Short film on Voguing by British filmmaker Jenn Nkiru

And back on the topic of Ballroom and Voguing, we have this thrilling new short film to unveil to you peeps.

It's the first part of a series by new British Director Jenn Nkiru with the obvious title EN VOGUE.

A high-concept in your face experimental short film showcasing the unique beauty, energy & exuberance of one of NYC's last underground subcultures: Voguing & Ballroom.

The film was written, produced and directed by British filmmaker Jenn Nkiru with cinematography from Bradford Young (Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, Pariah, Restless City, Middle of Nowhere, Mother of George) and second unit photography from Arthur Jafa (Eyes Wide Shut, Daughters of the Dust, Crooklyn). Filming was completed in summer 2013 in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, New York City with post-production finalised in March 2014 between Final Cut Studios and Color Collective NY in London and New York City.

The dancers and personalities featured in the film hail from the Legendary Houses of Ninja, Mizrahi, Labeija, Garçon, Xtravaganza, Mugler, Lanvin, Prodigy and Evisu. NYC entertainment personality and Broadway singer/actor, Dwayne Milan plays a leading role. Choreography comes courtesy of Danielle Polanco (Beyoncé, Janet Jackson, Lady Gaga, JLo) with prominent DJ/Producer MikeQ (Qween Beat Productions / Fade To Mind Records) serving as the music composer for the film.

With the production of En Vogue, Jenn Nkiru is gearing up to release a project that is “dreamlike, poetic and visually arresting.”

“This is realness. This film is art in motion– it’s performance/video art. It’s experimental, authentic and nothing like the channel has seen before. It’s special– it’s different,” says Nkiru.

Ahead of its broadcast release, En Vogue has already been picked up by the Sheffield International Documentary Film Festival as an official selection and by the newly formed Curzon Home Cinemas, who have picked up the film under an exclusive license during the month of June 2014.

Further news and info on Jenn Nkiru and En Vogue can be found at:  www.JennNkiru.com

Notes on Voguing

Many people know about it, some are Voguers themselves, others are already over it, but to many Voguing is still a relatively unfamiliar term. There are many an article written about it and I will try to point them out here.

First, how it all started? Where and when....

As any other underground movement/subculture, Voguing was born as an answer to socio-political pressures on a group of individuals. In this case particularly black and latin LGBT communities in Chicago and New York.
The correct term to use, we should point out, is actually Ballroom (or simply Ball) Scene. Voguing is the main style of this scene, but not the only one as we will see further on.
It is widely considered that Voguing dates back to late 70s and took its name from Vogue magazine, as the competing dancers would flip to pictures of models posing, and imitate them, trying to outdo each other in the process. This really refers to Voguing as a style and attitude, but many will argue that the true birth of the ballroom scene is to be traced back to the notorious culture of Harlem drag balls in 1920s and 1930s New York. (ref: http://www.wiretapmag.org/arts/43120 and http://thequietus.com/articles/07990-vogue-voguing-soul-jazz-chantal-regnault) and other claims even go further to suggest that the scene was born in Chicago as early as 1900s (ref: http://gapersblock.com/ac/2011/01/21/strike-a-pose-underground-gay-balls-chicago/ )
To define Ballroom, it is really a competition where different teams, called HOUSES perform against each other in various categories such as Fasion, Dance, Runway, Modelling, Face, Creativity and more. If the early balls were diverse, they were also very much white owned. This changed in the sixties, when Harlem's gay black community staged its own events. It wasn't until the following decade that the 'Houses' that supported the balls became formalized. In 1977 an imperious, elegant queen named Crystal LaBeija announced that a ball she'd helped put together was being given by the House of LaBeija, as in House of Chanel or House of Dior and the trend was formed. (ref: Michael Cunningham).

As the movement developed, it incorporated other forms of dance such as Waacking (high speed arm movements and hand gestures) and body popping. Largely an underground movement, it became relatively big trend by the end of the 80s when it suddenly experienced a mainstream breakout moment in the early '90s, when first Malcolm McLaren's 1989 release "Deep in Vogue" climbed the dance charts and then Madonna's take on "Vogue" became a blockbuster pop hit. Perhaps you've also heard of  Masters at Work’s 1991 classic “The Ha Dance” which is one major source for sampling for most of the New Way voguing sound. Then we had Jennie Livingston's 1990 documentary "Paris is Burning" which is a great film, argues houseofdiabolique.com "but not one that does its subject justice. There is more to the ballroom scene than chopping, mopping, "fierceness" and shade; and there is more to voguing than striking a pose.  As for Drag, it is a form of control. By looking good one can feel good. By looking powerful, one can feel powerful. One can be powerful. Therefore, beauty begets control.

Today, ballroom culture and voguing has become an integral part of the black gay urban experience. Voguing culture has evolved. It's riding a new wave of exposure, through thousands of fan-posted YouTube videos, the massive viral reception that accompanied the five-member Vogue Evolution team's televised run on America's Best Dance Crew in 2009, and Willow Smith's "Whip My Hair" video, which features Leiomy of Vogue Evolution and centers on her signature "Leiomy Lolly" hair-whip dance move, also co-opted by Britney Spears and Beyonce. We've seen Kelly Rowland throwing shapes in more than one recent videos while the likes of Azealia Banks are coming up with soe sick beats - voguing style of cource. Lately, less formal groups of young voguers called kiki houses are springing up alongside the established houses. A more aggressive style of voguing has taken over, as "vogue fem" (or "vogue femme") continues to dominate the floor. Like most styles of dance, Vogue Fem is more about a look and feel than a hard-and-fast set of rules. It can encompass ultra-feminine, ballet-like "soft and cunty" movements on the one end, and hyperactive, stunt-driven "dramatics" on the other. Wild hair tosses, heart-stopping drops, and angled twirls became the vogue fem hallmarks. With the new style, dancers began to gravitate towards nervier, more anxious music with sharp orchestra hits, cascades of percussive crashes, and super-choppy samples. The gracefulness and glamorous poses of the Old Way [generally accepted division into Old Way (pre-1990) and New Way (post-1990)] made room for more attention-grabbing moves, and the amped-up speed garage sound of the new tracks wouldn't feel out of place on contemporary dance labels like Night Slugs or Fool's Gold."

But let's look back at the visual documentaries that turned the focus of the new generations to the legacy of Voguing and contributed to its revival of late. "Paris Is Burning" has introduced a wide audience to the language, style, music and culture of voguing. The 2005 documentary "How Do I Look" acts as a kind of riposte to Paris Is Burning, going further into ballroom culture and featuring some Paris Is Burning cast members who felt they weren't portrayed fairly. The main source for modern ballroom footage is unquestionably the YouTube channel Ballroom Throwbacks (recommended to us by Niall Connolly) , which has been grabbing and uploading candid footage of modern balls for a few years now. Also worth watching is The Luna Show, in which Butch Queen Face legend Luna Khan hosts some great short interviews with many stars of the ballroom scene.

As far as reading goes, the main books dedicated to the scene are:
Voguing And The House Ballroom Scene Of New York City 1989-92 - an excellent coffee table book produced by Soul Jazz, this time on the House Ballroom scene of New York as documented by Chantal Regnault

Legendary: Inside the House Ballroom Scene - Gerard H. Gaskin's radiant colour and black-and-white photographs take us inside the culture of house balls. Comprised of photos taken at balls events in New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C., is a collaboration between Gaskin, a camera-laden outsider who has been attending balls for twenty years

Sources and further read:

http://boingboing.net/2013/03/06/ballroom.html
http://www.xlr8r.com/features/2011/04/strictly-ballroom-after-decades-
http://www.houseofdiabolique.com/runway.htm  (with free music download links)
http://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/magazine/vogue-ballroom-vivian-host
http://thequietus.com/articles/13812-vogue-ballroom-cultural-appropriation-niallist
http://www.wiretapmag.org/arts/43120
http://harlembespoke.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/remember-vogueing-originated-in-harlem.html

Lizette Lizette

Bruin Preschool Blue Disco Microphone (Google Affiliate Ad)

It is a gloomy, grey and typically wet, autumn day when I meet with the young Swedish solo act Lizette Lizette. New to the London scene, she is a child of the 90s and an all-round entertainer: DJ, performer, producer, writer and singer with a strong passion for the avant garde and the queer (in the broadest sense of the word). As we chat about her past and present, I take notice of her high platform 'Camden' boots, a strong 90s reference that fits rather well with her music indeed. 
Since becoming a DJ a few years ago, she quickly made a name for herself as the Stockholm's 90s DJ extraordinaire. This shows profusely in her first solo single - Wheel Of Fortune, that is to be launched here on 13 Nov. It's an uptempo, techno-trancey offering reminiscent of some of my favourite Marusha or the Orb old-school stuff ( hence I immediately dismiss any reference to that very 90s pop act: Ace of Base and their own disco anthem of the same title. Not even vaguely trying to insert it into our conversation as it is more than clear that it has no relevance to my interviewee).

So what are the musical references that influence Lizette's creative process?
"Almost all the music I listen to is British. Even years ago, before I was into dance music I was always listening to music that came from the UK" - hence the obvious move to London recently. I'm sure she fits here effortlessly, something she struggled with early in her life.
She grew up feeling different and an outsider in her own words. " When I started school I was very shy, I didn't have any friends and after, when I was a teenager, I was this 80s goth and all the other kids were so white and blond and my mother is from Peru you see, so being different, an outcast, has always been with me. So when I grew up I didn't want to fight it anymore, I embraced it and developed into who I am today."
 Despite Sweden's lack of such club-kid culture we experience here or in New York, Lizette has her own circle of weird, loud and proud to be queer friends who go raving at her parties (she DJs at a few clubs and had her own club night last summer at F12 called "Happy Disco"). Some of them feature in the video too. "They're my second family in a way, I've always felt closer to them cause we share the same feeling of being outsiders in our community."


Next I ask Lizette about the writing process, what inspires her and how does a song come to life. It seems that often begins with her discovering a song while preparing for a DJ set and then adding experiences from everyday life too. A favourite place to put her thoughts together is the bus or a train. "A lot of thoughts and ideas flow into my head when I'm travelling". "Wheel Of Fortune came out of two things: an old classic I really love by Optus 3 - It's a Fine Day , and a conversation I had with my friends once, about how people don't follow their dreams. 
They just live their lives the way they are "supposed to" because they are scared to follow their dreams. So I wanted to write a song to inspire more people and send out the message that you should follow your dreams." 
...and rightly so, Lizette is now doing just that.

Here is the video to her single Wheel Of Fortune. I must admit it is a very catchy song, I am humming it after I just listened to it once. It seems to be stuck in my head. In a good way that is.

Lizette Lizette is DJing on 10 Nov at the Cheap Mondays Store - Carnaby Street 

and a guest performance is due at the The Waiting Room on 

10 Dec - 7pm [it will be a party organised by her too]. 

Make a note in your diaries peeps.

Till next time, 

xo xo

Oggs