Voguing, a dance form characterized by an outside projection of fluid, yet strong and definite shapes. Named after the famous high couture publication, the form of dance was presented at the Whitney museum in Manhattan over the spring. Since I am a huge fan of vogue, I figured I would disregard the obvious outdated timestamp on the NY Times article from March in order to express my uncompromising love.
The article focused on the artist’s reworking and “reframing” of vogue, which has been around for 3 decades. Based around a single dancer, Newsome, who coordinated the installation, mainly concetrated his piece on a fairly recent form of vogue, called “vogue femme”.
“I like that style because it’s all about trying to portray this hyper-femininity,” he is quoted as saying.
Inspired by the 1990 film, “Paris Is Burning”, Mr. Newsome found his first “ball” (a vogue and drag competition) in New Orleans.
Unfortunately, the vogue installation at the Whitney only ran for a short time. If anyone is interested in attending a ball with me, please let me know! I’ve always wanted to share my love of vogue with others.
–by Drew Kozusko
Not familiar with this genre. what I found on YouTube seems exuberant, fluid, and expressive. What I saw seemed rather uncontrolled (maybe it is just supposed to be). It looks like a kind of untamed energy source that has not yet developed into something that has a real artistic message. It will be interesting to see if it develops a real profile or just fades away to leave room for the next “energy source.”
If you liked this genre of dance, I highly recommend one of my favourite movies, “Paris Is Burning”. It’s a raw and unfiltered documentary on the lives of drag queens and voguers who live in New York in 1989. The dance form is all about glamour, couture, and expressiveness. It’s beautiful and fluid and has stuck around as a part of the LGBTQ culture for over 30 years now. I hope it sticks around for another three decades!
After watching “Paris is Burning” in my English class today, my interest in this topic – both culturally and artistically – is greater than before. The balls fascinate me, and I would love to go to one and feel the energy in person! I really admire the fact that the competitions bring out the contestants’ inner “legends,” and inspire everyone to just be true to themselves. Also, I have a feeling that the balls are a great resource for fashion innovation. It’s good to know that they still exist!
This is such a coincidence because in my English class today, we watched “Paris Is Burning”, and it depicted an energy that I have never witnessed in other types of dance before. It is amazing that this exists in the urban community and I feel that it is slowly gaining popularity and fame. For example, on the last season of one of the popular dance shows, America’s Best Dance Crew, a crew called “Vogue Evolution” based their performances on voguing and they even made it to, I believe the fourth round, which is pretty impressive. It was only after this type of media exposure that caused to become familiar with this type of dance.