Congratulations to Emily James, the Editor’s Choice winner for the October DS 2009 Cover Model Search. In her solo, “All I Want” she wowed us with her confident femininity and balance, not to mention her gorgeous feet. She expressed a maturity beyond her years, knowing that she didn’t have to overdo it to captivate us. We enjoyed Emily’s clean, grounded technique and smooth attitude turns, but our favorite aspect was her musicality. The segment of leg and arm flicks on each piano plink halfway through the solo was a memorable highlight. We look forward to seeing more from Emily!
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Feb 15, 2021
Performers in HBO Max's "Legendary" (Barbara Nitke, courtesy HBO Max)
How to Express Yourself Through Vogue Fem—While Honoring the Community That Created It
"Who are you when you're voguing fem?" asks the choreographer and dancer Omari Wiles, father of the House of Oricci and founder of the dance company Les Ballet Afrik. "What energy is shaping your story?" In voguing, personal expression is the goal, and vogue fem one way to achieve it.
This flamboyant dance form has experienced a recent wave of mainstream visibility, thanks to the critically acclaimed TV drama "Pose," the hit HBO Max's competition show "Legendary" and, now, the proliferation of TikTok videos centered on voguing.
<p>But the origins of voguing reach back decades, to the Harlem ballroom scene in the 1970s and '80s (with deeper roots in the 1960s). Communities primarily made up of queer people of color created family units called "houses," which often borrowed names from fashion brands—Gucci, Balenciaga, Lanvin, Saint Laurent and others. Voguing as a performance-competition hybrid developed in imitation of fashion shows and magazines and soon became a core communal feature of the scene.</p><p>Voguing was also an outlet for participants to subvert gender norms and celebrate their gender identities. "Trans women are the people who created those moves by thinking about femininity in performance," says Sydney Baloue, a vogue dancer, ballroom scholar, and a producer and writer on "Legendary." "Everyone else went from there."</p><p>Baloue points to pioneers like Paris Dupree, who created and popularized an early form of voguing, originally called "Pop, Dip and Spin" and now referred to as the "Old Way," which emphasizes clean lines and sharp poses. Ballroom icons like Willi Ninja expanded the form to incorporate more flexibility and gymnastics in what became known as the "New Way." And in the early 1990s, innovators like Ashley Icon and Mystery Dior amplified the theatricality of a feminine style of vogue, including more virtuosic components that inform today's popular voguing style known as vogue fem.</p>
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<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJg4ES51Yts" target="_blank">Vogue fem is composed of five elements</a>, and each adds a distinct dynamic:</p><p><strong>Catwalk:</strong> Imagine a runway. Now walk down it with all the confidence you've got. "My favorite element is catwalk," Wiles says. He arches his back, sits into his hips, walks on the balls of his feet and uses his hands to compel the audience. "You can tell an amazing story and show amazing strength," he says. "For me, catwalk is the language."</p><p><strong>Duckwalk:</strong> The duckwalk is a bouncing shuffle in a squatting position while the hands continue to tap the shoulders. Keep the back upright and arched to maintain balance. Though it can feel a bit awkward at first, duckwalks are an opportunity to bring attitude and personality to your performance with playful or sultry facial expressions.</p><p><strong>Hand performance: </strong>The flurry of arms that twirl like windmills is one of the most defining components of vogue fem. Leiomy Maldonado, one of today's most well-known and celebrated vogue performers, and a judge on "Legendary," has counseled that "the most important thing about hand performance is wrists. You want to have lots of mobility."</p><p><strong>Floor performance:</strong> Voguing is, in many ways, about getting down to the floor and up again in the most seamless and creative ways possible. Once down, floor performance comprises rolls, splayed legs and other inventive leg work to create a swirl of dramatic activity.</p><p><strong>Spins and dips:</strong> One of the most exciting elements of vogue fem is the sudden, one-legged fall. "A lot of people out there have been calling it a 'death drop,'" Maldonado says. "That is a no-no. It's called a 'dip.'" It's also a move that should only be attempted by advanced voguers. If you're new to the form, start with a first-position grand plié, then fold one leg to the ground, lie back on the floor and stretch out the other leg. It's an elegant, safer alternative to the thrilling collapse that Maldonado helped make famous, and which she has called the "period" at the end of a voguing sentence.</p>
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<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTYzODcxNS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyNzcwOTU0NH0.l1GLmCZYJCcDyUiNmIljGj9iRks_1F_Fjje1yGPgqSo/img.jpg?width=980" id="8ce6f" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="75fea19dcfb11530c90f4196f5dbde21" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="Omari Wiles vogues in front of an audience. He stares the camera down, crouched towards the floor, one arm extended in front of him. He wears black socks, black ripped jeans, and a black leather jacket. His close-cropped afro is dyed teal." data-width="1000" data-height="664" />
Omari Wiles performs (Jérémy Duflot, courtesy Wiles)
<p>Together, the five elements provide the structure of vogue performance, and help create clear categories for evaluation—since voguing is still a form of competition. Each element is both a technique and a tool for personal expression. "We have to interpret those five elements the best we can," Wiles says. "We all look so different doing it."</p><p>Dancers must embrace that difference. "What is it that you personally have to give?" asks Baloue. "That's the basis of ballroom. That's what makes it special – a hyper-expression of individuality that speaks to whatever is unique about you." He points out that these values stem from the fact that "voguing is an improvisational dance, part of Black social dance culture that emphasizes individuality and uniqueness."</p><p>More than just moves, though, voguing's history emphasizes validating the identities of everyone in the ballroom. For dancers learning the form today, that history is vital. "Those wanting to learn this way of speaking need to respect and understand why we move this way—all the insecurities and the limitations that were put on the community that didn't allow us to respect ourselves," Wiles says. "This is the way we were able to have a voice."</p><p>In particular, vogue fem allowed trans women to embody their femininity, though many cis women and cis men now embrace the form as an outlet to express their femininity as well. "Being feminine is the language," Wiles says. "Being flamboyant is what you have to speak for people to understand your story."</p>
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<p>Other styles of vogue allow for the expression of different gender identities. Baloue recently made history as the first trans man to win a vogue competition at the famed Latex Ball, in the category of Old Way performance. In that style, he finds the freedom to ask, "Where can I go in terms of masculinity that's unique to my identity as a trans man?"</p><p>Understanding the history and evolution of vogue means gaining access to more forms of expression. The glossy version of voguing found today in Nike ads, the world of "Pose," under the flashing lights of "Legendary," or even in 10-second homemade clips on TikTok, is just a small taste of a vibrant grassroots community that has been thriving for decades. Voguing is at its most powerful when the dance serves as an entry point to learn more about the culture.</p><p>"You'll never get the real deal," Wiles says of TV and social media versions of voguing. But, he adds, they can "encourage you to get out there and explore and educate yourself. We've given you this sampler—and now we want you to go out and experience it for yourself."</p>
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Feb 25, 2021
by Lee Gumbs, courtesy Lew
Sean Lew's New Film is Bound to Leave You Speechless
If you know Sean Lew (and let's be real—you should), you know that he pours his heart and soul into his craft. Born a star, Lew has danced alongside artists like Sia and Janet Jackson, choreographed for names like Justin Bieber and Meghan Trainor, and performed on two seasons on NBC's "World of Dance."
At only 19, Lew's worn more hats than your average human (or even superhuman), and yet he continues to build upon his long list of natural skills—by adding "producer" into the mix. This time around, he's focused on his own passion project. He produced, wrote, directed, choreographed, edited and even stars in his upcoming film II: An Unspoken Narrative, which also features some of our other fave dancers like Kaycee Rice, Zach Venegas and Bailey Sok, just to name a few.
More than just a dance video, and described as his "life's work put into motion," this experimental film fully encapsulates the past four years of Lew's life, depicting an unspoken narrative expressed through dance. There's no dialogue—everything is up for interpretation. Keep reading to get the inside scoop, and be sure to follow Lew at @seanlew as he continues to influence the world with his endless creative ventures.
<p><strong><em>Dance Spirit</em>: How did the idea for <em>II</em> come to be?</strong></p><p>Sean Lew: It started in 2016, when I came up with the idea of wanting to use dance for another purpose. I wanted to portray a certain message that wasn't the easiest to share, but I didn't want it to turn into a sappy message. So, I felt like dance was the best way to express that.</p><p>I created <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5YgLEyYpx8" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">"Wrong Words"</a> in 2017 and asked my dance partner, Kaycee, to be a part of it. That was actually our first time dancing together under my direction, and when we officially became a duet. I knew then that I wanted this life experience to be a continuation of more videos like that.</p><p><em><strong>DS</strong></em><strong style="">:</strong><strong> What's something you were surprised about in your new role as a director?</strong><br></p><p>SL: The fact that I <em>was</em> directing! Going into this, I didn't tell myself I'm gonna be a producer, director or any of these different roles. I just wanted to be sure that I could make it work.</p><p>The fact that people see me under that title makes me curious about what can make me an even greater director for future projects.</p>
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<p><strong><em>DS</em>: What was it like to work with some of your closest friends on set?</strong></p><p>SL: It's what made the film. Getting to work with them was a dream, because I knew from the moment I first saw them dance they didn't care about anything except just dancing. And when you think like that, you end up inspiring so many people when they watch you. They were so open, and that's what made it so easy.</p><p><strong><em>DS</em>: You've choreographed and danced for a multitude of artists. What was it like to be focused solely on your own passion project?</strong></p><p>SL: It was tough at first. Working behind the scenes, you have the pressure of people thinking that you're doing nothing. This was my first time stepping into a passion project this big, and I did question what I was doing at points—almost giving in to that pressure to keep people entertained. But the project was my priority.</p><p>There were a lot of fights with my parents. A lot of injuries. <em>A lot</em> of tears. It was definitely a journey transitioning from dance jobs to an independent passion project.</p><p><em style=""><strong>DS</strong>:</em><strong> Were there any dance artists that served as inspiration?</strong></p><p>SL: Honestly, the goal of <em>II</em> was to give people the same feeling I got the first time I watched Ian Eastwood's <a href="https://www.datpiff.com/Ian-Eastwood-AdultLessons-mixtape.753076.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><em>ADULTLESSONS</em></a>, or Keone and Mari's visual book, <a href="https://www.keoneandmari.com/ruth" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Ruth</em></a>.</p><p>They were sharing a part of their life through an art form, which is not an easy thing to do. Experiencing those projects, I wasn't just inspired to dance, but I was inspired to rethink my life.</p>
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<p><strong><em>DS</em>: What's a message you'd give to all of your friends, family and supporters that have helped bring this project to life?</strong></p><p>SL: Well, there's no possible way that I could've <em>ever</em> done it without my family.</p><p>All my friends, crew and fellow dancers, they helped me bring this to life without question, so anyone that played a part is family to me now. I don't even have the right words to explain how much it meant to me and how much of an honor it was for them to even agree to the idea. Honestly, they're all icons to me. "Thank you" is barely enough to everyone who was a part of the project.</p><p>Catch the digital premiere of <em>II: An Unspoken Narrative</em> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_RcXdA6CxPWDApS4avk8nw" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">streaming on YouTube</a> this Friday, February 26, at 7 pm PST.</p>
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Feb 24, 2021
Emily Roman performs her solo, "Weight of Light" (Break the Floor Media Team, courtesy Roman)
Emily Roman is Your January Cover Model Search Editors' Choice Winner
Congratulations to the January Cover Model Search Editors' Choice video winner, and our first 2022 CMS semi-finalist, Emily Roman! Watch her solo below, and be sure to enter the Cover Model Search here.
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Editors' Picks
Enter the Cover Model Search