XTRAVAGANZA Brings Ballroom To Times Square with “Love Is Imagination” Pride Mini Ball

This Pride Month, The House of Xtravaganza is throwing the Love Is Imagination Pride Mini Ball in partnership with TSQ LIVE giving us a first look at Xtravaganza, a new original musical inspired by the legendary House and Ballroom pioneers. The event takes place Wednesday, June 24, from 5-6pm in Times Square at 46th Street and Broadway. 

The event marks a major milestone for the production. Tickets officially go on sale beginning June 24, 2026, for the world premiere engagement of Xtravaganza at Baltimore Center Stage, where the musical will open in May 2027. 

 "The Ballroom community is experiencing a powerful moment of visibility as its influence continues to shape mainstream culture," said Maximo Xtravaganza, curator of the Love Is Imagination Pride Mini Ball with support from house members. "By bringing this event to Times Square, our goal is to honor and preserve Ballroom's cultural legacy while amplifying the community and performers who originated this art form." 

Founded in 1982, the House of Xtravaganza was the first Latinx Ballroom House and among the first to bring Ballroom culture downtown during the late 1980s, expanding beyond Harlem’s traditional Ball scene. 

The ball’s namesake, "Love Is Imagination," launches today as the first release from the forthcoming Xtravaganza mixtape of original music. Featuring recording artist and legendary Ballroom commentator Kevin Jz Prodigy, the track is now available on SoundCloud and across social media platforms. 

Before Vogue became a global phenomenon, the Ballroom community that inspired it was already alive with artists, dreamers, underdogs, and chosen families claiming their runway, shaping culture, and changing the world forever. 

Xtravaganza is a new original musical inspired by the legendary House of Xtravaganza and Ballroom pioneers including José Xtravaganza, whose style, language, and movement helped create one of the most influential cultural movements of the late twentieth century. As featured performers and choreographers in Madonna's iconic "Vogue" music video and worldwide Blond Ambition Tour, members of the House helped bring the energy and vocabulary of Ballroom to a global audience. 

Set in New York City's Ballroom scene of the 1980s and 1990s, the musical follows a community of Black and Latinx artists who created a world of chosen families, beauty, resilience, and radical self-expression in the face of marginalization, discrimination, and the AIDS crisis. Through music, movement, and storytelling, Xtravaganza celebrates the people who built a culture, inspired a movement, and refused to be erased. 

The musical will begin previews on May 7, 2027 ahead of an opening night on May 22 at Baltimore Center Stage.