The BlaqOUT Legacy Kiki Ball @ UC Riverside
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| Image from: https://www.karukerament.com/english-blog/eugenie-grandit-une-fiction-pour-un-futurisme-diasporique--8kbwh |
The IE LGBTQ+ Center presents...
The BlaqOUT Legacy Kiki Ball
Hosted by Essence Pink Lady
With DJ TinTin 007
with Co-Commentators:
Sneakyy Pink Lady
& Legendary Mother Calypso Jeté Pink Lady
Organized by Don’Té Peaches & STROM Productions,
in partnership with UCR Black Queer Collective, UCR ASP, UCR LGBT-RC.
An Open-to-All, Student & Community Kiki Ball
Saturday October 24th, 2026 @ 5pm-9pm
FREE ADMISSION!
UC Riverside
900 University Ave, Riverside, CA 92507
Highlander Uninion Building. HUB 302 North
Park in Lot 1, 24 or 26, then walk to "The HUB"
UCR Campus Map: https://campusmap.ucr.edu/?id=2106
BlaqOUT Legacy Kiki Ball Theme:
Alien Superstar: Cosmic Glamour & Celestial Beauty
This year we want to honor Afro-Futurism, Black people in outer space,
Black cosmology, Blerds (Black-nerds), and scientific innovation of our Black community.
This Kiki Ball is open to all who wish to participate with respectand joy in the growing IE Kiki House Ballroom Culture.
A quick note to our Ballroom Community:
In Ballroom, we know “blackout” can mean nobody in a House walks categories—but that’s not what BlaqOUT means here! BlaqOUT is the name of a Black LGBTQ+ movement founded in 2014, now continuing as BlaqOUT Legacy. The categories are OPEN, so come walk, come serve, and come celebrate the LEGACY.
Student & Virgin Categories
UCR College Students, & local Virgins/first-time-at-a-ball (18+).
2- CHOP RULE (No cash prizes for student categories, just trophies)
Student & Virgin Vogue, 1 trophy
MF Vogue Medal
FF Vogue Medal
GNC Vogue Medal
OVERALL VIRGIN PERFORMANCE TROPHY
“In a skirt, scarf, sash, shirt, or handkerchief, bring it to the floor with the Pan-African colors.
Student & Virgin, Runway, 1 trophy
All-American Runway Medal
European Runway Medal
OVERALL VIRGIN RUNWAY TROPHY
“Stars, Constellations and Astrometrics: Bring it to the floor ordained with Stars!”
Student & Virgin, Best Dressed vs. Urban Streetwear, 1 trophy
Best Dressed Medal
Urban Streetwear Medal
OVERALL STUDENT & VIRGIN FASHION Trophy
“It’s the celestial ballroom fashion show! This year’s theme is BlaQ Afro-futurism.
Bring it to the floor in your “out of this world” GALA best (Best Dressed),
or show us up with your own “Terran” DIY design and style (Streetwear).”
Kiki Categories
Performance, 1 trophy & $200
BQ, medal
Twister, medal
FQ, medal
BQID, medal
Womens, medal
Transmasc, medal
Old Way, medal
New Way, medal
GNC, medal
Legends/Icons, medal
AeroAfroAstro: bring it to the floor in your best astronaut,
spacewear, NASA Scientist, or space explore effect. Must bring photo reference.
Runway, 1 trophy & $150
Small boys
Tall boys
Big Boys
Big Girls Runway
All-American
GNC
Female Figure
Have you done your star chart?
Bring it to the floor in your astrological sign.
(any cultural astrology is acceptable, but be sure to tell the judges what you are representing with a photo reference).
Realness, 1 trophy & $100
BQ Executive: Captain Benjamin Sisko, Deep Space 9
BQ Everyday: Finn, The Force Awakens
BQ Pretty Boy: Cadet Caleb Mir, Star Trek Academy
BQ Schoolboy: Yord Fandar, The Acolyte
BQ Thug: Worf, The Next Generation / Deep Space 9 / Picard
FF: Nyota Uhura, Star Trek: The Original Series
Butch: Osha, The Acolyte
Transman: Lando Calrissian, The Empire Strikes Back / Solo
Legends/Icons: Captain Freeman (FF), Mace Windu (MF)
STAR TREK Vs. STAR WARS! SHOW US YOUR BLERD REALNESS.
Bring a Photo Reference.
OTA Shake-That-Ass, 1 trophy & $50
SHAKE THAT ASS FOR THE SPACE JAM!
Bring it to the floor as one of the characters of Space Jam & remember your photo reference.
Face, 1 trophy & $100
MF Face,medal
FF Face, medal
GNC Face, medal
“Stats in the eyes, glamour of space!
Bring diamonds on your best celestial face!”
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TABLE RESERVATIONS ARE FOR
WALKING KIKI HOUSES ONLY Tables are limited! Please contact Don'Té Peaches for reservation.
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THIS BALL WILL START
AND END ON TIME!
WE WILL FINISH THE BALL BEFORE THE VENUE CLOSES!
SO BE ON TIME! AND DON’T MISS YOUR CATEGORY!
This Kiki Ball is organized & produced by ST.O.R.M. Productions: @stormproductions.ie
Don’Té Peaches, Executive Producer
Essence Pink Lady, Associate Producer
Sneakyy Q Pink Lady, Associate Producer
Amadi Peaches, Associate Producer Rito Peaches, Associate Producer
Eden Callahan 007, Associate Producer
BlaqOUT Legacy is the evolution of the BlaqOUT Conference, founded by Toi Thibodeaux in 2014 while serving at UC Riverside’s LGBT Resource Center. What began at UC Riverside quickly grew beyond a single campus, becoming a traveling experience dedicated to celebrating, connecting, and uplifting Black LGBTQ+ communities.
From its early years, BlaqOUT’s reach extended well beyond its host campuses. Conferences held at UC Riverside attracted participants from across California, throughout the United States, and internationally, including participants from the Caribbean, Nigeria, Brazil, and Canada. That international reach continued through virtual programming, demonstrating that the community and movement surrounding BlaqOUT were never confined to one campus, institution, or geographic location.
After its launch, the BlaqOUT Conference expanded throughout the University of California system. UC Riverside hosted the first three conferences before BlaqOUT traveled to UC Davis, returned to UC Riverside, and then continued to UC Santa Cruz. The conference was scheduled to continue its journey at UC Berkeley in 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted plans for the next in-person gathering.
BlaqOUT remained active through the disruption. In May 2022, founder Toi Thibodeaux hosted the virtual BlaqOUT Mini Summit, a free, one-day online gathering designed to reconnect the BlaqOUT community and build excitement for the return of the Annual BlaqOUT Conference. Featuring BlaqOUT alumni keynote speakers, the Mini Summit welcomed undergraduate and graduate students, staff, faculty, community members, and activists. The virtual format further expanded BlaqOUT’s international reach, bringing together participants from within and outside the United States for networking, empowerment, and critical community building within Black/African Diaspora and LGBTQIA+ communities.
Just months later, BlaqOUT returned to an in-person format. UC Berkeley hosted the 7th Annual BLAQOUT! Conference in October 2022 under the theme Blaq in Action, continuing BlaqOUT’s tradition of moving beyond its original campus and creating spaces for Black LGBTQ+ community, culture, education, activism, and connection.
More than a decade after its founding, BlaqOUT is entering its next chapter. With Toi now serving as Director of the IE LGBTQ+ Center powered by TruEvolution, the original vision is expanding from the BlaqOUT Conference into BlaqOUT Legacy a broader platform that carries the history, purpose, and spirit of BlaqOUT forward through year-round programs, cultural experiences, community gatherings, and signature events.
The BlaqOUT Legacy Kiki Ball marks the beginning of this next chapter. Rather than being a standalone event, the Kiki Ball serves as the first of a growing collection of BlaqOUT Legacy programs, workshops, educational experiences, cultural events, and community gatherings. The format is expanding, but the foundation remains rooted in the work and vision Toi established through BlaqOUT in 2014. BlaqOUT Legacy allows that original vision to grow beyond the conference model and create new opportunities for Black LGBTQ+ community, culture, education, empowerment, and connection throughout the year.
Today, BlaqOUT Legacy is hosted by the IE LGBTQ+ Center powered by TruEvolution, providing a new home for the continued growth and evolution of the work while honoring the campuses, organizers, students, alumni, and community members who helped build BlaqOUT along the way.
For a look back at the history and evolution of the original BlaqOUT Conference, including highlights from its early years, programming, and growth across campuses, visit the original BlaqOUT Conference webpage. While the page does not capture the full history of BlaqOUT, it provides a general overview of its development and journey over the years:
https://blaqoutucr.blogspot.com/
BlaqOUT started with a conference. It grew into a movement. Now, the LEGACY continues.
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UCR Dance Department Land Acknowledgement
Land Acknowledgment
Miyaxwe (mee-yahh-weh, hello) — In the spirit of Rupert and Jeanette Costo’s founding relationship to our campus, we would like to respectfully acknowledge and recognize our responsibility to the original and current caretakers of this land, water and air: the Cahuilla, Tongva, Luiseño, and Serrano peoples and all of their ancestors and descendants, past, present and future. Today this meeting place is home to many Indigenous peoples from all over the world, including UCR faculty, students, and staff, and we are grateful to have the opportunity to live and work on these homelands.
Here in the Department of Dance, we extend this to acknowledge the multiply fraught histories of this land. We recognize what was taken for this University to be built, including the enslaved labor and ongoing exploitations that have contributed significantly to the wealth in the U.S. that helped found the University of California, and the migrations and immigrant labor that have contributed significantly to this area. We register that members of our community have benefitted, and continue to benefit, from the use and occupation of this land since the institution’s founding in 1907. We also acknowledge the ancient relations of friendship, kinship and alliance between various local Native communities, and visitors to this region.
This acknowledgment is part of our Department’s commitments: to confront exclusions and attempted erasures of Indigenous, Black, and Brown peoples, and others; to accept/embrace/acknowledge peoples’ bodies in their wide range of capacities, abilities, forms, and qualities; to be radically inclusive of queer peoples and bodies in the world and in our field; to support peaceful human mobility across land and waters for all; to being good guests as we travel; to being in respectful relationship to the land wherever we are; and to building relationship with one another–including, for those of us who are not Native to these lands—becoming good allies, and accomplices. We continue to work creatively towards enacting practices and policies that register these histories and strengthen these layers of knowledge and ways of being.
–Achama (aw-chem-ahh, thank you)
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