A predator in Prada, her eyes sweep the runway with a cold gaze. In the world of high fashion, Anna Wintour’s opinion is everything, and as the editor of Vogue, she evokes…
…wait, what?
I’ve just been informed by another of Peaches’ undead minions that, despite the grand flourishes of Anna Wintour’s Midnight Mass-esque persona, hers is not the vogue we’re here to talk about today. Instead, I’m here to take you to the floor and highlight the world of voguing, a dance movement that came from the gay Harlem ballroom scene and emerged into a cultural phenomenon.
To be fair, I knew all along this piece wasn’t about Ms. Wintour, but I couldn’t resist. After all, despite their worlds of difference, the Queen of Fashion and the Queens of the Ball have one huge thing in common: They both understand that presentation is everything.
As Peaches prepares to unleash Paris is Burning this weekend at the Castro Theater (with legendary guest star Latrice Royale), my dear ghoulfriend and I thought it wise to revisit the cultural impact of voguing on gay culture and beyond. Now, to truly explore the significance of this movement would require far more time than our little space here allows, so we decided to focus on one aspect that Peaches and I are always ready to celebrate: Film.
For a dance movement, the world of voguing has been extremely well-documented on celluloid, allowing historians visual access to a burgeoning counterculture from its very beginnings. A glance at the current pop culture landscape shows echoes and evocations of voguing everywhere, making it hard to believe that at one time it was solely part of the underground. Yet, before Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, and Dance Moms all added the model-like pose movements to their repertories, urban gays and drag queens were doing it first, sparking a dance revolution.
Taking this monumental progression into consideration, I’ve selected four films that I consider essential to the understanding of the ball culture’s rise to mainstream prominence. For better or worse, these films redefined a generation, and helped introduce this magical (and sometimes harrowing) world to outsiders.
So, without further ado, read, learn, and move.
Paris is Burning (dir. Jennie Livingston)
It is by no sheer coincidence or promotional trick that Paris is Burning tops this list. Jennie Livingston’s seminal documentary is, without argument, one of the most significant pieces of LGBT cinema ever produced, let alone the definitive word on ball culture. Seven years in the making, Paris is Burning reveals the lives of urban gay, transgender, and drag performers who participated in the “Golden Era” of the ball scene, detailing their real struggles amidst a world of dance competition.
Featuring such famed drag icons as Dorian Corey (right), Pepper LaBeija, Anji Xtravaganza, and many more, the film introduced to the zeitgeist the very language we now associate with drag queens. Ardent fans of RuPaul’s Drag Race ought to know that such key phrases as “shade,” “realness,” “sashay & shantay,” and more did not begin with the Supermodel to the World, but are, in fact, terms Ru learned from Paris is Burning. Just as Ru now teaches the children of drag, she too was taught by the queens of the ball scene. Solely by striving to create a little camaraderie and normalcy for their own community, the queens of Paris is Burning unknowingly laid the foundation for the modern drag-era. To be sure, present day queens are still trying to fill the shoes of these particular predecessors, and that’s a bar that’s set extraordinarily high.
Also extremely present in Paris is Burning is the iconic visage of Willi Ninja, a performer whose very presence defines the modern concept of voguing. By running the complex lives of the drag queens parallel to Ninja and his dancing constituents, the film shows an interconnected world of struggle, celebration, and community. Performing on the same stages, the dancers and queens alike create a world of living fantasy, allowing momentary escape from the all too harsh world around them. At once heartbreaking and inspiring, Paris is Burning is a definitive document of gay life at the time, and a reminder that you can, if only for a moment, dance your troubles away.
Madonna: Truth or Dare (dir. Alek Keshishian)
In 1990, two things happened to bring the art of voguing to the mainstream. The first, as mentioned, was the release of Paris is Burning, which made the world aware of the dance. The second was a song by Madonna, which made it a phenomenon.
Celebrated and reviled, vilified and venerated, there is no denying that Madonna is a gay icon. The release of her song “Vogue” was so essential to the 1990s landscape that I didn’t even have to mention it by name above, and yet you knew exactly what I was talking about. With her eye firmly on the underground, Madonna reached into the ball culture and pulled out a dance hit that brought the concept of voguing into every home in America. No longer was this strictly relegated to the gay underground, but kids in suburbia were voguing now, too. Moms, dads, neighbors, even your high school principal now knew what it meant to “strike a pose,” and the Material Girl’s flame was burning brighter than ever before.
Because of Madonna’s mainstreaming of the art form, there remains a cultural debate amongst the LGBT community: Is she a celebrator or an appropriator? While the matter of Madonna’s status as a thief or a champion won’t be settled anytime soon, there is no denying that the concept of voguing will forever be associated with pop music’s most controversial temptress. However, giving credit where credit is due, Madonna certainly cannot claim the patented moves herself. As previously mentioned, the look of modern vogue that we know and celebrate can most closely be connected to Willi Ninja. Recognizing this talent, Madonna brought him in to choreograph the music video for “Vogue,”
thus ensuring the moves we forever associate with the dance are those of its very master. So, though not always credited, Madonna had a genius orchestrating her moves from the shadows, creating a perfect union of talent and cunning.
So, what’s this have to do with film? I’ll tell you.
In 1991, the year after “Vogue” was released, Madonna unveiled her now infamous documentary Truth or Dare. Featuring many of the same dancers that appeared in the Ninja choreographed video, the film documented Madonna’s Blonde Ambition Tour, giving a unique backstage look of the pop star and her entourage. Not only does the film feature concert footage of Madonna performing “Vogue,” but it also has many candid moments of her and her dancers voguing and playing backstage. Whether the film is exploiting or celebrating the gays in Madonna’s life is debatable, but it serves as a powerful document of a world ruled by Madonna in the wake of the “Vogue” phenomenon. Although fairly consistent in career, it is arguable that Madonna has never been more famous than she was in the era of Truth or Dare, and as such, we see the gay counterculture rising through her lens to the mainstream in ways it had never done before.
A provocative piece of filmmaking, Truth or Dare is a film of ambition, conquest, and dance, which are all attributes the queens of Paris is Burning would agree make anyone fierce.
How Do I Look (dir. Wolfgang Busch)
A spiritual sequel to Paris is Burning, Wolfgang Busch’s documentary returns to the subjects of Livingston’s groundbreaking film to examine the ball culture in the modern era. Although hardly as popular or celebrated as its predecessor, How Do I Look paints an all too revealing portrait of a community’s struggles decades on. By interviewing luminaries such as Willi Ninja, Octavia St. Laurent, and others, the film examines the impact of HIV/AIDS on ball culture, and the endurance of hope in spite of tragic loss.
As many of the film’s subjects succumbed to illness over the course of its creation, the movie serves as a touching memorial to the original founders of the ball scene, all the while shedding light on the new generation who continue to dance for a better tomorrow. Updating the examination of the ball culture to the modern-era, How Do I Look shows that sometimes the more things change, the more they stay the same. However, with that said, the film also imparts the message that the endurance of hope, above all things, is what this is all truly about.
Leave it On the Floor (dir. Sheldon Larry)
They can’t all be documentaries, and though many dance-oriented films have referenced the stylistic approach of voguing (Save the Last Dance and the Step Up franchise come to mind), few have ever dared make it the focal point of the narrative. However, Sheldon Larry’s ambitious 2011 film Leave it on the Floor changes that, taking us into the world of the Los Angeles ball scene. Evoking the world of Paris is Burning, but moving the action to the modern West Coast, Leave it on the Floor tells the story of Brad (played to perfection by Ephraim Sykes), who runs away from home and finds himself taken in by ball performers.
Brad’s immersion into the LA ball scene easily draws parallels to Dorothy’s arrival in Oz, as his escape from the dreary world of his home life leads him into a world of color, populated with outrageous and amazing characters. The movie is truly a fist-pumping celebration of the ball scene, and Larry’s direction provides the viewer a colorful and heart-breaking look at a world of escape. Yet, the true genius of Leave it On the Floor is that it shows that via this escape, we sometimes find our own truths.
Earlier in the article, I referenced the fact that Beyoncé and Lady Gaga have both been known to vogue. The pair infamously vogued together in their video for “Video Phone,” performing a move called “The Leiomy Lolly” (invented by transgendered vogue superstar Leiomy Maldonado, for those keeping score at home). It is interesting to note that Beyoncé’s choreographer Frank Gatson Jr. is also the man responsible for the dance moves of Leave It On the Floor, and he pulls out all the stops to make the film’s numbers breathtakingly visual as possible. However, whether Brad or Beyoncé vogues better is up to the viewer to decide.
Remarkably fun and with killer dancing, Leave it On the Floor is really the perfect cherry on top of the vogue cinematic sundae, as it returns us to the spirit in which we entered: A celebration of life.
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In fairness to all the films mentioned, each one of them provides the audience with a reason to get up and dance. Indeed, there is so much more to be said about each work offered up today, I could likely spend a whole article on each. And what of all the voguing works we couldn’t cover? Countless music videos and films have showcased the amazing talents of vogue performers, and the cultural impact of this underground dance is not going anywhere anytime soon.
This is merely a primer, a way for you to discover the inner-dance floor diva we have in all of us. This weekend, as Peaches, Latrice, myself, and the whole of the Castro Theater sashay and shantay in celebration of this cultural movement, take second, wherever you are, to do the same. Above all else, voguing begins not with skill, but the need to express yourself… and don’t we all?
These films are a great place to start your discovery of this amazing world of dance and life, but also remember: It also starts with you. So, investigate what it means to have a ball, and then strike a pose.
After all, no matter how miserable it gets outside, I know a place where you can get away…
…it’s called a dance floor. And here’s what it’s for…
So, come on…
…you know the rest.
