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In New York City, LGBTQ youth-of-color gather on the Christopher Street Pier to practice the performance-based art form Ballroom, which was made famous in the early 1990s by Madonna's music video 'Vogue' and the documentary 'Paris Is Burning.'
Its population is largely gay and trans people of color, who've found a large and rich support system amongst a scene first documented in 1990's Paris is Burning.
Kiki serves as a reminder that in parts of American and Western society, minorities are still rejected from the mainstream on the basis of dated, racist, and homophobic prejudices.
What's thrilling is the sense of action and progress among the young activists, who outline both the economic problems here and their mechanisms for survival with eye-opening clarity.
It explodes with energy, thanks in part to rattlesnake-taut dance tracks from MikeQ and ballroom DJ crew Qween Beat, but mostly from the Kiki kids themselves.
For those of viewers who have never kikied, they should not miss this documentary; for those who have, Kiki offers a refreshing and melancholic look at how far we've come.
It's an honest examination of the powers, and limits, of subcultures and small communities-and how quickly things can change for better or worse within them.
One thing Kiki does really well is show how these dance competitions are an organizational structure for kids who might otherwise slip through the cracks.