Vogue (dance)

This style of dance arose from African American Harlem ballroom cultures, as danced by African-American and participating Latino gay men and transfeminine individuals, from the early 1960s through the 1980s. The Harlem Renaissance shaped a distinctly African American and Latino LGBTQ culture in Harlem from 1920 to 1935, which included advancement in literature, arts and music and attempted to demonstrate that aspects of identity like race, gender and sexuality can be fluid and intersecting. The balls that began during this time eventually shifted from elaborate pageantry to vogue dance battles. The dance battles consisted of dance learned during prison years. Over the years, the dance evolved into the more intricate and acrobatic form that is now called "vogue". Vogue dance presents gender as a performance. Drag queens pretend to apply makeup ("beat face"), style hair and don extravagant clothing through the dance moves. Although there are varying gender and sexuality classifications and categories, each fits into either female figure (FF) or male figure (MF). Female figure includes trans women, cisgender women and drag queens, while male figure includes butch queens, butch women and transgender men. No matter the category, performances and competitions are camp, which embodies the spirit of extravagance and is exaggerated and artificial. The precise origins of voguing are disputed. Although many cite the story in which Paris Dupree takes out a Vogue magazine and mimics the poses to the beat of the music (and other queens subsequently followed), there are other accounts that note voguing may have originated from black gay prison inmates at Rikers Island, performed for the attention of other men as well as throwing shade. == Styles ==

There are currently three distinct styles of vogue: old way (pre-1990); new way (post-1990); and vogue fem (circa 1995). Old way Old way is characterized by the formation of lines, symmetry, and precision in the execution of formations with graceful, fluid-like action. Egyptian hieroglyphs and fashion poses serve as the original inspirations for old way voguing. In its purest, historical form, old way vogue is a duel between two rivals. Traditionally, old way rules dictated that one rival must "pin" the other to win the contest. Pinning involved the trapping of an opponent so that they could not execute any movements while the adversary was still in motion (usually voguing movements with the arms and hands called "hand performance" while the opponent was "pinned" against the floor doing "floor exercises" or against a wall). New way New way is characterized by rigid movements coupled with "clicks" (limb contortions at the joints) and "arms control" (hand and wrist illusions, which sometimes includes tutting and locking). New way can also be described as a modified form of mime in which imaginary geometric shapes, such as a box, are introduced during motion and moved progressively around the dancer's body to display the dancer's dexterity and memory. New way involves incredible flexibility.) can be described as a ground-level stunt. This can be executed by spiraling down to the floor and tucking one leg, while the other is extended and creating the illusion that one’s head has touched the floor. This is to be executed on what is called the HA! a loud metallic crash in the music or verbal "HA!" heard throughout music to accent this specific movement. The dip originated from pop, dip, and spin which is the foundation and base of old way. File:Voguing Masquerade Ball 3.webm|A participant at the National Museum of African Art's 2016 Voguing Masquerade Ball File:Voguing Masquerade Ball (30471245675).jpg File:Voguing Masquerade Ball (30384506411).jpg File:Voguing Masquerade Ball (30471230845).jpg == Scenes and chapters ==

The ballroom scene has evolved into a national and international underground dancesport with major balls and dance competitions being held in different regions of the United States and around the world. New York State continues to be the mecca of the ballroom scene as well as the dance style, but regional voguing "capitals" exist—Chicago and Detroit for the Midwest. Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas, Miami for the South. Los Angeles and Las Vegas for the West Coast. Baltimore, D.C, Connecticut, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh. and Virginia for the East Coast. International cities in Western Europe (the U.K., France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Austria and Sweden), Eastern Europe, Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Panama) and Asia Pacific (Japan and New Zealand) have sprouted and held competitions inspired by voguing from the original balls of New York City. ==Influence on pop music==

Influence on Madonna and her dancers vogueing on the 1990 Blond Ambition World Tour. The singer brought global exposure to the then-underground dance. Madonna is commonly credited with popularizing vogue as a dance craze. Due to the popularity of her song "Vogue", Madonna has often been perceived as the inventor of vogueing, which nevertheless has not remained central to her performance work. MFA Stephen Ursprung from Smith College felt that "Madonna created a market for voguing" and further asserted "voguing has left its mark on the world" through a "close connection" with the singer. Danish lecturer Henrik Vejlgaard, commented that both her song and video made "voguing a popular dance concept in many parts of the world". A 1994 article from academic journal Public Culture, said that the gay ball dance form was popularized by Madonna "in a way that made it seem like she practically invented it". Although Madonna's song "Vogue" brought popularity and awareness to the dance style, the pop singer still received criticism from those who believe she exploited and appropriated the ballroom culture. The 1990 music video was choreographed by Jose Gutierez Xtravaganza and Luis Camacho of the House of Xtravaganza. However, all of the celebrities mentioned in the song are white, and Madonna herself is a white woman. Even though Madonna referenced the Harlem ballroom culture by including members of the community in the production of the video, critics still say that she erased the originating culture since she is the primary mainstream association with the style. Further influence Several other notable pop celebrities and artists have been influenced by voguing, including performers such as Teyana Taylor, Rihanna, Willow Smith, FKA Twigs, Ariana Grande, Beyoncé and Azealia Banks who have all taken inspiration from voguing from dances of past and contemporary voguers, while also incorporating the beats traditionally attached to the dance. One of the most recent influences of voguing (and Ball culture) comes from the documentary film Kiki, in which contemporary Balls and Voguing is represented through the scenes and styles that now exist. At the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics in Italy, ice skaters Beaudry and Cizeron performed a program with Madonna's "Vogue" song including vogue dance inspired moves in the rhythm dance discipline. == Depictions in media ==

• Deep in Vogue • Paris Is Burning • How Do I Look • Pose • Strike a Pose • Legendary == See also ==