V.A. Voguing and the House Ballroom Scene of New York City 1989-92 LP 1

Voguing, where dancers choreographed movements and poses taken from fashion magazines such as Vogue, first emerged around 1988 in the extraordinary ‘house ball’ community of Harlem, New York.

Here African-American and Latino gay and transgender men competed against one another at ‘drag balls’ for the ‘realness’ of their drag, their ability to walk on a fashion runway like a model - and for their dancing skills – out of which came ‘voguing’.

In 1990 voguing erupted into the mainstream when Madonna’s song Vogue became number one in over 30 countries. The previous year ex-Sex Pistols’ svengali Malcolm McClaren had first brought voguing into the cultural milieu with his song Deep in Vogue, featuring the dancer Willi Ninja. In 1990 Jennie Livingstone’s film Paris is Burning, also documented the house ballroom scene in its ascendant, the film a runaway success.

As voguing entered into the mainstream, the ‘house ball’ scene came downtown mixing with the fashion crowd of Manhattan. With this shift, Voguing was first seen outside the ball scene at legendary dance clubs such as Larry Levan’s Paradise Garage and Junior Vasquez’s Sound Factory. Here also the music evolved from the pertinent classic disco tracks of the 1970s into a harder house sound as artists such as Masters at Work and Junior Vazquez produced music that perfectly complimented the ‘pop, dip and spin’ moves of Voguing.

The album comes with extensive sleevenotes by Tim Lawrence, author of ‘Love Saves the Day: A History of American dance music culture, 1970-79’ and ‘Hold on to your Dreams: Arthur Russell and the Downtown Music Scene, 1973-92’.

As well as this album, Soul Jazz Records are also publishing ‘Voguing: voguing and the house ballroom scene of New York, 1989-92’, a 200-page deluxe photography book which vividly captures the wild years of voguing and the house ballroom scene - a visual riot of fashion, gender, poly-sexuality and subversive style, with simply stunning photographs by Chantal Regnault.