us... to have some hope for our future generations.

[ Mechanical whirring ] Well, good.

That's -- I mean, that's one thing the ball needs to have more of is family.

Everything's not just about a competition.

But honestly, if you build more family bonds, the reason that -- that gives you more reason to want to go to that competition -- to support your sister and your brother get out there.

So I think that's important, developing bonds outside the ball that makes you want to go to the ball.

Let's pass it on.

Poodah: Hi, everybody.

My name is Poodah.

Man: Hi, Poodah.

[ Speaks indistinctly ] I'm from Jersey.

What I like about ballroom is...

Some people call it a fantasy world, a fantasy land.

But in reality, you know, a ballroom scene is a community.

It's a big family.

[ Music playing indistinctly ] And we lean onto it to help motivate us, to help inspire us.

I've leaned onto ballroom to push me as a leader.

It has pushed me.

It has made me a leader.

♪♪ It's made me a founder.

It's made me a father.

[ Indistinct conversation, cheering ] It made me more confident.

Is ballroom a safe space?

I can't say that it's a safe space.

I can say that it is a space that... gives you tough skin.

It is a competition world.

It is still a battle.

♪♪ And I think what ballroom does is allow us... ♪♪ ...to battle in a space within our peers to prepare us for the real battle outside of life, outside of the ball.

Some of us are, like, lucky enough to be born with a place on this Earth.

Many of us have to fight for it.

And for us ballroom, you know, ballroom is our way to fight our fight for us to be heard, our battle for us to be seen, our fight for us to prove to the rest of the world that we deserve value as much as anybody else on this Earth.

That's what we've been fighting for.

We're still seen as ugly or flawed because, you know, we're people of color, because we are queer, because we are feminine, because many of us are trans, many of us are... are poor, are from places that are not seen as valuable.

But ballroom is our place to show our worth and to show our value, to fight for that spotlight everyone has -- a lot of people have been given or handed to them.

You know, for us that's -- that's what we fight for.

And, you know, every year, every -- every time I see ballroom, it gets to a better and bigger place.

Now we get, you know -- documentaries are now being held in high regard, winning film festivals.

We have our mainstream shows like "Pose" and "Legendary," but that isn't enough.

People think that voguing is just, "Hey!"

But it means so much more.

It's sacred to us because that's our life.

And, you know, for the future, it's really for us to be treasured not just as models, not just as figures, not as just "yes [no audio]," but as real valuable human beings, people with actual stories and people with -- with battles.

♪♪ Emcee: Ladies and gentlemen, you have seen this woman walk numerous amount of times and win.

And, ladies and gentlemen, she is here tonight for a $1,000 reveal!

From the House of Oricci, [indistinct].

♪ O-R-I-C-C-I ♪ ♪♪ Wiles: NiNa Oricci, the house itself... we are just potential... in this world.

And everyone that walks through the doors, they have the opportunity to make the house what they see it for themselves and for their ballroom careers.

They also have the opportunity to be able to share these experiences with people that... ♪♪ ...they might have never even shared a conversation with in the beginning.

♪♪ The House of NiNa Oricci, it's... it's welcoming all walks of life.

It's welcoming people from all backgrounds.

♪♪ We are a melting pot that's allowing each other to... to share with one another.

Something about sharing that last name, it's something about having that family bond, going through life with people.

It's not just about walking the ball.

To be in a ballroom house, it's different from just being in ballroom... because being a ballroom house, you're not just thinking about yourself.

But again, you're thinking about the house as a collective, how you all represent the house, how you all come together to battle, how you all come together to hit the floor, how you all come together to scream and to shout and to cheer each other on, to support one another.

It takes us back to family.

It takes us back to those roots of it takes a village to raise a child.

The house of NiNa Oricci... when I look at... the type of people we attract... ...it is different from any other house I've seen.

The people are different.

The intention is different.

I see people joining Oricci... ...who really, you know... ...they are looking for... for more than just a trophy.

♪ Happy birthday to you ♪ ♪ Happy birthday, dear Omari ♪ ♪ Happy birthday to you ♪ [ Cheers and applause ] We love you!

♪ I know you wanna be [indistinct] ♪ ♪ But you can never be all about that royalty ♪ ♪ O ♪ ♪ Oricci ♪ [ Laughter ] [ Indistinct conversations ] So when we first started this house, my expectations was was very, very high.

I thought it was about to be the next Balenciaga, the next Khan and West and Ebony.

But, um...

I had to understand we had to, like, crawl before we could walk.

And my expectations for this house is just to be great, to have everything that Omari and myself has accomplished and more.

I am a person that has over hundreds of trophies I have over the years.

Omari hisself has, over the years, trophies and also built careers from ballroom.

And we just want the same thing.

That's my expectations.

Have the same thing that we have.

These are like-minded people that you're sharing adventures and times with.

Y'all going to balls, you got traveling to balls, you got shopping for balls.

you're at the table.

Y'all was there when fight broke out, y'all was there when your girlfriend got chopped, y'all was there when your girlfriend got her 10s.

You know, like, not only are y'all a family, y'all have the same -- same things in common... but when you're out there on the floor, y'all share the same passion to be out on the floor.

Y'all share that same competitive spirit to say, "Oh, no, my girlfriends, my family is gonna do this tonight.

Like, I'm here representing my family."

That type of togetherness and strength, that's how that balances out, because you could be competitive and it could just be nasty and a shady situation, you know, but then you can have a family that is all competitive and so you're not by yourself trying to be out here doing this.

You're with a group -- a strong supportive group -- and that's where it plays hand to hand.

Ballroom is different all the way around the board for me.

You have a voguer who just comes to -- who learned from going to vogue [indistinct] and going to vogue classes versus somebody who... found people that learned how to vogue in the ballroom scene and was hanging with them and saw to learn how to vogue.

There are two different dynamics, and right now that's what the battle is.

That's what the battle is within ballroom.

So, it's not that -- And that's the pro and the con too.

So many people now are part of it because they -- just because it's something to be a part of versus being a part of it because... it's part of you.

And I think the House of NiNa Oricci... ...is treading a very -- it's a thin line.

But it leans more to... the older, and that's because of the foundation.

And I remember the older generation complaining about the way we would vogue and saying we was this and we was that.

And now, because they didn't understand that times were changing, that we were no longer in that space, we're in this space now... And I get it.

That can be hard to... ...accept.

I am the legendary Omari Oricci, y'all.

[ Cheers and applause ] And I'm here with my friends, the House of Oricci, and I'm here with the company Les Ballet Afrik, and we're going to show you a little bit of what we do in terms of ballroom, right?

And what that means to be ballroom, what that means is to be inspired by ballroom, right?

We're going to show you... Les Ballet Afrik is a legacy.

It is my baby.

It is something that I want to leave behind when I'm long gone.

Les Ballet Afrik... are my friends, my brothers, my sisters... my daughters, my sons... my friends... ...my family.

We got the legendary founding mother.

Gillette Oricci is in the building.

♪ Can you models walk?

♪ ♪ Can you fashion walk?

♪ ♪ Give you grace and attitude ♪ How do you underst-- it's about to be like that.

Wait a minute.

Wait a minute.

Wait a minute now.

Every single person in the company...

...I met them in a different way, in a different place.

But we all came together because of dance.

♪♪ The company was created to create work that represented the lives within ballroom... to be able to tell those stories.

♪♪ But the company was also created to thread our ancestry between Afro and Latino backgrounds and cultures... to ballroom.

Again, so before, like, I mentioned... you know, traditions are passed down and you never want to lose those traditions.

♪♪ The company Les Ballet Afrik gives me the opportunity to be able to create spaces so that people within the LGBT community, within the ballroom community... ...can have something to latch on to, to hold on to... to have a story to be able to tell.

Five, six, five, six, seven and... [ Up-tempo music playing ] Yep!

♪♪ [ Indistinct ] ♪♪ Yes.

♪♪ Hey, yeah.

♪♪ Yeah!

Come on.

[ Chuckles ] Yo!

♪♪ Ha!

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ I'm not really... Maybe... Maybe it's just y'all go back.

Man: [ Indistinct ] Yeah, but, like, come to center.

Like, meet each other at center, and then walk back.

Can y'all go closer?

I'm sorry.

I'm just a stickler about detail.

Can y'all come closer to each other?

And then walk backwards.

No, no.

Face the audience.

You're talking to the audience still, so just walk backwards as the curtain is closing.

Yeah.

[ Women vocalizing ] ♪♪ Ballroom inspired me to create Les Ballet Afrik and inspired me to create the House of Oricci.

It was my journey through ballroom.

♪♪ It was the lessons that I learned from my family.

It was the disciplines that they put onto me that made me feel like I deserved this.

Right?

Like I'm worthy of this.

I can do this.

I wanted to be a historian within this community.

♪♪ So creating a company that would gain the respect... professionally and in creating a house that would gain the respect of a community...

I could have just been another dancer at a company and I could have been just another house member in another house.

♪♪ But I can truly say that I wouldn't feel fulfilled.

♪♪ I wouldn't feel like my mission on this earth is complete.

I wouldn't feel like I am filling... the shoes of my mom and my dad.

♪♪ They were historians.

They passed down traditions.

♪♪ So I feel like that is a part of my legacy.

I have to then carry that on.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪