2026 marks the fourth year of Legacy Ball – the premier mainstream stage for Cape Town’s ballroom scene. The event began as an homage to Cape Town Ballroom’s pioneers and has blossomed into a centrepiece of the Cape Town queer community.
Edition Events lit up Hearty Collective in Woodstock on Saturday, the 7th of February, 2026, with LEGACY: The Love Pride Ball, kicking off the month of love and Cape Town Pride season.
Judged by Tylor Spelman 007, Rebecca Vineyard, Ambi and Ray LaBeija, and Carmen Vlam, the night was packed with jaw-dropping looks and performances, with the House of Vlam and the newly debuted Haus of Wild taking home grand prize titles.
MambaOnline caught up with the co-organisers of Legacy Ball, Lea Debbah and Rori Bingham, about how Legacy began, how Cape Town’s ballroom scene has evolved in the past year, and the places Legacy Ball will go in 2026.
It feels like you cannot talk about Cape Town’s queer nightlife without talking about Legacy, but as the name suggests, it’s about a lot more than a good night out. How did Legacy Ball begin?
Rori: Legacy Ball is a love letter to [dancer and choreographer] Kirvan [Fortuin] Le Cap, the founding mother of South Africa’s first ballroom house, the House of Le Cap. I come from that line, I come from that history, that history is very much part of who I am.
Before Legacy Ball, and Spectrum Ball before that, the Cape Town ballroom scene was still up-and-coming and largely driven by Kirvan, who was an activist for LGBT rights and was creating these spaces for the queer and trans community here in Cape Town. In 2020, we lost Kirvan. Kirvan was killed towards the beginning of the COVID-19 lockdown. After the lockdown had been lifted, we felt that we needed to create and rebuild spaces for queer community here in Cape Town, and that’s where Legacy began. It was the rebirth of House of Le Cap. As the father of the house at the time, I wanted to give our house a different identity and give the community a space to be themselves. We always honour the house, we always honour Kirvan.
2025 felt like one of Cape Town Ballroom’s biggest years yet – how do you feel the scene has evolved over the past year?
Lea: 2025 was a big year for Legacy. It went from being an event hosted by one house (The House of Le Cap) to an event hosted by different houses (the House of LaBeija South Africa hosted LEGACY: The Crystal Ball in June 2025) to an event that brings together the kiki* and the main houses. It has been good seeing new faces walking categories at the balls. It feels like it’s not the same participants winning the same trophies every time and that’s exciting.
Rori: The biggest change has been the explosion of the kiki houses! It has been amazing watching newcomers come into ballroom. It is beautiful seeing the kiki scene grow and have a whole new generation of young people come into their own and share their talents with an audience that will embrace them. Ballroom has been around in Cape Town since 2017, but 2025 felt like the start of the community saying, “Right, we’re going to take this into our own hands.” This is a community we are actively building, and you cannot have that without a space like Legacy.
*Kiki houses are ballroom houses aimed at beginners in the scene.
What does 2026 look like for Legacy Ball?
Rori: At the moment, we are focusing on putting together a programme to educate the community and the houses about what ballroom is about and its history locally and internationally. We want to get the recognition from the international ballroom community. We want Cape Town to be recognised as a place where ballroom is innovating, where international ballroom figures can come and represent and walk.
Lea: We really want to put in place the Legacy Community Project. The idea is to have classes once a week during the time between Legacy functions. It’s for people who want to learn how to walk certain categories, for people who want to learn how to sew, and for people who want to learn how to vogue. We don’t want to just host the functions, we want to educate people on ballroom, too.
Looking back at the past four years, what do you feel the impact of Legacy has been for the community?
Rori: I think ballroom has been the glue that is slowly weaving everyone in the local queer community together. You have the drag scene, the pageant scene, the circuit gays, and as a result of ballroom, all of those subgroups come together for what we all want: a space to be recognised and celebrated. I feel like when we create these spaces, there is a shift in the community. This is not just about doing a function every five minutes; it’s about building community. It’s only up from here.
Lea: My first experience of ballroom – I felt empowered. I felt empowered as a woman. I felt empowered to walk. It is emotional seeing how many people this event has touched. We’re excited about the future, we are working hard, and we’re not going anywhere!
