10s

In ballroom culture, "10s" refers to the highest score a panel of judges can give a performer in a category, whether that is vogue, runway, realness, or face. When someone earns "tens across the board," every judge was impressed and the walker advances, often to cheers from the room. A performance that falls short may instead be "chopped," signaled by a dramatic X. Ballroom was built in the 1970s and 1980s by Black and Latino LGBTQ+ communities in New York City, where balls offered chosen family and a stage for self-expression. The scoring language reached wider audiences through the documentary Paris Is Burning and the television series Pose.