'The Untold History of UK Vogue' for FACT Mag part two

Et voila, part two of this epic piece, this time covering my own involvement in the scene, Tranarchy's Vogue Brawl, House Of Trax, Ldn voguer David Magnifique and the daddies of them all House Of Suarez and Darren Pritchard. Read it all here. 

 Judges at Vogue Brawl 2012: Pride Is Burning

As we saw in part one, voguing in the UK comes from a different tradition to that in the States, and even mainland Europe. 

Not based so much on the streets or in the clubs, voguing came to prominence here in the early 90s through professional dance troupes and art and fashion shows. Yet, as with America, the natural home for voguing in this country is still the house ball, where all elements and categories get to work the runway and compete for legendary status. And, although we may be some way behind our European counterparts when it comes to regular balls, the UK is not completely devoid of house balls – though as usual with this scene, you have to look a bit further afield to find the real action.

The UK’s North West is the centre of the current UK vogue renaissance, with annual balls in Manchester, Liverpool, and Glasgow. Time for some disclosure: as The Niallist, I’m a founder member of the Manchester-based queer collective Tranarchy, and since January 2011 we have held an annual ball called Vogue Brawl. In my time, I’ve also helped organise and host the Fierce Ruling Divas Ball in Glasgow, and I’ve DJed at Liverpool’s House Of Suarez Ball under my vogue production alias CVNT TR4XXX. I’m heavily involved in this scene, and right now it’s focussed in spots that are well respected for their dance music cultures and histories, but that don’t necessarily get a huge amount of time in the media spotlight.

We’ve already encountered a young Darren Suarez in part one of this article, voguing as a teenager in the clubs, after hours parties and cemeteries of late 80s and early 90s Liverpool. Flash forward 20 years, and Darren is a professional dance teacher with an idea for throwing a ‘House Of Suarez Ball’. The first of these balls was thrown in 2010, and since then the House Of Suarez Ball has grown to become the UK’s biggest annual vogue function.

NC: How would you describe the HOS ball to someone who has never been?

Darren Suarez: “If you’ve never been to one of our balls, I can guarantee that you will be overwhelmed with colour, dance, energy and fierceness. At least one of the five categories will inspire people. The categories at our ball are Fantasy, which gives creatives in costume and fabric the chance to create big costumes and installations in the theme of the ball, to live out their fantasy, in a way. There is Solo, which is inspired by a solo performer’s confidence to vogue, or perform solo any of the other styles that might fall under that umbrella, such as waacking, hands, femme, new way, old way, etc.

READING IS FUNDAMENTAL! 

House Of Trax ft VJUAN ALLURE & CVNT TR4XXX video

I never knew this existed til now! A short, official video of me and Vjuan playing House Of Trax, Birthdays in Dalston, and some of the awesome dancers, including David Magnifique:


House Of Trax #19 VJUAN ALLURE & CVNT TRAXXX from House Of Trax on Vimeo.

Upcoming FRENCH BALLS

Next up, after the UK vogue piece, I'd like to cover voguing in Paris - I hear the girls there GO OFF! HEre's some upcoming balls for your diary (I might try and make one of these)...

FACE OF CLEOPATRA BALL (Sat April 26th) more info/categories here.

LE MINI RENDEZ-VOUS (Wed Feb 26th) Hosted by Dashaun Wesley, more info/categories here

'The Untold History of UK Vogue' for FACT Mag part 1

The first partt of my in-depth look at the history of voguin in the UK for FACT magazine, featuring interviews with Les Child and Black Roy form the House of Child, the UK's first vogue house, plus a young Darren Pritchard voguing in late 80s/early 90s Liverpool. Go to FACT to read the whole thing, and also to see the bad ass video footage I've dug out... 

There are many great things about living in the UK.

Of course, it’s not perfect here, but two of the main reasons I like living in this country are the acceptance of gay culture by the mainstream, and the importance accorded to dance music – all music really, from classical to pop. Which is why it’s always been a mystery to me that there is not more voguing going on here.

Vogue culture, or “ballroom” as it is also known, is a highly-developed, immersive culture that originates in the working class, black/Latin@, LGBTQ/drag subcultures of New York City, and more recently other major cities in the United States. Like hip-hop, it encompasses many different forms of self-expression, from music and dancing to art and fashion, while highlighting alternative modes of gender, race and class expression. Without being overtly “political”, vogue culture deals directly with highly politicised issues.

The UK was one of the first early adopters of Chicago house music, not to mention other black-originating music genres from the States like jazz, soul and hip-hop. It’s also traditionally pretty accepting of queer culture, from homegrown heroes like David Bowie and Elton John all the way to the commercial success of acts like the Scissor Sisters. So you would think that the UK would be the perfect breeding ground for vogue. In my experience though, that has not been the case. That’s not to say that there is no voguing happening in the UK, but that, for once, we are far behind some of our European neighbours when it comes to the acceptance and adoption of an American dance music subculture.

...

Britain is not completely bereft of vogue. There have been (and still are) some highly respected voguers in this country. The House of Child was Britain’s first ever vogue house, which was formed in the late ’80s by the professional dancer and choreographer Les Child, inspired by the voguing he was seeing over in the States:

Les Child: “I would go to New York about three or four times a year back in the day, because that was the place to party. It was a bigger world then, you didn’t have the internet and it was like taking a rocket ship and going somewhere else. At the time I was a dancer, I would do some bits of choreography for friends, for films and for pop videos. I was dancing with Michael Clarke at the time, so I would go to New York with him a lot.
“I went to house balls there in the mid 1980s, they were these amazing events. Otherworldly was a good way of describing it! It was like nothing I’d ever seen, it went on for hours, it was a bit intimidating because it was a different culture, a different attitude, a different language, the whole thing. But it was just so brilliant and so captivating. And of course it came from the black experience.”

 IMA READ THAT BITCH

CVNT TR4XXX @ Glasgow School Of Art relaunch

The Glasgow School Of Art students union holds many dear memories for me, so it's an honour to be playing at the re-launch: 

Croc V Croc presents:
Reopening of the Star Dancer Portal

Murlo / Stellar Om Source / Svengalisghost / Portal Creators / Fem Bitch Nation / Cvnt Traxxx / Jackie Your Body / Liene & Hannes / Sacred Paws / David Barbarossa / Fielding Hope

Thursday 23 January @ The Art School, Glasgow

The Art School's re-opening night sees illusive DIY extremists ‘Croc vs Croc’ curate an intergalactic line up of underground and idiosyncratic beats; traversing 22nd century grime & techno experiments, rhythmic nods to Pan-African dance iterations, sordid get-down live no-wave parties and the musical weaponry of the house-ballroom scene. Looking back at Croc’s six years of activity there’ll also be live bands across the venue - oozing out of side-rooms or interrupting a late night dance floor. Croc bring their peculiar narrative to the whole event; contextualizing it as members of Golden Teacher embark on a Sun Ra-esque mission to re-open a Portal to a radical rhythm of the past, or is it the future?

They've even called in their 'astral sisters' Gris Gala and Fielding Hope (Cry Parrot) to make interstellar contributions on the line-up, install and materials.

Expect mysterious documents, performers and shiny thrown-together costumes, installations on all floors, specially commissioned lighting automatons in the Assembly Hall, sound works on the staircase and projections outside and in.

Doors: 21:00
Price: £8 GSA / £10
Tickets available at The Art School from January

BEYONCE Blow CVNT Cherry Turnt Edit

The latest CVNT TR4XXX edit is also a good way of showing off Soundcloud's new snazzy player.

SINJIN HAWKE x MIKEQ Thunderscan

MikeQ & Sinjin Hawke - ThunderScan from FractalFantasy on Vimeo.

Legendary Entrance

HAH she earned her tens!

Short doc on VOGUE KNIGHTS

Via ANIMAL

The weekly basement club event is ran jointly by Luna Kahn of the Legendary House of Kahn and Jack Mizrahi of the Legendary House of Mizrahi. The MC/promoter Jack Mizrahi seems to be loved and respected by all. DJ MikeQ is a world renowned DJ in the electronic world for his “cunt/feminine” sound.

As documented extensively in the 1991 documentary Paris Is Burning, this very particular dance competition culture has very particular rules. There are categories and sub-categories for walks, incorporating the five main elements of vogue — hands, catwalk, duckwalk, floor performance and spins and dips. The judges and the participants communicate in their own language of gestures, ooohs, uh-uhs and “shade.” I was a stranger and an obvious outsider, but I was welcome here.

Safe X

via Grandfather Hector Xtravaganza

CVNT MIX for RWD.FM - Gossip Boy & DJ Party Show

Here's my guest mix for the Gossip Boy & DJ Party show on RWD.FM, broadcast yeaterday.


OK, truth time: some of this mix was resurrected fomr an older one I started months and months ago. So, the tracklist is a bit fkd, I can't remember who some of the tracks were, and they're edited a lot. 

ANNA DEL RUSSON Fashion Shower (Edit)
KENLOU The Ha Dance
MIKEQ The Ha Dub
ARMAND VAN HELDEN Love Thang 
DIVOLI S'VERE What I Want
YNFYNYT SCROLL Work
THE NIALLIST Work It (Cunt Traxxx Remix)
CUNT TRAXXX Vogue Life
SUGUR SHANE Drop (acapella)
TRINA Bad Bytch (? Remix)
SHUNDA K I'm Da Best (Niallist Dubb Mixx) 
SCHWARZ Lose Yr Mind
DJQ - ?
CHRISTEENE African Mayonaisse
SHARAYA J Banji
BLESZT Twerk
LADY GAGA Applause (Boyfriends Remix)
BODYJACK Be Right There
ELLIE GOULDING Light It Up (K Deuces Remix)
T-PAIN Up Down (Uniique Remix)
VJUAN ALLURE Rudolph
CVNT TRAXXX Private School Girl

Voguing = Yoga = VOGA

Yeah, this is a real thing, as reported on Buzzfeed. Much LOLs ensue. via Reezlah Deejah

WELCOME TO MY HOUSE A Voguing Short Film

This British-mde short film about voguing features David Magnifique, who was going off at House Of Trax when I played, and is in the footage of that gig I shot.

I have interviewed David for a very big piece on the British voguing scene coming up son for FACT magazine, in the meantime you can check him out in action right here:

Bootlegs by JOEY LA'BEIJA

My boy Joey has some awesome bootlegs up on his Soundcloud right now. They're not available for download, though if you ask nicely he might let you...

24 free tracks from SLAGZ

If you like music, if you like "club" sounds, if you like the simple fact that you are alive, then be sure to grab all the tracks you can from the SLAGZ 2013 GREAT CLUB TRAX GIVEAWAY!! Some of the tracks are on this here mix:

面白くなる可能性がある X 汚れた駄ら - 要約ミックス
1. VICTOR NIGLIO - JIGGY FEAT MR MAN (SLAGZ X SUS B EDIT)
2.SPENCA &AFK - DIAMONDS ON MY NECK (SLAGZ EDIT)
3.SLAGZ X SUS B - GWANN MAKE IT CLAP
4. SLAGZ X SUS B - KEEP SHOOTERS UP TOP
5.TRAMPA - WILD DOG (SLAGZ EDIT)
6. SLAGZ X HUSH X KRINJAH - WASTED (VIP)
7. WAKA FLOCKA FLAME - FUCK DIS INDUSTRY (SLAGZ REMIX)
8. YHETI - IAFAGUSGS (SLAGZ SUS B REMIX)
9. KONEKTA - RESET THE ATARI (SLAGZ VIP)
10.KENNEDY JONES - CAME TO PARTY (SLAGZ & SUS B EDIT)
11.SLAGZ - ON THE BLOCK
12. GANGSIGNS - GANGSIGNS SUCKS (KONEKTA & DEVI REMIX)
13.TC - WHERE'S MY MONEY (KONEKTA & DEVI EDIT)
14. JACKAL - BOUNCE (SLAGZ EDIT)
15.WATAPACHI - AIN'T NOBODY (KONEKTA & DEVI EDIT)
booking info: itsslagz@gmail.com
www.facebook.com/SLAGZOfficial/
www.facebook.com/SUSP3CT.B1TCH

A$AP ROCK¥ "Fashion Killa (CVNT Trendy Edit)"

So yeah, don't worry, there WILL be Cunt Traxxx appearing this year, even as I focus on other stuff. Here's a wee remix of A$AP Rocky's "Fashion Killa", one of my fave hip-hop tunes of last year, remixed into a jungle-meets-Jersey style:

HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM THE NIALLIST & JSKY!

Something awesome happened to me in 2013 - I started working with a brilliant Manchester-based vocalist called Jsky. His honeyed voice reminds me of classic hosue music vocalists like Robert Owens, and he has an instinctual understanding of house music.

So I have decided to put all my musical energy on working on tracks with Jsky (though I am sure there will be some more CVNT remixes/DJ mixes/original tracks too).

Here is the first fruits of our labour, a cover of the 1987 obscure gem by Jamie Principle, produced by Frankie Knuckles, "Bad Boy". Expect a lot more from us soon...