Stories by

Maria Esquinca

Maria graduated in December from the University of Texas at El Paso, where she was the managing editor of the student newspaper, The Prospector. Last summer, she was a Dow Jones News Fund business reporting intern at Crain’s Detroit Business. She will attend the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University to study for a master’s degree. She is a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.

By

People crowd the dance floor of XL Nightclub at 2 a.m. They spin, dip and drop, keeping alive a queer subculture called “ballroom” that has transformed from a competition into a community for its participants.