3 Things I Learned From Taking My First In Studio Vogue Fem Class
In my word, voguing is a form of dance pioneered within the ballroom scene of Harlem by members of the LGBTQIA+ community, specifically Fem Queens. It's a style of dance that promotes free expression and movement with the five elements of vogue.
I, a butch queen (according to the ballroom scene), have never vogue. I've played around with attempting a duck walk in my room, but it was an epic fail. But with voguing and the ballroom scene becoming more popular within popular culture, I've slowly but surely become an at-home fan of Ballroom culture. First, it was Pose on FX. That show opened the door to my love for Legendary on HBO. I was so obsessed I reached out to the Icon Dashaun Wesley --or Dashaun Basquiat-- to feature him on our September issue digital cover. And when FX and HBOMax, unfortunately, canceled Pose and Legendary, I switched to YouTube, home to thousands of Ballroom clips and videos to satisfy my new obsession.
My couch obsession with voguing brings us to yesterday when I decided to jump dip first into a Vogue Fem class taught by Luz "Theodyssey" Guzman --who appeared in seasons 1 & 2 of Pose and was a finalist on Legendary with the House of Yamamoto-- at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. I attempted to catwalk. I tried to duckwalk. And I definitely dipped, but most importantly, I had a blast learning and dancing in an environment that felt safe and welcoming for a first-time voguer. Are you interested in taking a Voguing class? As I lay here icing my knees, here are three things you can expect to learn when you take an in-studio dance class:
The Five Elements of Vogue
Though voguing is more about free expression over choreography, the art form is centered around five movements.
Hand Performance: Movements with your hands and arms to tell a story.
Catwalk: Walking like a cat by bending your knees, getting up on your toes and walking while swaying your hips from side to side.
Duckwalk: Walking in a deep squat.
Spins & Dips: Spinning and rotating your body standing or on the floor, and landing on the floor in a half split with your upper body resting on the side of one bent leg while your other leg is in the air.
Floor Performance: Movements and elements performed exclusively on the floor (rolling, spinning, dipping, stretching).
Studio Etiquette
In a studio room filled with 20+ dancers, it can get crowded. Luz explained ways to transition on and off the dance floor, allowing you to get your life and feel yourself while respecting the other dancers in the room. It's critical to follow studio etiquette because we all paid our fees to get into the class, and everyone wants their time with the instructor's eyes on them for critiques and praise and equal time on the dance floor. Make sure you do your best to stay in your lines, wait your turn, and support your fellow dancers in the studio by clapping and cheering them on.
Ballroom Lingo
"No shade," "female figures," and "Twisters" are just a few of the many terms you'll hear in a voguing class. Ballroom lingo can sound foreign at first, but if you pay attention, these terms will teach you how to communicate with the other dancers in the room and show respect to your classmate's gender identities and prefered pronouns.