hooks goes on to argue that without references to any subversive process that might be taking place, voguers seem to imitate the very structures that marginalize them. Yet they had to sue to be paid next to nothing for their participation in the film.įeminists like bell hooks believe that Livingston was not critical of her position as a white filmmaker. Some were even battling homelessness and HIV/AIDS. The voguers in the film were working-class, poor and/or sex working. Although it is widely celebrated as an invaluable piece of documentary history on LGBTQ communities of color, the film remains controversial. This iconic film by Jennie Livingston was a portrait of some of the most prominent voguers in New York’s ballroom scene and the challenges they faced along the lines of race, gender, class and sexuality. The documentary Paris is Burning captures a snapshot of the history of vogue in the mid-late 1980’s. Vogue offers a sense of identity, belonging and dignity in a world that does not fully value their lives. Regardless of the style, voguing shows the courage of black and Latino LGBTQ communities to make an art form that goes beyond creative expression. Vogue Fem uses similar “New Way” elements but focuses on speed, flow and stunts. Today, New Way is characterized by more rigid movements and “clicks” or joint contortions. With time, vogue changed from the “Old Way” (which emphasized hard angles and straight lines) to the “New Way” in the late 1980’s (which added elements like the catwalk, the duckwalk, spinning, bussey and enhanced hand performance). Ultimately, the winner would be the person who “threw the best shade.” Using dance and pantomime, the voguers would “read” each other. This creative performance through voguing was even used to peacefully settle disputes among rivals in an environment that assumed a degree of mutual respect and compassion. Through dance, drag queens showed how gender is a performance – they pretended to put on makeup or “beat face”, style their hair, and put on extravagant clothes. Named after the famous fashion magazine, vogue took from the poses in high fashion and ancient Egyptian art, adding exaggerated hand gestures to tell a story and imitate various gender performances in categorized drag genres. As part of this ballroom culture, black and Latino voguers would compete for trophies and the reputation of their “Houses” – groups that were part competitive affiliation, part surrogate family. Between the 1960’s and 80’s New York drag competitions known as “balls” transformed from elaborate pageantry to “vogue” battles. So it should come as no surprise that Harlem was the birthplace of “vogue”, a highly stylized form of dance created by black and Latino LGBTQ communities. Over the years, Harlem continued to be a vibrant site of LGBTQ art, activism and culture.
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The movement offered a new language that challenged social structures and demonstrated the ways that race, gender, sex and sexuality distinctions were actually intersecting, fluid and constantly evolving. Many of the movement’s leaders were openly gay or identified as having nuanced sexualities including Angelina Weld Grimké, Claude McKay, Langston Hughes, Wallace Thurman, Alice Dunbar-Nelson, Alain Locke, and Richard Bruce Nugent among others. The intellectual, cultural and artistic movement took the neighborhood by storm, bringing with it a flurry of literature, art, and music that centered black life.
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The Harlem Renaissance (1920-1935) was particularly influential to this process. Richard Bruce Nugent, Tom Wirth, Wikimedia Commons.Īt the beginning of the twentieth century, a distinctly black LGBTQ culture took shape in Harlem. Some of the most influential residential enclaves for these communities were in New York, one of the most notable being Harlem. Historical scholarship has unearthed a world of saloons, cabarets, speakeasies, rent parties, and drag balls that existed since the late 1800’s as spaces where LGBTQ identities were not only visible, but openly celebrated. This could not be further from the truth. There is a dangerous myth that queer life did not exist in a public way until the 1960’s – the assumption being that LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer) identified people were “closeted” in isolation and invisibility.