"Which character do you like best?" My answer is, every one.
In 1987, New York, an underground ballroom.
A circle of red light tubes hung around, and a cosmic ball lamp hung from the ceiling like the stars holding the moon. During the rotation, countless silver beams were cast, like a midnight dream, seeing the stars scattered.
The host stood on the stage and shouted, " The theme of tonight is that the enchanting queen hates the sky. "
After speaking, the ballroom fell into darkness, with only two chasing lights remaining. The woman stepping on high heels came out like this, full of momentum.
But you thought that what followed was an amazing dance, but you never imagined that you would dance with your teeth and claws. There was no sense of rhythm at all, and sometimes it danced like a duck.
However, he is still dancing vigorously and showing himself generously. He even raised his chin proudly, looking down at all beings, arrogant. With his tall and slender body, he held the eyes of every spectator present with his every move.
This is just a glimpse of the many prom scenes in the American drama "Pose."
The people dancing on the stage are all gay, bisexual and transgender, and most of them are black . Because of their sexual orientation, they were abandoned by their parents, excluded from society, and finally homeless.
Fortunately, there is this bizarre dance, so that they don't have to cover up, and can see that they are colorful black.
In the 1920s, a black writer named Langston Hughes wrote in Spectacles of Colors:
The most bizarre and gorgeous sight in New York's Harlem is the annual ball.
I was fortunate enough to attend as a guest and found men in women's clothes and women in men's clothes on the dance floor. For example, men in flowing robes and feathers on their heads, women in tuxedo suits, all kinds are fashionable.
The so-called "Harlem" here is a black residential area.
At that time, the law prohibited citizens from wearing fancy clothes, and the dance was also exclusive to white people, held two or three times a year, mostly in the palace and bars.
As soon as you enter the door, you can see the crystal glass chandelier hanging on the top, so that wherever the eyes can see, they are all resplendent and splendid, and they almost lose their direction.
The dancers are dressed in brocade clothes, with pearls entwined with emeralds, whirling, shaking, and shaking their heads in a rhythmic melody, which is truly noble and unusual.
Blacks couldn't attend, they couldn't even go to dance school with whites. I heard that there was a dance queen who went to dance a few times, but due to racial discrimination, she rarely won awards.
In the 1920s, with the outbreak of the " Harlem Renaissance (New Negro Movement)", prom culture made waves among black gays.
They started throwing balls on the underground dance floor, ignoring laws and regulations against fancy dress, buying clothes, applying makeup, and showing off their beauty.
And it quickly attracted gay bisexuals, transgender people and queer people who were confused about their gender identity.
At three o'clock in the morning, wearing feathers, wearing a crown, stepping on high-heeled shoes, and well-dressed, her eyes are full of arrogance and self, like a new love.
And only at this moment are they safest.
In "Pose" , a black youth asks a transgender dancer, what is Ball?
The dancers took him to the underground dance floor, looking down at the crowd of people with delicate face makeup and colorful clothes, saying, " Earn a place in a white world full of heterosexuality. "
So, don't ask why the "prom" is a ball instead of a dance party. This is a carnival that belongs to the LGBTQ black community.
They are rejected by the mainstream thinking and become demons. They are orphans in the beautiful world. Only at this shameful underground dance party can they shatter their self-esteem and reluctantly pick up a few pieces.
In the 1930s, an African-American named Crystal LaBeija won the title of "Drag Queen" at a dance organized by white people. But most of the time, she had to face the embarrassment of her skin color.
So I formed a group with my friends, called " House of LaBeija" , and went to the underground dance hall to dance.
The House here, like the Ball above, is more than just a literal meaning, but also refers to a family that is not related by blood.
Mostly established for the winners of previous prom competitions, as "fathers" or "mothers", to recruit members, generally gay, bisexual and transgender.
And provide them with material and spiritual support, with a view to making a fight for the family glory on Ball in the future.
House of LaBeija is the originator of this "House culture" , and its specific appearance and temperament are unknown, except that it appeared briefly in the 1968 movie [ Queen] .
There are many types of competition items, but most of them are a combination of catwalk and dance, and the judges will score one by one to determine the winner. The one with the most trophies will be honored as the "Legendary Family of the Year".
Throughout the history of black prom, there are many such legends. The most famous is the " House of Ninja ".
The "father" of the family, Willi Ninja , is a black gay. He starred in the 1991 film [Paris is Burning] and performed a dance that amazed the world.
There are also many in "Pose" , such as "House of Plenty" and "House of Evangelista". Even in the first episode, the heroine asked on the street, "Have you considered joining a family?"
She is transgender and was abandoned by her mother who learned the truth at a very young age, but after establishing House, she strives to be a qualified "mother".
Everyone eats and lives together, and at Christmas, they will get gifts that are shabby but meaningful. From now on, there is no need to worry about sleeping on the street, let alone being a homeless prostitute.
If you don’t have a family, you will create one; if you don’t have an identity, you will be named after your family; if you are not recognized, you will go to the underground dance to create value.
Since then, they no longer take the hostility and prejudice of the world into their eyes. If you have a home, you have the confidence to live.
New York, Rikers Island Prison in the 1960s.
Gay men looked at Vogue magazine, and when they were bored, they had a whim, and learned to pose poses from the models on the cover. After they were skilled, they connected these poses.
After they were released from prison, they went to the underground dance hall to perform this dance, and it was like a night of fire and silver flowers, which lit up the whole New York.
This dance evolved from the cover of "Vogue" is called " Voguing ".
Dynamic dance, popular in black underground dance halls in New York, mostly uses impromptu rhythms, movements include gestures, rotations, falling to the ground, duck jumping and the most basic fixed-point pose, which is very exciting.
Therefore, every Ball, every House, is learning this dance, and if necessary, it is used for fighting dance.
At the beginning of "Attitude" , there is such a paragraph. It mainly uses the combination of the wrist joint and the elbow joint, the hand shape is fixed, the five fingers are close together and straight, with a high-spirited "bitch".
But to talk about the soul of this aspect, I have to mention Willi Ninja again.
Ninja means "ninja". He named himself this name, implying that the ninja is dressed at night, swift and elegant like the wind, just like Voguing.
Inspired by haute couture shows and ballet, on the basis of the previous emphasis on lines and fixed-point poses, the rotation of the body, the big movements, and the "fall" and "fall" of licking the ground are added.
Since then, Voguing's style has evolved from Old Way to New Way.
Gestures, rotations, catwalks, kneeling, and falling are the five elements. Every move is angular, aggressive, conveys the true self, and is full of fluidity.
Willi Ninja is also known as the " Godfather of Voguing ".
In 1990, he filmed [Paris Burning] , which opened with a young black man saying:
My dad used to say that life is like a baseball game, with strikeouts.
If you're black and you're male, you've already been struck twice. You're black, you're male, and you're gay, so you better prepare yourself and be tougher than anyone else, because your life is going to be fucking hard.
The film is set in New York in the 1980s, and like "Pose", there are countless black gay and transgender people who have been expelled by their parents and society.
They gather in Harlem, wearing heavy make-up, wearing clothes they stole or designing themselves, and voguing in underground ballrooms.
This is the closest place to a dream. And the so-called dream is just a day when you can walk with your true self on Fifth Avenue.
Because of this movie, Voguing became popular all over the United States.
In the same year, Madonna invited Willi Ninja to choreograph for her. As a result, several standard Voguing moves appeared in her "Vogue" MV. Voguing became popular all over the world and entered the mainstream cultural vision.
The following year, the documentary [Sleeping with Madonna] pushed this dance to the top of the world.
In 2014, his MV queen dancer, a pair of lily lovers from Japan, Ikuya Sato and Wanmei Nakayama got married.
The two formed a team called " Ayabambi ", which improved traditional Voguing, almost no longer rotate and bend knees, but concentrated the movement on the upper body line and turned it by the wrist.
The dances are neat and tidy, highly recognizable, and the beauty of neutrality is revealed in the infinite explosive force.
Let's not forget FKA twigs , a talented British electronic music girl .
In the "Glass & Patron" MV released in 2015, she showed Voguing, including hand dancing, falling to the ground, and spinning, and was called "Voguing Goddess".
Use body language to make all things grow.
Today, there is "Pose" .
At the underground dance, this group of people who are marginalized by society will not give in to each other during the dance fight. You will sing and I will appear.
They circled their arms into a dance floor, and used Voguing to wrestle, blending love and hate.
That is the attitude that needs to be shown in order to survive in this world.
There is no rhythm and technique, it's a bitch dance, but every dance is earning! Earn the closest true self, earn the rare spotlight in life, earn a sense of belonging and social identity.
This is the humble skeleton hidden in the powerful Voguing. It was wrapped in bloody wounds and was fighting with cold eyes like swords.
There used to be a Ball, and there was a House on the Ball, and the people in the House were leading everyone to dance Voguing.
Perhaps, as the old host in "Attitude" said, "Get up and work harder. Victory isn't today, it may be tomorrow."
So, Voguing dancers, please continue to "bitch". One day, you'll be walking down Fifth Avenue with your head held high.
Just wait and see.
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Author/Aunt Liu
The article was first published on the WeChat public account "Bao Ci Er"
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