Voguing, Ballroom & Cultural Appropriation for THE QUIETUS

I originally published this piece here on CVNTY last week, but it was picked up by The Quietus, so removed, editted ever so slightly (mostly a new intro to give context) and re-published on their site. So here it is again:

My name is Niall Connolly, aka The Niallist, and I am a UK-based music producer, DJ and writer. In the past I have released my music through some notable labels (Dissident, Eskimo/Radius, Lo Recordings) but am now channeling all my efforts into the alias CUNT TRAXXX, aka CVNT.

CVNT is directly inspired by the American ballroom/vogue scene, and in particular artists like Vjuan Allure, Kevin Prodigy, Divoli S'Vere and MIkeQ, and also very much by the dancers themselves. The word "cunt" is used frequently in ball culture, as a very positive term, the subtle difference being it is an adjective and not a noun. Its connotations of femininity, superiority and unique style are why I have chosen to use it, and I have just released my fourth EP as CVNT, the Statement EP, through the Belgian label Body Work. Apart from making music and DJing, I write about vogue culture and music at my blog CVNTY.

Post-Miley Cyrus, and amidst the raging debate about "cultural appropriation", a lot of pertinent issues are being ignored in a rush to paint everything as either "good" or "bad", "acceptable" or "unacceptable". I don't believe this extreme polarity is doing anyone any favours, especially when it is adopted by people who do not have sufficient knowledge of a culture to actually decide what is or isn't acceptable, which is what happened to me very recently.

It had to happen sometime I guess: I have been accused of "cultural appropriation" of the voguing/ballroom scene. The OP, Angus Finlayson, has since been in touch with me to apologise, and to admit that he was mistaken in his original accusations. I have accepted his apology, but have decided to write about this because it raises some very interesting issues, elements that are only a small part of the overall "cultural appropriation" story, but which should be discussed anyway.
Firstly, this is not to deny that cultural appropriation happens, or even that I am completely guilt-free myself. No, I am not a Black or Latino/a or from a major city on either of America's East or West coasts. I am a white, able-bodied cismale, living in Manchester, England, though I am an Irish national (not to be confused with "Irish-American" or "Irish-anything else" - as a culture we Irish have our own pretty huge history of appropriation by others).

Cultural appropriation definitely happens. There has been a lot of discussion on social networks over the last few weeks about the "masked DJ" craze in Jersey Club, a perceived "cashing-in" on this relatively new, localised US scene by anonymous, white acts like Yolo Bear, DJ Hoodboi, Trippy Turtle and more, some of whom are from Europe. This debate was sparked by a Facebook post by Dirty South Joe, and has been raging steadily since, with some originators of the Jersey Club sound rightly apprehensive of having their hard work ignored in favour of anonymous Johnny-come-latelys not from their world hoovering up their gigs and hype. I am guessing that this ongoing discussion was in the background when Finlayson wrote his original tweet.

So no, this isn't to deny cultural appropriation, but to ask for a more nuanced, less knee-jerk approach to the term when required, and also to question the credentials of the people claiming cultural appropriation, where necessary. Of course, it seems obvious to me that this sort of logic should be applied to every and all accusations of cultural hegemony and discrimination (which, in itself, might be a luxury of my own white privilege) but right now the term "cultural appropriation" is in danger of being appropriated and used to police culture by people who actually have no qualifications, or right, to do so.

So what are my qualifications?

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My first vogue piece for MENERGY blog, Nov 2010

Three years old! But who's counting?

This is one of my first ever pieces of writing on voguing and ballroom, which was written in preperation for the Menergy Fierce Ruling Divas Ball in Glasgow in 2010. It also acts as a summary of the different types of vogue styles, and, of course, a look at the legendary House Of Ninja:

Probably the most famous voguing house in the world is the House of Ninja, formed by the legendary Willi Ninja back (I'm guessing here) in the early 80's or late 70s. Even though drag balls already existed, as did the dance, Willi Ninja is regarded as the godfather of voguing, and is featured heavily in both the Paris Is Burning film and the "Deep In Vogue" video by Malcolm McLaren. In anticipation of our own Fierce Ruling Divas Ball on Saturday, here's a selection of some of the best moves by the house, that can also serve as a kind of introduction to how voguing (and "houses") work.

First here's "Overall Mother" Willi Ninja in Paris Is Burning. This is the perfect introduction to this dance style:



And here is the "Deep In Vogue" video, though I have to say, the quality of this upload sucks, and the extended 9 minute mix is much better (with more dancing in the video). Still, it's worth a watch as it's some of the best voguing on film, IMO:



Here's another clip of Willi doing his thing in a club, and the catwalk/fashion connections are more clear here (as are the clubby origins of the dance):



Unfortunately Willi died in 2006. Thankfully, the house is still going strong - here they are in a group performance, and this clip also gives some insight into the voguing scene and its participants.



There are three main types of voguing, "new way", "old way" and "femme". Here is Aus Ninja demonstrating old way vogue, the classic style as seen in the late 80's videos:



In a nutshell, new way is more athletic and faster, and came to prominence after 1990. Here is rising star Javier Ninja showing some new way moves:



The third type of voguing is "femme" and has to do with extreme posing (in a very feminine style), coupled with some more acrobatic moves. Here is a clip of Danielle Ninja at the House of Mizrahi's 2006 Willi Ninja-tribute Latex Ball. (Note the signature vogue "dip" move where the dancer falls on to her back but with her leg tucked up under her bum):



Voguing is also closely related to "waacking", in which hand and arm movements are the focus. Here is Javier Ninja again with an amazing performance from the same House of Mizrahi's Latex Ball. Note how the MC Selvin Mizrahi is left speechless - THAT is how you dig status:



Perhaps the most famous current memnber of the House of Ninja is Benny Ninja, after his appearnace on America's Next Top Model teaching the contestants how to pose. This clip makes explicit the links between voguing and modelling, and the dance and fashion scenes. Benny appears around three and a half minutes in (so skip to that if you're not interested in some serious mega-bitchery).



Benny was given the title of Father of the House of Ninja by Willi himself before he died. And as the saying goes, "boys learn, men teach". Here's Benny giving a demo at a workshop in Paris:



And here's one of my favourite clips of all - House of Ninja performing at a party thrown by the SoBe drinks company, with Aus Ninja (I think) dressed in a giant lizard outfit (after the company's logo). With him are Javier and Benny, and they work to Madonna's "Vogue". What starts off looking like just some people messing around soon turns into an incredible routine:



So, hopefully this will teach all you budding children what you need to know for Saturday - doors open at 9pm (fashion show at 10pm) and the voguing/drag ball takes place at midnight. So come down, look fierce, throw shade and BRING IT!