You may not be familiar with the name, but I’m sure you’ve come across this dance style. From Magic Mike XXL to Ru Paul’s Drag Race, vogue or voguing has became a mainstay in popular dance culture. It was first highlighted in the classic 1990 documentary about the drag ballroom scene, Paris is Burning and become famous through Madonna’s iconic video for Vogue. The moves mimic the angled and graceful poses of the supermodels in fashion magazine Vogue (hence the name) and can also be used as a way to out-perform (or throw shade to) other dancers.
It’s not a dance style that I thought I’d ever try (and I’ve tried a few just recently) but I was really intrigued when I found a free class on Dance Exchange. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but as soon as instructor Jason entered the video from behind a sparkly screen I knew it was going to be a fun half an hour.
He took us bit by bit through a full routine, allowing for some freestyle additions too, dancing along to a fab Ru Paul track. I really leaned into the attitude side of voguing and found myself popping a hip, and creating fabulous angles in time with the music with little effort. It was actually the first dance style that I got, and my husband, who was peeking now and again, said it looked really good – something that’s never been said about my dancing!
I enjoyed the class so much that I wouldn’t hesitate to do it again, and I’ll try and convince a few friends to join in too: it was fun on my own, but I think it would be a riot with others.
New Day, New Thing 