Photo: Chantal Regnault is the photographer behind the images in Voguing and the Ballroom Scene of New York 1989-1992.Chantal Regnault/Courtesy of Soul Jazz Books.
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. This
could not be further from the truth. 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. Some of the most influential residential
enclaves for these communities were in New York, one of the most notable being
Harlem.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, a distinctly black LGBTQ culture took shape in Harlem. The Harlem Renaissance (1920-1935) was
particularly influential to this process. 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. 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 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.
Over the years, Harlem
continued to be a vibrant site of LGBTQ art, activism and culture. 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. Between
the 1960’s and 80’s New York drag competitions known as “balls” transformed
from elaborate pageantry to “vogue” battles. 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.
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.
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. 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. Using dance and pantomime, the voguers would “read”
each other. Ultimately, the winner would be the person who “threw the best shade.”
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). Today, New Way is
characterized by more rigid movements and “clicks” or joint contortions. Vogue
Fem uses similar “New Way” elements but focuses on speed, flow and stunts. 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 offers a sense
of identity, belonging and dignity in a world that does not fully value their
lives.
The documentary Paris
is Burning captures a snapshot of the history of vogue in the mid-late
1980’s. 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. Although it is widely celebrated as an invaluable piece of documentary
history on LGBTQ communities of color, the film remains controversial. The
voguers in the film were working-class, poor and/or sex working. Some were even
battling homelessness and HIV/AIDS. Yet they had to sue to be paid next to nothing for their participation in the film. Feminists
like bell hooks believe that Livingston was not critical of her position as a white filmmaker. 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. Other scholars maintain that the imitation used in vogue
creates a black imaginative space where aesthetics and LGBTQ life can be
explored in all its complexity. These complicated issues of race, representation
and appropriation in relation to vogue continue today. They are important to address in order to keep traditions that
are at once black, brown and LGBTQ and debunk the myth that LGBTQ lives of
color were never publicly lived.
Photo: Movie Poster for Paris Is Burning.
In honor of Pride Month, the Smithsonian National Museum of African
American History and Culture and the Smithsonian Latino Centerwill hold a
special 25th anniversary screening of Paris is Burning this Thursday, June 25th at 7:30 p.m.
Please join us for the film and a
post-screening discussion with American History Curator Katherine Ott, activist and emcee Rayceen Pendarvis, original cast member Dr. Sol Williams Pendavis, and Casa
Ruby founder Ruby Corado. Together, we invite you to reflect upon and celebrate
LGBTQ lives, then and now.
Tsione Wolde-Michael is the Writer/Editor for the Office of Curatorial Affairs, Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. She is also a Doctoral Candidate in History at Harvard University.
