On ‘Pose,’ dancing isn’t just about self-expression. It’s a survival skill for trans women.

“The series centers on the trans women and gay men of color in New York’s underground ballroom culture. … The ballroom scene arose from emptiness, dreamed into existence by young people, mostly black and Latino, who had been shunned by their biological families and faced homelessness, violence, sex work and disease. They filled the void with fantasies of wealth and magazine-cover beauty and strolling Fifth Avenue like they owned it.