HAUS AWARD
(Est. 2021)
HAUS AWARD is a cash prize from haus of bambi that recognizes LGBTQ+ artists in the Washington, DC region.
The $1,000 cash award is granted annually to one local artist, at any stage of their career, for work that explores the intersectionality of queer identity.
From left, Bambi (duh!), King Molasses (2022), JaxKnife Complex (2024), BUMPER (2023), Miss Greg David (2021)
HAUS AWARD WINNERS
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JaxKnife Complex (Jacob Stewart), from the age of four, has had a hand & foot in the world of dance, starting at the competitive level working with the Debbie Manoly Academy of Dance. JaxKnife Complex combined their love of dance with a new passion of theater in highschool/college. Taking what they had learned from the dance line and applying the education they received from their work under the proscenium, Jax made the move into the world of education teaching with a summer program/before and after care by the name of Take A Bow Performing Arts. After seven years of teaching theater arts and stage craft, Jax made the decision to move into the world of nightlife permanently with the opening of their home bar TRADE.
You can catch their drag review "Imaginary Friends" every other month on the stage at TRADE or join them for a night of wild chaos at their dance party "Glitch". A huge thank you goes out to all of the members of the haus of bambi and everyone in the DC nightlife scene that had a hand in helping mold and create the person that dances before you to this very day.
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Bumper is DC's pole dancing alien superstar and producer. Originally from Orlando, FL, they got their start in New York City as a gogo dancer and club kid but the car-part-named entity of Bumper was formally born in Austin, TX. They began studying pole dancing at Austin's Black Box Creative under the training of owner Shelbi Aiona and have shaken their Puerto Rican ass across DC at 9:30 Club, The Kennedy Center, Echostage, TRADE, Dance Place, The Nail Salon, and Flower Factory.
Bumper is not just a performer, however. They also work to curate and construct fantastical experiences beyond the stage including set designing for PBS and large-scale embassy events in DC. Their latest project, SAFESPACE, is a queer party at Black Cat (originally launched at JR’s with the support of Jesse Jackson) that combines Bumper’s many talents into an unforgettable night of dancing. Bumper is a creative force that produces, manages, performs, and transcends. In the iconic words of Grace Jones, "pull up to the Bumper baby,” you might just like it.
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Molasses (they/them) is a nonbinary drag king based in Washington D.C. Known for their signature beard and smooth moves, this performer is a fusion of masculine expression, feminine swag and that special sauce that rockstars are made of.
First stepping on the scene in late 2018, Molasses debuted with Pretty Boi Drag during an open casting night for new drag kings. Since then, they have performed in some of DC’s biggest productions and parties and have gained wider acclaim around the country. They played the lead role of Seymour in Highball Productions’ A Love Letter to Little Shop of Horrors, are a principal performer at the 9:30 club’s BENT and on cast in the acclaimed rock-and-roll drag show BANSHEES. This year, Molasses has been invited twice to perform at the prestigious Berlin Nightclub’s Saturday Night Drag Show in Chicago, and have shared the stage with legendary local and national performers, including favorites from Dragula and RuPaul’s Drag Race. They are currently co-producer of Half & Half, the monthly drag show at As You Are Bar in Southeast DC.
Molasses is guided by the belief that liberation is found in connection – moreover, connection to Self is connection to the world around us and drives all creative expression. They explored these themes in collaboration with the haus of bambi’s production of Pantheon, an exhibition that called in their identities as nonbinary, first generation Nigerian struggling to find alignment in their body while balancing their divine gifts and human traumas.
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@missgregdavid // missgregdavid.com
Miss Greg David (they/she) is a Black, queer, and non-binary femme movement artist based in the DMV area. Their work and film has been commissioned by Dance Place in Washington, DC, BlackLight Summit hosted at The Clarice at UMD , and shown at The Kennedy Center. By using character performance, textile production, world-making, and storytelling, while exploring themes of grief, fear, care, and solitude, the work they construct connects human emotion and personal experience with movement, persona, and visual abstraction.
JaxKnife Complex (‘24)
BUMPER (‘23)
King Molasses (‘22)
Miss Greg David (‘21)