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

BALLROOM SCENE - Terminology

For those who wandered about the terminology of my previous post, here is an insight into the lingo of the Ballroom scene. 

TERMINOLOGY OF THE BALLROOM SCENE IN BRIEF:

• HOUSE - a literal re-creation of "home" - in the sense that these groups became real-life families for individuals that might have been exiled from their birth homes. 
• Femme Queens - preoperative male to female transsexuals, often known for their alluring beauty and uncanny "realness."
• Butches - a term used to describe either aggressive lesbian women or female-to-male transsexuals.
• The term "woman" - only reserved for either heterosexual, biologically born women or feminine lesbians that did not identify with the "butch" title.
• "Trade" - describes men whose sexuality might have been in question even if their masculinity was not.
• "Butch Queens" - a term used to describe any biologically born male that presented himself of as male, "Butch Queens Up in Drag" on the other hand came to signify gay men who dressed in drag specifically for the balls, but still lived his everyday life as a man.
• 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. 
• 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.
• Vogue Fem (the spelling being an English appropriation to fr. femme, feminine) is fluidity at its most extreme with exaggerated feminine movements influenced by ballet and modern dance. Styles of Vogue Fem performance range from Dramatics (which emphasizes stunts, tricks, and speed) to Soft and Cunt (which emphasizes a graceful, beautiful, easy flow). 

There are five elements of Vogue Fem: hand performance, catwalk, duckwalk, floor performance, and spins and dips. When competing in a Vogue Fem battle, contestants should showcase all five elements in an entertaining fashion.

• Hand performance refers to the illusions and movements of the arms, wrists, hands, and fingers.
• The catwalk is the upright sashaying in a linear fashion.
• The duckwalk refers to the crouched, squatted, foot-kicking and scooting movements requiring balance on the balls of the feet.
• Floor performance refers to the movements done on the floor using primarily the legs, knees, and back.
• The dip is the fall, drop, or descent backward onto one's back with one's leg folded underneath. Mainstream dance forms popularized the dip, which is occasionally called the "death drop" when done in dramatics style. Due to popular media, the dip is sometimes incorrectly termed the "5000", "shablam", and "shabam"; such misnomers likely stem from older commentators chanting the word "shawam" when a voguer successfully completed a dip.