MASTER BALLSTAR WEEKEND (NYC)

Props to ARIKA and VOGUE'OLOGY for this event, looks incredible!

From the Facebook event page:

BALLROOM HAS SOMETHING TO SAY!!!
Master BallStar Weekend
April 16-21, 2014

The Vogue’ology collective and the collaborators involved in bringing all these events together are concerned with the history and collective power of the Ballroom scene as well as what the scene has to say about issues of fundamental concern to the liberation struggles of our era, such as poverty, racism, sexual and gender oppression, and access to housing, healthcare, education and food. The collective’s overarching goal is to establish the Ballroom Freedom and Free School, a venue within which the Ballroom community can investigate and respond to the intersection of oppressions that affects its members as well as many other communities. This series of events are being organised to help formulate an initial set of propositions for the Ballroom Freedom and Free School’s curriculum and structure. Come and join us.

Wednesday 16th April 2014
Transmen in Conversation - BY INVITE ONLY
Talk The Walk: Transmen and The Ballroom Community Union Theological Seminary
6-9pm
Sponsored by Destination Tomorrow

Thursday 17th April, 2014
Ballroom Town Hall Meeting - OPEN TO ALL
The New School, Lang Café, 65 West 11th Street, between 5th and 6th Avenues
Community meeting to discuss some of the prevalent concerns impacting the ballroom community. The community has experienced tremendous rates of death over the past 7/8 years. This meeting is the first in a series of national community conversations regarding future of the Ballroom scene.
7-10pm

Friday 18th April, 2014
Literary Reflections of Ballroom - OPEN TO ALL
The Orozco Room, The New School
Rm. A712, 66 West 12th Street
Featuring Marlon Bailey, author of the ethnographic study, Butch Queen Up in Pumps, Gerard Gaskin, author of the photography book, Legendary, Dominique Jackson aka Tyra Allure Ross, author of the autobiography, The Transsexual from Tobago, and Douglas Says, author of The Red Dress, conversations with the women for whom he has designed.
4:30-6:30pm
http://bit.ly/1ipSiFm

Saturday 19th April 2014
Icon Dinner - BY INVITE ONLY
Holiday Inn
Honoring Icons from Ballroom’s Red Era (1986-1990). This is the era when Ballroom expanded out of New York to Philadelphia, Baltimore and DC; new houses were established; and, many elders were lost to AIDS.
6-11pm

Sunday 20th April 2014
Respect the Runway: The Red Carpet to Mastery
OPEN TO ALL - TICKET REQUIRED
The Dome, MoMA-PS1
22-25 Jackson Avenue, Long Island City
Who is called to walk? The list is revealed.
12 noon-6pm
http://bit.ly/1gHXi7e

Sunday 20th April 2014
The Road to Mastery Rumble Ball
OPEN TO ALL
Club Escuelitas
301 W. 39th St
The battles for mastery begins.
Doors Open at Midnight
http://on.fb.me/1lI4B4d

Monday 21st April 2014
Vogue Knights
OPEN TO ALL
Club Escuelitas
301 W. 39th St
The Master Class
http://on.fb.me/PM50aE

Collaborators: Arika, Vogue’ology Collective, NY Black Pride, MoMA PS1, Georgeous Entertainment, Issue Project Room and Destination Tomorrow2

ARIKA 5: Hidden In Plain Sight reflections

Unpublished review of Fri/Sat afternoon events at ARIKA 5 for The Skinny

There's always going to be a certain amount of tension when street culture rubs up against highbrow academia, and it's a testament to the skill of Arika that they managed to programme their Hidden In Plain Sight mini-festival (mostly concerning vogue and drag culture) with as little as possible.

 

Me! 

Hidden In Plain Sight kicks off on friday night at the Tramway with a dance performance called "20 Looks or Paris Is Burning at the Judson Church" a contemporary, semi-improvised piece that aims to fuse pre-post-modern, envelope pushing outlook of the early 60s Judson Dance Theatre with the spirit and ethos of Harlem's vogue balls, which were also beginning to develop in the early 60s. At times these two bedfellows can make a strange mix, and not all of the performances work that well in this context. But when they do work, boy are they good. My personal favourite is the drag performer Francois Chaignaud, a gifted singer/dancer/comedienne who manages to raise some belly laughs while looking and performing beautifully. There's a sense of chaos to 20 Looks, multiplied perhaps by a wonky microphone that keeps cutting out, but no matter how wild things get, they never get out-of-control. The sense of co-ordinated anarchy is wonderful, and makes up for the show's tonal disparities (and over 2 hour running time).

 

Pony Zion

After the Tramway we depart for Stereo on Renfield Lane, to attend the first ever club event that Arika have hosted. This is where it all comes together, where we can experience the music, style and dancing in its most natural home. DJs Vjuan Allure and Sprinkles rev up the crowd with a mixture of throbbing deep house and busy, percussive rhythms, and the music sets the stage brilliantly for two vogue performances by the legendary Pony Zion Garcon (above), and one beautiful and scary lip-sync by the brilliant boychild. Pony Zion is a founding member of the dance troupe Vogue Evolution, and a true "legend" on the dance scene, so to see him bring those incredible moves to a stage in a Glasgow basement is beautiful. Also 10s across the board for both the DJs, and it's personally very satisfying to see the Glasgow audience, who are well versed in house music history, soaking up Vjuan Allure's fresh "ballroom" style, a new take on house that has yet to infiltrate the mainstream but which makes the Glasgow crowd go wild.

 DJ Sprinkles

Saturday afternoon and I am back at the Tramway to attend to talks before I need to catch a train back to Manchester. The heat on this surprisingly glorious day is stifling. The first talk is a round table discussion featuring members of the collectives Ultra-Red and Vogue'ology, and the host Michael Robertson takes us through the history of this very unique culture. At times moving and funny, the talk is great, though I wish more time was given to the actual voguers than the white, middle-class academics, some of whose opinions seem frankly extraneous. Oh, that cultural tension again! The second talk is by Terre Theamlitz, aka DJ Sprinkles, and concerns identity. Theamlitz holding the stage on hir own makes for a more coherent talk than the first Vogue'ology, and I am gutted that I have to go before seeing Terre's actual performance that evening. 

All pics (except for the poster) by Michael James aka Alephnaught, an exceptional club photographer - follow him! 

Here's a video I shot of some of Pony's performance at Stereo, re-dubbed to Vjuan's "Kid Conga Rebounced": 

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