I'm really excited about Vogue Evolution, a group competing in the current season of America's Best Dance Crew. The crew members are black and Latino. Four are out gay men and one is an out trans woman. From the beginning they've been very upfront about their identities (a relief after seeing so many euphemistic referrals to queer people on TV including the insulting "Choice Fab-u-lous" category at this year's Teen Choice Awards). Check out this video from the first episode of the season where they introduce themselves and talk a little bit about being gay and trans:
Voguing has been around since the Harlem Renaissance and has been dominated by queer people of color. Pony Webster, one of the crew's directors, described the style in an interview with After Elton:
Voguing came from poses in Vogue Magazine, that turned into movement that then became self-expression. Voguing is like flamboyant movement with abstract art with self-expression. There are some elements to keep you in the box. There's hands, which is moving your hands. There's catwalk, which is a stance with your knees, then there's duckwalk, so there's a skeleton, but it's really self-expression.
Voguing has received public recognition as a result of the film Paris is Burning and Madonna's appropriation of the style. However, Vogue Evolution's participation in ABDC is the first time members of the house and ballroom community are representing their own style to such a wide pop culture audience.
Vogue Evolution is made up of some of the most popular dancers in the house/ballroom scene. The crew seems to take responsibility to their community very seriously - members also do peer education work around HIV/AIDS. I consider linking art and activism very important, a value I've seen reflected in the queer community and that I'm happy is being represented on such a big stage.
The current popularity of dance competition TV shows has led to some problematic gender moments. ABDC is not without blame: MTV's website refers to the Vogue Evolution members as "the guys" and in critique the judges have alternated between calling them "guys" and "ladies," seemingly unable to find a gender neutral way to refer to a mixed gender crew made up of gay men and a trans woman. I think the crew has generally been treated with respect, though, and I'm glad ABDC decided to include them in the competition. It is so rare to see positive representations of queer people of color. And it is even more rare to see positive representations of queer people of color engaged in high femme gender performance. Dance shows like So You Think You Can Dance? have repeatedly criticized male dancers for not being "masculine" enough. The male members of Vogue Evolution are dancing very femme in a very femme style, looking fabulous doing it, and getting the props they deserve.
I'm an especially big fan of Leiomy Maldonado. She's taken on this opportunity for a teaching moment, explaining her identity to a wide audience. She even told her coming out story to After Elton and said she would use the prize money from the show to pay for sex reassignment surgery. It can be exhausting and frightening to be out about being trans and take on the work of educating others about your own identity. I feel really proud watching Leiomy.
And, oh yeah, her dancing is ovah! She owns the stage, makes challenging moves look effortless, and have you seen that thing she does with her hair? I want to be able to do that! During critique of Vogue Evolution's dance for the Beyoncé challenge Lil' Mama told Leiomy, "it took a transgender woman to bring out the feminine side of Beyoncé." The whole crew brought a dynamic energy to the piece, but Leiomy was definitely the queen. Check out the video:
I know I'm biased, but Vogue Evolution is my favorite crew this season and I'd love to see them win.
Feministing Community blog posts on Vogue Evolution:
Vogue Evolution: Is the TV Dance Craze Breaking Down Barriers?
Gay and Trans Representation on America's Best Dance Crew
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It's moments like these when I wish I could watch American TV. America's Best Dance Crew has a troop that's made up of four out gay men and one out transwoman, and they, as their name suggests, vogue. Here's a video from the first episode of the season... Read More
I'm with you Jos--they are amazing!
WOW! I'm not in the US so I can't watch the show but now I will be checking Youtube furiously every week to see as much of Vogue Evolution as I can. Thanks for this Jos- they're amazing dancers and its great to see how much they LOVE it. I get the feeling they'd all be hilariously fun to hang out with too- love 'em!! (could do without the weirdly uncomfortable host though)
MTV posts the full episodes on their website on Monday mornings US time (the morning after the show airs) so you can watch it then! Such a great show. All the crews are super talented.
I don't know if MTV does this, but Comedy Central has sister networks in other nations and so blocks their content from out-of-country IP addresses. So, anyone outside the US may not be able to get the content straight through the MTV site.
christ on a christmas tree, I LOVE these people. They're dancing is AMAZING and I love how open they are about WHO they are.
go Vogue Evolution!
I took up watching ABDC because of Beat Freaks. Looks like I've got another reason to watch now!
I'll be tubing these awesome peoples too, man, cause I can't watch them without getting SERIOUS CHILLS. That running chill from my scalp to the sole of my feet, cause they're just riding that music like a fucking PONY, yo!! Where has this sort of dancing been all my life?! Damn me being born white in Australia in the most isolated fucking city in the world! I want to see as much of this dancing as I can, it's fucking ON, man! I WISH I COULD DANCE SO I COULD DANCE LIKE THAT!
I don't want to derail this comment thread, and I'm glad you like Vogue Evolution so much, but I feel like I need to address two aspects of your comment. First:
According to Pony Webster Vogue Evolution is on ABDC, "to show the beauty of the [voguing] scene, and the art, and the happiness and the joy." It makes sense that voguing and the house/ballroom culture is appealing. But you're expressing a regret that you are white because you want to be part of something awesome that's been created by queer people of color. This ignores the massive amount of racial privilege you and I have as white people and the legacy of oppression experienced by queer people of color. As white people it's important for us to recognize that our experience of an artform created by queer people of color exists within the context of white supremacy - we can enjoy something wonderful without any experience of the context the art was created in.
Second I want to address the language used to praise Vogue Evolution's dancing:
Again, I get that you're a fan and expressing your appreciation for Vogue Evolution. And I recognize your use of the word "Pony" might be a play on the name of one of the group's members. But there is a long history of comparing people of color to animals, whether stating outright that they are considered less than human or praising athletic prowess in a way that suggests people of color's physical abilities are somehow inherent and related to some primitive connection to the animal world. It's important to be careful about the language we use and recognize how it might impact a group of people who have traditionally been compared to animals as part of a system of dehumanization.
I am seriously loving that they have a fat dancer on their crew, and there is not one comment on his dancing abilities- in fact, he's absolutely fantastic. Diverse queer bodies FTW!
They're awesome! I'm rooting for them, but then I'm fond of We Are Heroes, and I was rooting for Artistry in Motion, too. Yay for non-conforming dancers!
I LOVE We Are Heroes. They're my favorites, and Vogue Evolution is my #2 favorite. I love that We Are Heroes has such muscular women. Usually the girls on ABDC are conventionally pretty (see: AfroBorike), but the We Are Heroes girls are, well, athletes.
"During critique of Vogue Evolution's dance for the Beyoncé challenge Lil' Mama told Leiomy, "'it took a transgender woman to bring out the feminine side of Beyoncé.'"
I don't understand the point that you were trying to make with this sentence.
I understand that the statement could be interpreted as challenging the gender binary by showing that a trans woman can be more "feminine" or "womanly" that a ciswoman, but i don't think it's ok to say that beyonce is not feminine enough to prove that point.
anyway, i love vogue revolution!!! i will definitely be watching ANTDC this season :))
The judges felt, and I agree, that Vogue Evolution was the first group of the night to bring a lot of energy and excitement and get the crowd pumped up. A big part of this was Leiomy's performance since she was playing the Beyoncé role. I think all the groups had someone playing a version of Beyoncé, but Leiomy definitely pulled it off best, really channeling her energy and pop star quality. That's what Lil' Mama was referring to, not a diss directed at Beyoncé.
I'm surprised Artistry In Motion wasn't mentioned!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQEPrrUiWjY
Love VE! Can't wait to see what they do every week :)
I love Vogue Evolution too. Really, they're too good for a schlocky show like ABDC which tries to spice up the competition by having them do silly moves (like Kung Fu) which aren't relevant to their beautiful style.
I with Jos how Leyomi is referred to, both in articles about the group and in some of the statements here. How do you know she identifies as queer? Anyone asked her that? Many transsexual women and men don't. She has stated she wants to use any money she wins from competing to get SRS with Marci Bowers. How do you know she doesn't identify as a straight woman?
I admit I also have a lot of culturally-biased discomfort (as a white transwoman) with the repeated references to the crew as gay. Does Leyomi identify as gay? In After Elton, the group leader referred to them as "a league of gentleman" (as in Vogue All-Stars). Yes, I know a lot of African-American queer people conflate being gay and trans, but I found that offensive. Along with some of their male member's repeated references to being a gay dance group. Remember, they were individual performers before ABDC and only came together for competing in the program. I would hope some of the other members would realize her situation is NOT the same as theirs and stop speaking for her as if she's one of the guys.