\u201cThe whole idea is, I\u2019m fierce and I know it,\u201d Archie Burnett said of the dance style known as vogueing, which he has performed for decades. But don\u2019t confuse that with self-indulgence: \u201cIt\u2019s not for your benefit,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s for the camera\u2019s benefit.\u201d<\/p>\n
The camera he refers to is metaphorical: Vogueing began as an imitation of models in fashion magazines and on runways. It is part communal tradition, part competition, part personal statement. And occasionally it surfaces as a mainstream pop-culture phenomenon, too \u2014 including this summer (just ask Channing Tatum).<\/p>\n
Vogueing first strutted into the mainstream in the early \u201990s with Jennie Livingston\u2019s documentary \u201cParis Is Burning\u201d and the music video for Madonna\u2019s \u201cVogue.\u201d The film showcased the dance as a central feature of the underground Harlem ballroom scene, populated primarily by black and Latino gay men, a scene that blossomed in the 1980s and has roots reaching back decades.<\/p>\n
In 1990, at the height of the AIDS epidemic, the community organization Gay Men\u2019s Health Crisis gave a party called the Latex Ball with the goal of distributing health information to denizens of the ballroom scene, who were hit hard by the disease. On Saturday, the Latex Ball celebrates its 25th anniversary at Terminal 5 in Hell\u2019s Kitchen.<\/p>\n