Ballroom Icon Carmen Xtravaganza Dies at 62

Carmen Xtravaganza, member of the ballroom House of Xtravaganza, and her house sister, Brooke Xtravangaza, frolicked on the beach in the 1991 New York City ballroom documentary Paris Is Burning. The beach, softly glowing in the grainy 90s film, is the perfect location for a short scene that captures a moment of intimate sisterhood and trans joy.

“I am no longer a man. I am a woman. I feel great,” Brooke exclaims, referring to her recent bottom surgery. She turns away from the camera, laughing and twirling on the sand, and Carmen shoots the audience an impish look. “Except that voice is still there,” Carmen says with a wide, teasing smile. The house sisters break into a blissful duet of Gloria Gaynor’s “I Am What I Am.” The sound of their laughter creeps into the verse “I am my own special creation.”

Although the scene is a short blip in the film, the rippling impact of that moment of carefree intimacy sticks. It’s a time capsule of Carmen, who died at the age of 62. The House of Xtravaganza announced her death on August 4.

But the scene in Paris Is Burning doesn’t encapsulate Carmen’s incredible impact on ballroom culture. She was born in Rota, Spain in 1961 and joined New York’s primarily Latino House of Xtravaganza in 1983. Carmen excelled in the face category of ballroom, which focuses on the natural beauty of contestants, including facial structure, teeth, and skin.

By 1988 she was already influencing the future of ballroom. Donald Suggs featured Carmen in the 1988 Village Voice story “Venus Envy: The Drag Balls of Harlem.” That historic article marked the beginning of ballroom’s appearance in mainstream media. In the early 1990s, Carmen moved to Spain and founded the Spanish chapter of the House of Xtravaganza while modeling and singing. Eventually, Carmen returned to New York where she served as mother of the House of Xtravaganza off and on from 1997 to 2015. In 1999 she was inducted into Ballroom’s Hall of Fame.

“As we hold her memory close to our hearts, her famous quote, ‘…that voice is still there,’ takes on a new meaning, serving as a reminder that Carmen’s spirit will live on through the love and memories she left behind,” The House of Xtravaganza writes. “Rest in power, dear Carmen. You will be missed, but your spirit will continue to inspire.”

Photo courtesy of social media