If you hear the word vogue and all you think about is Madonna then you should know that there is a lot more to learn. Voguing is an underground style of dancing from the 80s that gay Latino and African American men would perform in clubs in Harlem.
The style started as an imitation of the models’ poses in the fashion magazine Vogue, but it is also a vehicle for exploration of identity and simply having fun being yourself while dancing. Here’s an excerpt from The City Exposed article on voguing:
Jocquese Whitfield is trying not just to keep voguing alive in the San Francisco club scene, but also to win acceptance for it as an art form in dance studios.
In 2010, he began teaching a series of classes he calls “Vogue and Tone,” first at Dance Mission Theater on 24th Street and a year later at ODC Dance Commons a few blocks away on Shotwell Street.
About a year ago, he started a weekly dance party called “Queers at Twerk” with his friend Michelle “DJ Andre” Bullington at Beaux.
During his Thursday night class at the ODC, classically trained ballet dancers stood next to newbie-dancer techies taking one of their first classes. Together, under Whitfield’s guidance, they worked on the five elements of vogue – catwalks, duckwalks, dips, spins and floor performance. READ MORE HERE.
Whitfield is currently teaching Vogue and Tone at ODC.
Also, check out Mission Local’s video above on the House of Aviance voguing at the Stud last year.