Sat 21 Nov 2015 In: Entertainment View at Wayback View at NDHA
We had a chat with the ever so fierce Nahora Ioane ahead of tonight’s FAFSWAG Ball to find out exactly what it takes to organise the spectacular event and prepare for such a fierce competition. How did you first get involved with FAFSWAG? It's a common misconception that FAFSWAG started with the FAFSWAG ball, but in fact, FAFSWAG started off as a group of friends collaborating ideas and making art. I became involved through my friends Tanu and Pati, who were the common denominators for all of the members FAFSWAG. I was involved as a subject in several of their art pieces and also was on the committee since the first ball. What does it take to put on such a spectacular event? We had Tanu and Pati as the major driving forces for the event, but it took a lot of time, effort as well as a team effort to pull all of our collective resources and plan everything ahead of time. We began planning for the ball in May and have had committee meetings since to try and get on top of all of the brainstorming, details as well as the funding that's involved in putting on an event to our standards. There were a lot of moving parts to get on top of everything. What does the ball mean to you? The ball is a safe space for a very diverse community to come together and express themselves. We've been mindful of that when putting together the ball. It wasn't designed as a space to entertain the audience, it was designed as a safe space to express yourself and your talent, and coincidentally, it just happens to be a great show as well. Have you decided whether you will be walking this year? No, I haven't decided yet. Right now, I feel a bit intimidated; there is some great talent and it keeps getting better every year. But the great thing about the ball is that I can feel the energy on the night and then decide if I want to walk or not. I know I probably will though. That energy is pretty persuasive. It's going to be pretty spontaneous. But I'll probably do the "Hands" and maybe the "Sex Siren" category because those are the two categories I feel most confident in. You were featured in Coco Solid's Heaven’s Gate doco/music vid last year, tell us a bit about that. Coco Solid is an amazing artist and I really respect and admire her music. It turned out really well; in fact, "Heaven's Gate" was nominated for the Best Music Video at the Pacific Music Awards, and I felt really privileged to be a part of it. It was my first time being in a music video so I gained a lot of experience being on the set. How fierce is the competition and how long does it take you to prepare for the ball, as a competitor? The competition this year is as fierce as ever. It seems to get better every year. Steps for preparing for the ball for anyone, including the audience: Step 1: Dress in something outrageous that you feel confident in. Step 2: Feel the energy on the night and feed off everyone else's. Step 3: Let go and own that stage. What can we expect from tonight's ball? A lot of people really underestimate the energy that comes from our FAFSWAG Ball; it can be really consuming. So expect to be voguing and death-dropping in front of your mirror weeks after the ball! - 21st November 2015