Ballroom, Ball culture, or Ballroom Scene, is the term to describe an underground subculture originated by young African-American and Latin American in New York City, USA, in which people walk (or compete) for prizes and status at events known as balls.

Ball culture consists of balls, events that mix performance, dance, and modeling categories.. Beginning in the late nineteenth century, members of the underground community in large cities began to organize masquerade balls known as "drags" in defiance of laws which banned individuals from wearing clothes associated with the opposite gender.

Participants were and are mainly young African-American and Latin American members of the community.Although some balls were integrated, the judges were always white, and African-American participants were often excluded from prizes or judged unfairly. In the early 20th century, African Americans and Latinos started their own balls. Attendees dance, walk, and support one another in the categories, which are designed to simultaneously epitomize and satirize various genders and social classes, while also offering an escape from reality.

The culture extends beyond the balls as many participants in the scene also belong to houses, where chosen families of friends live in households together, forming relationships and community to replace families of origin from which they may be estranged.

Ballroom文化是一种属于性少数群体的文化形式。其主要起源于上世纪中后期的美国纽约哈林区。参与者他们受到来自于性别、身份认知、种族、肤色、贫穷等方面的多重歧视，因此，他们聚在一起举行各种ball，幻想在ballroom中找到属于自己发光发热的舞台，并逐渐形成了Ballroom文化。

舞蹈是Ballroom文化最重要的表现形式之一。Voguing是Ballroom文化中特有的一种舞种，是对时尚杂志《VOGUE》封面人物动作的模仿，并且逐渐形成old way、new way、vogue femme等多种不同的风格。参与者需要与不同的人通过舞蹈来对决。不同的单元的设置则为各种对决提供场域，并且针对不同的表演形式和不同的性别又相对应的单元。例如OTA（open to all）就是面向所有性别和表演风格的人开放；Realness则是让参与者打扮成自己所想要成为的身份或者角色，通过这种扮演可以让他们更自信,演绎出更多舞台美术的可能性，各种单元的设置都具有一定的意义。

Ballroom文化中有其相对应的性别标签。成员们对于自己性别的认知构成了Ballroom文化中独特的性别系统。参赛者可根据自己相对应的性别身份去参加更适合自己的Category。

House是Ballroom文化中重要组成。当时社群中的一些年轻人会因为各种原因被迫离开家庭，社群中一些有影响力的人会成立house收留那些年轻人。他们会为house取名，一起在ball中取得荣誉。house中会有Father（族父）和Mother（族母）的存在，其他人则为daughter等，具有类似家庭的结构，例如DRAMABABY创始人朵儿和蓉儿则在国际知名家族The iconic house of Mizrahi，同时也创立了Kiki house of AisinGioro爱新觉罗家族。

Ballroom 文化传入中国的时间不久，但是因其强大的包容力和感染力，迅速吸引了不少社群开始推广、传播Voguing文化，并融合了每个城市的血液和特色，在国内形成了独特的Ballroom文化。