DJs Must Dance — Houston’s Dollcore Collective Makes Community Building a Party, Assists Transgender Women

Spinning tunes while strengthening communal ties, the Houston-based DJ collective dubbed Dollcore hosts energetic dance parties in support of transgender women. The joint event series and fundraising effort is the brainchild of Houston nightlife virtuosos DJs Belial and Nightgirl.

Belial, who began DJing professionally four years ago and favors an emo aesthetic, notes that Dollcore was born out of a desire to see more DJs like herself represented in lineups around Houston. Initially, Belial hosted an event music series curated for trans women. Nightgirl, her good friend and longtime collaborator, later approached her about incorporating a mutual aid element. They then joined forces, hosting fundraising dance nights to assist members of their community in securing hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and gender affirmation surgeries. 

“There’s very few trans DJs that get booked regularly,” Belial says. “So our main objective, other than the mutual aid aspect of it, was to be able to book primarily just trans women. And be able to pay them a reasonable amount.”

The cover fees from each event, from film nights to all-night parties at local clubs, go directly towards the DJs that perform at the dance parties and Dollcore’s mutual aid fund which currently helps support 20 women’s hormone replacement therapy. Dollcore also posts informational resources on its social media channels for medical assistance and procedural forms including how to legally change one’s name in Texas. 

“We love partying, dancing and just being crazy fun,” Nightgirl says. “It’s also a part of community building. We try as much as we can to be creative when we throw these events. It’s something that gets people out who might not want to go out all the time.”

Connecting the DJs

The Dollcore founders frequently partner with DJ Amarji King, a trailblazer of Texas’ burgeoning underground music sound and ballroom scene. King began her DJ career live streaming her music on social media during the COVID pandemic and has since skyrocketed, performing internationally and defining Houston’s alternative nightlife scene with her cross-genre sound, from R&B to club classics. 

“Since we work in nightlife, we understand that there are people that digest culture, and there people that create culture,” Amarji King says. “We all see that influence in each other, that we are people in our community that are creators of culture, that we have that responsibility. As trans women, we’ve always shaped the culture.” 

King recently performed in Austin for Boiler Room, an international broadcaster for underground music which shares streams of alternative artists with its millions of viewers. The night was hosted by House of Lepore, a found-family of Austin-based LGBTQ+ performance artists pioneering Texas’ ballroom landscape, of which King is a member. King says having Belial and Nightgirl alongside her for her Boiler Room performance was a highlight of that evening and testament to the sisterhood they formed while navigating Houston’s nightlife scene together.

“We don’t know what the future of trans health care and medical issues is going to look like,” King says. “But as the government takes a step back from supporting us we have to take a step forward and help each other. As this community grows, we’ll be able to reach more girls who are in need and can really benefit from this.”

Party Hard

Dollcore’s next fundraiser extravaganza is set for this Saturday, November 30 at Pearl Side Peace, the new extension of Pearl Bar, Houston’s only official lesbian establishment. The event is a fundraiser for Amarji King’s gender affirming surgery and will be a celebration of King’s growth, contributions and accomplishments in the Texas underground scene. Coincidentally, the event will also ring in her birthday at midnight. 

The lineup of DJs includes King, Nightgirl and Belial as well as recent Boiler Room alum BabiBoi, who is based in Austin. Nightgirl, whose style incorporates a mixture of techno beats and fast paced mixes, says those who go can expect “a whole night of shenanigans.” Proceeds from the door entry will go to King’s fund and attendees can also give individual donations. 

The DJs of Dollcore will perform at Pearl’s Side Peace on Saturday, November 30 from 10 pm to 2 am. Stay up to date on Dollcore’s upcoming events and get more information here.