Family Catwalk Extravaganza: Ghetto Fabulous

And the category is… family friendly! Family Catwalk Extravaganza inspired by Black Queer Joy features the dancers and performers from Ghetto Fabulous, who originate from Manchester, Huddersfield and Liverpool. The North of England has a vibrant vogueing community which we are part of but continue to expand to the next level. 

This show promotes equality and diversity through Black-led LGBTQ+ arts activities competing to be crowned as the audience’s chosen winner in a series of challenges. It’s an outright celebration of fashion, music, dance, individuality, aspiration and creativity. 

Hosted by Stuart, the audience are treated to fashion, dance and lip sync battles and given the chance to vote for their favourite in each category by making as much noise as possible. With an emphasis on self-expression and celebrating diversity, it’s a space for gay, trans, gender non-conforming and questioning young people plus their friends and families to see positive, celebratory representations of themselves. It is also an eye opening and magical experience for everyone to explore different identities and ways of being outside of the mainstream, through movement, dance and costume. The soundtrack is an electric mix of R&B, disco, pop, and hip hop. 

This event is presented by Ghetto Fabulous, in collaboration with The Montgomery Theatre as part of the Mini Migration Matters Festival.

Ghetto Fabulous is a DJ and dance collective of QTIPOC creatives based in Manchester (Queer, Trans, Bi, Intersex, People of Colour). There’s Darnell Gledhill, Darren Pritchard, Fortune Jordan, Xavier Thomas, Kaan Sari and compere Stuart Boden. 

They do catwalk extravaganzas, cabaret, club performances and more, all based on queer black joy. The collective are all different ages so have very different experiences of growing up QTIPOC. The name Ghetto represents the working-class community and Fabulous because that’s exactly what they are! 

What’s more, they’ve toured across the UK extensively. They’ve been hosted by Battersea Arts Centre, Hull Truck Company, Cambridge Junction, Happy Valley Pride in Hebden Bridge and Manchester’s Contact Theatre. Recently they performed at Euro Party 2023 in Liverpool accompanying last year’s Eurovision.