Voguing is a queer of color dance form that emerged during the late 1960s and early 1970s in Harlem, New York’s drag and disco scenes. It takes its name from Vogue magazine – its sharp angles, gestures, and movements a juxtaposition of poses drawn from fashion models. It is also inspired by movement traditions from the African diaspora, from breakdancing to the Brazilian martial art form, Capoeira.
To strike a pose is to arrange one’s body to a real or imagined camera, as well as to the worlds of power and wealth the fashion world symbolizes. Part competition, personal testimony, and communal tradition, the dance form allowed for acceptance and expression of difference. Voguing achieved mainstream visibility in the late 1980s and early 1990s, largely through pop star Madonna’s music video Vogue, and the more lasting documentary Paris is Burning by Jennie Livingston released in 1990.
Pose for Me is an expression which sounds out during the final seconds of a vogue competition, when performers freeze their movements into a still tableau for judges. But the title also references the ways in which digital technologies have enabled voguing to become a global phenomenon, offering virtually infinite opportunities for members of the ballroom communities to gain greater exposure. The desire for visibility, however, also exists alongside resistance to the voyeuristic gazes of outsiders or voguing’s exploitation for the profit of others.
Pose for Me brings German voguing pioneer Georgina Leo Melody, Mother of the House of Melody, the first vogue ball house in Germany, to Akademie Schloss Solitude to offer workshops and engage in discussions about the past, present, and future of voguing. The aims of the events are to offer local communities opportunities to learn more about this expressive, empowering dance form that has helped members of Black and Latinx LGBTQ communities to make a home for themselves in often hostile worlds. The events will also bring together German and other European voguers, who have never had the opportunity to work closely together. The series will culminate in a vogue ball in Nürnberg, the first vogue ball to be held in southern Germany.
The events are the result of the collaboration between Solitude fellow Shaka McGlotten and Georgina Melody and take place as part of the art, science & business program at Akademie Schloss Solitude. Workshops will be held in English. Admission is free.
In cooperation with House of Melody, Tanz- u. Theaterwerkstatt Ludwigsburg e.V. and House of La Conya, Respect Your Style and dance.
To participate in the workshop on June 25 at Akademie Solitude, please register until June 18, 2018 via email to: Emily Knoll, http://knoll@akademie-solitude.de, Tel. +49 (0)711 99 619 482
Program
Sunday, June 24, 2018 | Workshops @ Tanz- u. Theaterwerkstatt Ludwigsburg e.V.
3.30–4.30 p.m.: Introduction to Voguing
4.30–6.30 p.m.: Voguing Intensive Workshop
Anmeldung unter: info@tanzundtheaterwekstatt.de
Monday, June 25, 2018 | Workshops @ Akademie Schloss Solitude
3.30–4.30 p.m.: Einführung Voguing
4.30–6.00 p.m.: Voguing Intensive Workshop
Friday, June 29, 2018 | Performative Dialog & Judges Solos @ Solitude’s Summer Festival
8.00–8.30 p.m.: Performativer Dialog »Pose for me« mit Georgina Philp, Shaka McGlotten, Plenvm Ninja, divaD Unbothered, Zoe 007
9.30–10.00: Judges’ Solos and Performances mit Georgina Philp aka Mother Leo Melody, Ray Melody, Osiris Melody, Christopher Melody, Plenvm Ninja, Zoe 007, divaD Unbothered & Shaka McGlotten
Saturday, June 30 | Vogue Ball @ Zentralcafé im Künstlerhaus (K4), Königstr. 93, 90402 Nürnberg
9.00 p.m.–5.00 a.m.: Vogue Ball
Sunday, July 1, 2018 | Voguing Workshops @ Respect Your Style and Dance
Sebastianstr. 27, 91058 Erlangen
1.00–2.30 p.m.: Oldway (DIVA D)
2.40–4.10 p.m.: Dance & Performance in Vogue (KATRIN)
4.20–5.50 p.m.: Vogue Femme (ZOE)
6.00–7.30 p.m.: Hands Performance (PLENVM)
https://www.facebook.com/events/1878719375762011/
