Ballroom Throwbacks Television (BRTB TV, often stylized BRTBTV) is a digital media platform and YouTube channel that documents the U.S. ballroom scene. It was founded in 2009 by cultural archivist Ceasar Williams and is widely used for footage of balls, runway categories and voguing across the contemporary scene.
Williams began uploading archival ballroom footage to YouTube in March 2009, expanding the channel into a broader media outlet with event coverage, commentary and postâÂÂball interviews. The channel has been described in LGBTQ media as an âÂÂofficial gatewayâ to ballroom culture and a repository of scene history.
BRTB TVâÂÂs videos typically cover runway and performance categories (such as vogue, face, runway, realness and sex siren) and include organizer announcements, judgesâ panels, and postâÂÂevent interviews. Its uploads serve as a reference point for community participants and for audiences discovering ballroom online.
In 2023, Google Arts & Culture partnered with the BronxâÂÂbased LGBTQ center Destination Tomorrow and ballroom expert Ceasar Williams on Ballroom in Focus, billed as the largest online collection of ballroom archival material. The project digitized more than 1,000 images and launched over two dozen curated stories; several pages were adapted from interviews with Williams.
BRTB TV is associated with the Haus of Alpha Omega (Alphaé), which stages largeâÂÂscale events in New York City. In March 2023 the house hosted the BRTB TV Awards Ball at Knockdown Center in Queens; media coverage noted debut walks and prizes at the event. Earlier that same month, TENz Magazine covered Alpha OmegaâÂÂs Anarchy 2023 ball, describing the house as led by âÂÂBallroom Throwbacks founder Ceasar.âÂÂ
BRTB TV also operates a subscription streaming site (BRTBtv.com) that distributes the longâÂÂrunning scripted series Triangle and related programming. A 2016 release from the District of ColumbiaâÂÂs Office of Cable Television, Film, Music & Entertainment credited TriangleâÂÂs success with helping launch the BRTBtv network and noted recognition from Black LGBTQ organizations.
Mainstream coverage has cited BRTB TVâÂÂs role in making contemporary ballroom more visible to wider audiences and in providing an accessible archive for participants and scholars.