“Grandfather†Hector Xtravaganza, founding member of the House of Xtravaganza, an iconic entity within New York’s underground ballroom and vogue scenes, has passed away at the age of 60. His death was announced via the house’s Facebook page, and memorialized by actress Laverne Cox, Pose co-creator Steven Canals, and others on social media.
The dancer and activist, a house member since Xtravaganza’s inception in 1982, recently consulted on Ryan Murphy’s FX show Pose, which takes place within New York’s ball culture in the late 1980s. As Xtravaganza, who legally adopted the house’s surname, explained to The Cut this fall, “This family is more real to me than my biological family. They are first.â€
Updated: Ryan Murphy also memorialized Xtravaganza on Instagram. “How I wish we had the time to make more of his dreams come true,†he wrote. “Like so many hundreds if not thousands of people, I loved him. And I have been honored to know him.â€