Kenyon 007

One word to describe Kenyon 007 (now Free Agent) is unbothered. One of the best ways to cope with working full time, going to school, and also being a part of the flourishing underground culture known as the Ballroom Scene is to not be bothered. There have been stories of those who allow the ballroom scene and the persona that they have created for themselves to take control and dictate all aspects of who they become, but Kenyon is an exception. Part of the allure of Kenyon is the fact that he is unbothered. The smoldering c'est la vie attitude combined with a great body and a handsome face- he embodies the aesthetics that typify the category known as Butch Queen Perfect 10's.

Kenyon's introduction to the ballroom scene, like so many others, happened when his best friend brought him to a couple of balls in 2002. His friend, a member of the House of Prodigy, introduced Kenyon not only to a world filled with gender fluidity, a celebration of both the masculine and feminine ideals, but also to the leaders of the House of Prodigy. When asked how he got inducted into the house, his reply was "I got voted in, unbeknownst to him (the friend)." Since then Kenyon has been turning heads on the runway to earn the status of Statement for his category…all without letting any of the fame and notoriety associated with status get to him.

The interview with Kenyon soon turns to perceptions. With the ballroom scene being a microcosm of the larger gay culture, perception sets the tone in many cases for how and if people chose to interact with what they see. Walking perfect 10's, sexy siren, or body causes one to be perceived as highly sexual. When Kenyon was asked how he is perceived, his response was: "a lot of people take me as being mean, I stay to myself…I observe a lot."

Having competed and won as a sex siren, (where a lot of people pour various liquids on their body, gyrate, and lick their lips until they're damn near raw) it seemed like a logical question to ask what
Kenyon found sexy. His response was "a nice smile, good body posture, physique, it depends. Being naked is not, leave something to the imagination."

Having competed in both Perfect 10's and the Sex Siren categories, Kenyon was asked what the perceived difference was between the two: "perfect 10's (consists of a) touch of realness, face, and sex appeal. With Sex Siren you don't have to possess all of those things."


With the differences, it would reason to think that to be successful in both you would have to sell it differently. Kenyon's advice for himself and anyone else who competes in both categories: "Keep it simple, if you posses what you posses…you really don't have to do too much."

Having crafted his physique by being active in sports while growing up and staying active to keep it up, Kenyon has not let his body or his accolades create someone who is obnoxious or seedy. For
further proof, when asked what was his ballroom high was so far it was not his awards, but the first ball that he went to when he understood everything that was going on. Being unbothered allows you to weather and to cope with the slings and arrows of life, both inside and outside of the ballroom scene. When anyone gets too wrapped up into one aspect of their life, another of equal or greater importance suffer, luckily for Kenyon this is not the case.

Word Association

Sexy- Its an aura, it varies on people it comes down to
an aura

Love- Unconditional

Friendship- True and Everlasting

Epitome- Nothing Higher

Effeminate- Upbringing; if you're raised around women all
your life, you're going to adapt to what you were
around

Masculine- A façade. It could be taken two different ways: you are or you could be portraying somebody. It all depends on the atmosphere and how you portray yourself.

Balance- Control, to enjoy life- the good, the bad, the worse. Life is unexpected, if we knew what was going to happen.

Light and Lovely: Randy Balenciaga

Light and Lovely

Perception is not always reality, after asking people for interviews, interviewing some, this came to light, those who people laud and applause are not always the ones who deserve it, while many of the ones who do deserve accolades whether they receive it or not are always gracious and humble. Many times when you see people in the ballroom scene you rarely hear them speak because they are busy on the runway. Often times I have found myself imagining the voices of those who I am interviewing prior to hearing them speak. Imagine my surprise when I called up Randy Aga and got his voicemail, his message relayed a voice both deep and full of urban inflections and patterns that I would never except from someone who walks for face. It may be due to my own inherent stereotypes of what a face kid should sound like. But upon really talking with Randy, I have come to find out that runway Randy is very different from the Randy that I interviewed. The Randy I interviewed opened up about controversies in face, his choice of house, and dating in the ballroom scene.

Two words to describe runway Randy is light and lovely. But when one looks at BQ face, there seems to be a lot of light and lovelies pumping down the runway looking to get their 10’s. Which leads to the question, in order to be successful for BQ face do you have to be light skin? “Not at all, skin tone doesn’t really have anything to do with why bq face is predominantly light or brown. There just aren’t that many dark and lovelies hitting the floor. If you have a line of face kids at a major ball waiting to receive there 10's, i can almost guarantee you that it will consist mainly of light and brown skin faces.,” is Randy’s explanation for why it seems that light skin seems to rule the category. Aside from complexion face breeds controversy to hear Randy tell it its because “beauty is in the eye of the beholder…one person may be looking for one element while someone else is looking for another version of it.”

Just as face has different attributes that people gravitate to, so do houses. Some houses are known for realness, performance, labels, and of course face. With there being a few houses that are known for face I wondered why Randy chose the House of Balenciaga, “I wanted to join a house that I could cultivate with. the Balenciaga's have an aura they have family aura, a sophisticated aura. I wanted to go someplace where I could grow and not be apart of a face clan with 20 or 30 other face kids.”

Being overshadowed is not a problem that Randy has to face anytime soon. Having garnered such accolades as Liberty Award Butch Queen Face of the Year NY 2007 NJ’s finest, BQ Model’s Magazine face, and being nominated BQ Face of the Year its hard to see how Randy could ever be overshadowed or being told that face was not his category. But in the beginning “I had a couple of people who would tell me when i first started walking some years back, maybe you should change your category. There was this one guy in Chicago who said I should change my category b/c he didn’t think I could go far in the scene. i wonder what he thinks now.”

With this notoriety within the ballroom scene, it must be hard to try to date someone who is a participant or knowledgeable about the scene, because there is no telling if they are with you for you, or for what you represent. “Being in this industry of ballroom you become a piece of meat in the window. Everyone wants to get a sample of it. You have to think with humility and common sense. not with what’s between your legs. I handle it by being humble, sane and mature.” Humility, personality, and a laid-back persona are the true elements of Randy Balenciaga; his face can be seen as a physical manifestation of his inner carta.

Word Association Game

Whitney Mugler...................... Icon

Harold Aga.........................Father Figure

Of the Year BALLROOM............................. Accomplishment

Grand Prizes..........................................Money

Latex Ball......................................................Biggest Ball of the year

Dating.....................................................Not sure how to answer this