AVIANCE MILAN interview

It's not often you get a legendary voguer doing classes and performances right on your own doorstep. But that's the case with New York's Aviance Milan, who has recently been performing in Liverpool with the House Of Suarez, and teaching classes all over Europe. I was first introduced to Aviance through our mutual friend, the Swedish producer Petter Wallenberg, about a year ago and passed his details on to the House Of Suarez, and it has been very exciting to see them working together, culminating in a show called "Vogue Deco" which should be touring the UK next year. I originally interviewed Aviance back in January this year, but due to a hard-drive crash lost the text. Thankfully though, being a ture gentleman, he was kind enough to let me do the interview again last month...

How did you discover/get into voguing in the first place? 

It was the year 1991. I was in junior High School and my mother had gone away for the summer to Brazil, and I ended up staying at my Aunt's house in the Bronx. That's when I met Kevin Milan, who was a Magnifique at the time. He's passed away now. I saw them voguing, they were my cousin's friends who lived across the street. I got up to see what they were doing and they asked "are you interested in this? and I said "I guess so, a little bit". So they brought me inside the apartment and they played me tracks like "Dub Break". I hated it! But they said "if you wanna vogue this is the tune you have to vogue to". So they started teaching me stuff. Two months later I met Mink Xtravaganza and Luis Xtravaganza, and, really, they were the first ones who taught me about Balls, because I didn't know what it was. So they brought me upstairs and showed me videos. The first time I ever saw New Way was Damian Xtravaganza, who is a Revlon now, and it was the first time I saw voguing with the contortions and the stretches and stuff like that. That was what really attracted me to it actually. I joined the House of L'Amore, which was my very first house, and I started training for about a year and a half. After I was done training I started walking balls and I would win constantly.

I take it that voguing culture had a lot to do with the club scene at the time, too? 

Yes, a lot of it had to do with the club scene. I started going to the clubs in 92, so this is 92/93.  Clubs like Red Zone, which was my first club. Then you had places like The Building, Trax, Sound Factory, Sound Factory Bar, Cafe Con Leche, Wunderbar, Danceteria, Stingray's, Mars 2112, Palladium, Club USA, Limelight, Roseland, The Tunnel… yeah there were tons back then! And that's where the battles really started. That's where it started to get really competitive, 'cos in the ballroom you've only got a few minutes. but in the clubs there is no end. It just goes on, haha! 

So, this is after Madona released "Vogue" and the world had taken notice of the dance/culture. Do you think that track affected the scene?

Madonna first discovered vogue at the original Sound Factory on 27th St. and the DJ was Junior Vasquez. She used to go there all the time and you'd see her, partying, flirting, doing whatever she was doing. After "Vogue", the scene had never really stopped, but I guess she kinda commercialised it, and introduced it to the world. But Paris Is Burning is still the closest you could get to seeing the fundamentals of it. Where it actually came from and why they do it.

The scene has changed, and a good way to define would be like fashion. And back then when I was really active and competing in balls, it wasn't as commercial as it is now. The audience is 20 times bigger now.  

For me, from my observations, I think it got more mainstream with Dramatic Vogue Femme. because nowadays if you go to a ball and you see the New Way category there's like 3 people. You know, I can say there's a handful of Dramatic voguers who do it really well that I can watch, but for the most part, like I said, everything changes, styles evolve, you know. Also, I was one of the first butch queens to Vogue Femme. And this is before the Dramatics, this is like Old Way Femme. Like Dramatics now would be considered New Way Femme, like what Leoimy does and the twirls and the headspins and all that stuff. 

How would you define your own vogue style?

I would have to define my style as Old Way/New Way. Back in 92-93, and even 90-91, there was a lot of people with my style, for example Jose Xtravaganza, who danced with Madonna. And Derrick Xtravaganza, Damian Revlon, Jose Revlon - if you look at our styles they are all kinda similar, in terms of the music and the technicality. (What I consider new way New Way would be Javier Ninja.)

Aviance battling all the way back in 1995!! 

Who were the originators of Dramatic Vogue Femme?

Well the creators of the dramatic which were the femme queens were Ashley St Clair, Venus Mizrahi, Alyssa, they were the creators. And then Leoimy came and took it to a whole noter level. I think the first time I saw Leoimy was around 2004/2005.

The founder of Butch Queen Vogue Femme was Eugene Milan, Chi Chi Mizrahi was another, Mysterious Dior, Carlos Mugler, Taiepha Ebony...  This is the original, butch queens taking from the femme queen style. This is in about 93/94, and I stopped doing vogue femme in around 97/98. I just wasn't picturing myself falling on my back ha ha!

Did you feel alienated by Dramatics?

No not at all, I didn't feel alienated. Like, a lot of people consider me the youngest of the old school,  cos I was so young but I was battling the originals. Actually, I feel glad that I came from that as opposed to what is there now. The down point to the current scene is that everyone looks like they are doing the same thing. When you see Old Way or you see New Way, we're not doing the same things cos everyone's a little different. But these days everybody hops down they hop on their feet they jump up they shake their heads, they fall back and they get up and repeat the whole process again! So it gets a little repetitive. But on another note, Leoimy is different when she does it cos there are moves that only she can do. Moves that people are still trying to master and they can't. It's refreshing to see that from her. But I have my favourites, like Leoimy, and I love watching Dashaun. And Jarell, who used to be a Milan too, and Joey Mizrahi. Those are my favourites cos you can sit there and watch and you don't know what they are gonna do. It's un expected.

What's your advice to people who are starting out in vogue/ballroom?

I tell everyone you have to pick a style that really calls you, and that you feel comfortable with. I saw old way and New Way just called me. Everyone has that niche, and when you see a tyle you love, that's the one you should master. I tell everybody, when you have mastered one, then you can master others. It's impossible to take 5 different classes from 5 different styles cos you will be confused if you don't know one. 

So how did you get started teaching voguing classes in Europe?

I had taken a break from the balls because  a lot of the New Way people were just battling ourselves, over and over. So it kinda died down for about 3 or 4 years and it was actually an email from Russia that got me back involved. After that it was like a domino effect! I started going different places and it just took off like that. Russia were the first ones to actually throw a ball, and I still have the flyer on my phone! That was 3 years ago. Since then I have performed in Sweden, Finland, Russia, France, Germany, the UK and next year in Spain. There's always something going on!

How did you end up living in Sweden? 

Well, I ended up in Finland as I was contracted through Nordic Moves school, for a period of four months, and so I moved there for those 4 months, and that's when I met my partner. I came back to the states for a month to settle up all my personal stuff, and then I moved back to Finland and then my partner got work in Sweden so they relocated us here. It's been a rollercoaster! 
 
Aviance performs a solo at the Blue Coat, Liverpool as part of Homotopia 2013:

LEGENDS photo exhibit, NY

MIKE Q & ROMANTHONY "Get Sum"

Via Fact mag

Exciting news: audio of a collaboration between ballroom producer MikeQ and iconic house singer Romanthony, who died earlier this year, has emerged. 

Romanthony is best known as the voice of Daft Punk’s ‘One More Time’, but the New Jersey artist’s career goes far beyond that: he released several albums in the 1990s, and released solo records for Roule and more. In his later years he collaborated with Teengirl Fantasy, on their album Tracer, and had been working with Boyz Noize and MikeQ before his death in May.

You can now hear audio of MikeQ and Romanthony’s ‘Get Sum’ – it’s the first track on L-Vis 1990′s mix for The Fader, which also features new material from Bok Bok, Kelela and more. You can stream the mix below, and check out L-Vis’s FACT mix from earlier this year here.

VOGUING: THE MESSAGE ft Willi Ninja (1989)

Voguing: The Message traces the roots of this gay, Black and Latino dance form, which appropriates and plays with poses and images from mainstream fashion. Voguing competitions parody fashion shows and rate the contestants on the basis of movement, appearance and costume. This tape is a pre-Madonna primer that raises questions about race, sex and subcultural style.

Dir. Jack Walworth, David Bronstein & Dorothy Low 1989 13 min. USA

Founded in 1977, Frameline is the nation’s only nonprofit organization solely dedicated to the funding, exhibition, distribution and promotion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender media arts. Frameline Voices is a new digital initiative that showcases diverse LGBT stories and expands access to films by and about people of color, transgender people, youth, and elders.

Niall sez: This has been online for two years now and only got 24K views. WTF people?! This is absolute GOLD DUST!!

VJUAN ALLURE's guide to Ballroom Status

And now the final part in CVNTY's little Vjuan Allure love-in. Vjuan explained to me the different levels of “status" in the ballroom scene, ie the different rankings and how a performer progresses from one level to the next. This was originally for the Boing Boing ballroom article, but had to be left out. It is, however, definitely worth posting on its own. Read and learn, children: 

ICON Sinia Ebony

"STATUS:  Status as it relates to the Ballroom Scene is where you stand among everyone else in the scene and how you are perceived. It must be earned and it comes from Hard Work, Talent, Humility, and how you carry yourself within the scene.

There are four levels of Status:

1. Stars - you’re just starting but create a buzz through the ballroom, people are taking notice of you. 2-3 yrs)

2. Statements - You continue your rising in the scene and are ALWAYS giving a good battle, you’re winning a lot, and are demonstrating what it takes to make that impact on the scene. (4-8 yrs)

3. Legends - You consistently make an impact when you hit the floor, you’ve made ballroom moments, had great battles, and are looked upon as the cream of the crop in your category. (10yrs +)

4. Icon - You are the upper echelon of the ballroom, you’ve paved the way and defined what your category should be - it is patterned off of you. When your name is mentioned there is no question about what you’ve done to/for the scene. (15+yrs)

Though there are minimum measures of time needed to acquire the different stages of Status, there are exceptions to the rule and it depends on your impact/influence on the scene, making your ballroom moments memorable, exciting, and anticipatory."

Be sure to check out Vjuan’s latest release, the Digital Krash EP, presented by Ultra Nate on 410 Paradox Underground. 

HOUSE OF WALLENBERG (Stockholm) interview

I’ve just done my second and third remixes for Sweden’s House Of Wallenberg, aka Petter Wallenberg, on the track “Be Somebody" featuring the NY ballroom legend Octavia St Laurent (star of the ballroom documentaries Paris Is Burning and How Do I Look).

I sent Petter some interview questions to find out more about how this collaboration came about, his club Mums Mums in Stockholm, the voguing/club scene in Sweden, and the upcoming House Of Wallenberg album Legends, which features vocals from Octavia, Neneh Cherry, Ari Up, Leila K and more…



The “Be Somebody" video. 

How did you get into music?

I never had any formal music training but I started making music when I was around 8.  I would take my casette recorder and go down to a tunnel near the block of flats where I grew up, and record myself shouting there because I loved the reverb and echo. I would also make my own mixtapes, but not just standard one track after another - I would mash it all up, take snippets of music, sounds, stuff off the tv, the sound of the phone ringing and all sorts of stuff, and create these elaborate megamixes. Bear in mind, this was the 80’s so all I had were basic analog cassette players. It was a case of recording a millisecond at a time and if you wanted to repeat it you had to record it again. I would press those buttons so much that they fell off. It was primitive, but a great way to be inventive. This was also the time in music when samplers were new, and you’d hear tracks where they’d just played around with a sampler. This was an inspiration to me. I still love that sampler vibe. It’s treating the vocal as an instrument. Like what Black Box did with “Ride on time"- they just took snippets of Loleatta Holloway’s vocal, and created hooks and a new chorus out of it.  I love that. You can hear that in a lot of my own music today, that influence is still there. Nothing makes me happier than chopping up a big diva vocal!

Who is in the House of Wallenberg?

House of Wallenberg is me. But it’s also a home for collaborations. I have a collective of singers, dancers, visual artists, stylists, photographers and dj’s that work with me on my club Mums Mums and my magazine Mums - and House of Wallenberg is the musical hub for all that. A creative home where the door is always open and I’m constantly cooking something up. 
Of course it’s also a nod to the ballroom culture of NYC. House being a community. A gay street gang. I like that because my life has always been like that. I have my gay “father" in London, my transsexual “mother" and of course all my “children" who come to my club in Stockholm. It’s important to create our own families and look after eachother.
And lastly the name is a nod to my surname Wallenberg, which is famous in Sweden, as it’s the name of a very rich banking dynasty. In Sweden it’s like having Kennedy as your last name. People always ask me if i’m a “real Wallenberg". I enjoy playing with that. After all, I grew up on a council estate - so I got the name but not the money, honey. But i’m rocking that name! 

How did House of Wallenberg come about?

By chance I ran into Leila K on the street. She’s a living legend in Scandinavia, having been the first Swedish rap star and a big club diva and since then notoriously homeless on the streets of Stockholm. We decided to do a track together, and I came up with the lyrics, based on a line from Paris is burning - “I’m legendary, you’re not". I felt that Leila K was perfect in that context - as the spirit of Paris Is Burning is about how you may have nothing -  but in the ballroom you are legendary. To hook up with Leila I had to go into the underworld of Stockholm. It was tough, but felt like an important mission.
After that I decided to make a whole album with all my idols. Find them all and make the tracks I always wanted to hear them sing. And seven long years later my album “Legends" is  complete. 

How is the vogue scene in Stockholm/Sweden?

Voguing has seen a real revival in Sweden lately. I’m glad i’ve been part of that. There’s an amazing vogue crew called P*fect that often perform at my club and you can see them in some of my videos. We’ve been serving vogue culture for years and now it’s in the zeitgeist. I sometimes have Aviance Milan from NYC vogue house House of Milan over at my club and I see new kids, full of excitement, voguing on the dancefloor and feel part of something special.

Tell me how the collaboration with Octavia St Laurent happened…

I was in contact with Octavia for years. She was amazing. She would sing down the phone and I was like: Girl got pipes! People didnt know it, but she had a big old gospel voice. She’d never had a proper record release though.  I think the 90’s were too messy for her. So we made an early version of “Be Somebody". Then she got ill. I would be on the phone to her at her mother’s in upstate New York. She was so determined to get through it. “By the summer the chemotherapy will have worn off and I’ll be looking gorgeous again" she said. But she never did. She died in May 2009. The track ended up on a shelf. I wasnt even gonna put it on my album. But my friend kept nagging me. So I finally mixed it and gave it my all, making a video in New York with all the legendary vogue houses. I walked around with a sign saying “Be Somebody" and during filming a homeless man came up and held a speech about being somebody. It was beatiful and sort of summed the whole thing up. The circle closed. Octavia got her real proper release after all, albeit posthumously. And I had completed my journey of working with all my idols. It’s so amazing now when people tell me “Be Somebody" is their favourite track. It’s been one hell of a journey.

Who else is on your album? How did you get these guests to collaborate?

Neneh Cherry, Ari Up from The Slits. Victoria Wilson James from Soul II Soul and many more. I just made a wish list of my all time favourite singers and contacted them all. It involved loads of detective work, determination and patience. One track with Neneh Cherry took 3 years to complete. To deal with that kind of time frame you gotta have huge balls. You can’t do it if you’re worried about sounding like the latest fad on the radio. But I knew what I wanted and stuck by it. Thank god I don’t have a record label telling me to do some naff Swedish House Mafia shite. I’m doing my own thing and releasing it in my own time on on my own label. It feels amazing! 

What’s coming up for HoW?

The next single off the album is released on the 4th of June. It features not one but two legends - as both Neneh Cherry and the late Ari Up are on it! We wrote it playing with the idea of what a “real" woman or man is. 

I can’t wait to show you the video I’ve directed for it. It’s inspired by Keith Haring, Basquiat, old school hiphop videos, kids programmes and Benetton adverts. I’ve gathered some of my fiercest gals in Stockholm and they’re all celebrating their fabulousness whether they’re a “real woman" or not. It’s one big summery postcard full of love from House of Wallenberg!




Legends is available here. The remixes of “Be Somebody" (ft Octavia St Laurent) are available for free for a limited time at the House Of Wallenberg Soundcloud page.

ROMANTHONY Bring You Up (MikeQ Remix)

First Peter Rauhofer, then Romanthony, those are some underground house legends we have lost lately! Here's MIkeQ's remix of a Romanthony classic from a few years ago: