Oral History of Legendary Rhonda Carr

Abstract

Legendary Rhonda Carr talks about her gender transition, how ballroom strengthened her ability to explore and communicate her gender identity, and the mother-daughter relationships that helped her establish her sense of womanhood. She discusses the connections between black marching bands and Baltimore’s ballroom scene, what it’s like to walk the sex siren category, and gendered power imbalances in today’s ballroom scene. This oral history was recorded as part of the Peabody Ballroom Experience, a public humanities collaboration between Johns Hopkins University and the performance-based culture known as ballroom.