Voguing & The House Ballroom Scene Of New York City 1989-92

Manufacturer: Soul Jazz
Product type: Books
Cat no: SJR 249  

This deluxe 200 page 24x30cm flexibound book features hundreds of
stunning photographs from the hidden world of New York's house
ballroom drag scene out of which came 'Voguing', the dance made
famous by Madonna.
Introductory text is by Tim Lawrence, author of two seminal music
books: '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'.
To coincide with the book, Soul Jazz Records will be releasing an
album of the same name in 2012, featuring Masters At Work, MFSB,
Junior Vasquez, Diana Ross, Armand Van Helden, Loose Joints, First
Choice and many more.
Photographer Chantal Regnault lived in New York between 1989-92,
photographing the scene at its height the dancers Willi Ninja, Jose
and Luis Xtravaganza (who all worked with Madonna) as well as
the legendary 'mothers' of the gay and transgender world - Avis
Pendavis, Peppa LaBeija, Carmen Xtravaganza, Dorian Corey, Paris
Dupree and more.
Voguing came out of the extraordinary house ballroom scene that
emerged in Harlem, New York in the 1980s where men competed
against one another for their dancing skills, the realness of their drag
and their ability to walk on a catwalk runway like a model.
Voguing erupted into the mainstream in 1990 when Madonna's song
'Vogue' became Number One in over 30 countries. The year before
Malcolm McClaren first brought voguing into the mainstream with his
song 'Deep In Vogue' featuring dancer Willi Ninja. In 1990 Jennie
Livingstone's film 'Paris Is Burning' documented the house ballroom
scene in its ascendant, the film a runaway success grossing over
$4,000,000.
As voguing entered into the mainstream the house ballrooms of
Harlem came downtown mixing with the downtown fashion crowd of
Manhattan, before the onslaught of the AIDS epidemic ravaged the
ballroom community.
These wild years of voguing and the house ballroom scene are vividly
captured at its height in hundreds of amazing, previously unpublished
photographs. A visual riot of fashion, gender, polysexuality and
subversive style, 'Voguing And The House Ballroom Scene Of New
York 1989-92' is also a fascinating document on sexuality and race.