AUGUST 7, 2026
HET CONCERTGEBOUW, AMSTERDAM
OPUS 1 BALL: The Ballroom Scene in Focus
What you see here is ballroom beyond the ball, born from the campaign for the Opus 1 Ball. A portrayed impression of the performers and houses who keep this culture alive in the Netherlands and beyond, shown the way the scene wants to present itself.
Ballroom is competition, community and art form at once. It emerged within Black queer and transgender communities, rooted in late nineteenth-century Harlem, in gatherings Langston Hughes once called a "parade of the fairies." By the late 1960s it had taken the form we know today: a scene built around houses.
Here and now
This movement is no longer only American. In the Netherlands, Belgium and across Europe, ballroom has built a thriving scene of its own: its own houses, its own balls, a new generation of walkers. It honours the foundations laid in Harlem, themselves rooted in older sub-Saharan African (diasporic) traditions of survival, resistance and cultural continuity, while translating them into a context of its own. The images in this exhibition are a portrait of that. Not an archive from New York, but the people shaping ballroom here, now.
Traditionally, a house is a chosen family, a home for those rejected elsewhere. In its contemporary form it is equally an art collective: under a shared name its members compete together for the honour of the house, because five is stronger than one. At a ball, the walkers battle across an ever-expanding range of categories. The classic ones rest on three shared pillars: precision, style and grace. A battle without violence, fought through dance, fashion and presence.
Not a ball
None of these images were shot during a ball. They are staged shoots, made for the Opus 1 Ball campaign, ballroom for the lens rather than the floor. Much like a ball, this exhibition asks not how a person is perceived, but how they wish to be perceived.
Shade, reading and clock it, terms often coined by Black trans women that began in ballroom before reaching wider culture. Paris Is Burning and Pose made ballroom visible worldwide, but the scene existed long before those cameras, and lives far beyond their frame.
7 August 2026, Opus 1 Ball
This exhibition is a prelude. On 7 August 2026, during World Pride Amsterdam 2026, we bring ballroom and classical music together on the stage of Het Concertgebouw. For the first time in the history of Het Concertgebouw and Amsterdam Sinfonietta, the classical tradition opens itself to a new dialogue: one that asks who this music is really for, and what it might still become.
Two worlds that rarely meet, one evening together on the catwalk. These photographs introduce the scene behind it.
Opus 1 Ball is a co-production of Black Pride Ball Amsterdam and Amsterdam Sinfonietta, in collaboration with FOR ALL QUEENS! and Het Concertgebouw.
Exhibition
All photographs are clickable, if you want to look closer at them.
Come see the exhibition in real life, on Museum square Amsterdam 15th to 22th of june
Celine Miyake-Mugler
NL
FQ Performance
Foto: Yomi Rabiu, 2026 Opus 1 Ball
Overall Mother Icon Exotic Miyake-Mugler
Atlanta
Face
Foto: Matias Batalle, 2026 Opus 1 Ball
(From left to right) Chanel West, Legendary Giselle Revlon, Tanatswa Agent,
Netherlands, Paris, UK
FF Performance, Realness & Face, Face
Lil Kim Juicy Couture Balenciaga
New York
Realness
Foto: Matias Batalle, 2026 Opus 1 Ball
Prince Dizzy Vineyard/Dutch Mother Delilah Telfar
Netherlands
Vogue Femme
Foto:Yomi Rabiu, 2026 Opus 1 Ball
Dutch Father Perry Xclusive Lanvin
Netherlands
Sex Siren and Precision Haircut
Foto: Matias Batalle, 2026 Opus 1 Ball
TJ Vineyard
Netherlands
Vogue Femme
Foto:Yomi Rabiu, 2026 Opus 1 Ball
European Overseer Zelda Fitzgerald Exclusive Lanvin
Belgium
Commentator vs Commentator and Lip-Synch Performance
Foto:Matias Batalle], 2026 Opus 1 Ball
From left to right) Legendary Giselle Revlon, Tanatswa Agent, Chanel West,
Paris, UK, Netherlands
Realness & face, Face, FF Performance
Musici left to right: Stefano Bruno, Ernst Grapperhaus, Madelyn Kowalski
Foto: Dion Bal, 2026 Opus 1 Ball
From left to right) Tanatswa Agent, Legendary Giselle Revlon & Chanel West
UK, Paris, Netherlands
Face, Realness & Face, FF Performance
Foto: Dion Bal, 2026 Opus 1 Ball
Concept by
Zelda Dapaah Fitzgerald (FOR ALL QUEENS!)
& Candida Thompson (Amsterdam Sinfonietta)
Exhibition Curated by
Priscilla Macintosh
Creative Director
Zoë Eleni Bab
Consultant
Perry Gits
Executive Producer
Zoë Eleni Bab
Producer
Tyra Koning
Production Assistant
Tatiana Rosa
Runners
Barros
Ash Esfarani
Gaffer
Eugene Berkovski
Gaffer
Matias Batallé
Set Design
Cheriva Raisa
Zelda Dapaah Fitzgerald (FOR ALL QUEENS!)
& Candida Thompson (Amsterdam Sinfonietta)
Exhibition Curated by
Priscilla Macintosh
Creative Director
Zoë Eleni Bab
Consultant
Perry Gits
Executive Producer
Zoë Eleni Bab
Producer
Tyra Koning
Production Assistant
Tatiana Rosa
Runners
Barros
Ash Esfarani
Gaffer
Eugene Berkovski
Gaffer
Matias Batallé
Set Design
Cheriva Raisa
Badr Amajjar
Stylist
Max van Heuvel
Dresser:
Ash Esfarani
Make-Up Artist
Thirza King
Hair Artist
Yasmin Orion
Hair Artist
Virtuous Styles
Graphic Design
Floor Toebes
Special Thanks
Paleis van de Weemoed,
Designs by Aron Sax & Princesa Hardcore,
Jonovia Chase,
Micheal Roberson & Astrid Elburg