Mumbai: From Harlem to Andheri, voguing has travelled a long way. “Let’s vogue,” said Krish enthusiastically as they walked into a studio in Mumbai’s western suburb. Their sartorial choice—a pink crop top paired with black track pants and two-inch heels —is as much a part of their self-expression as voguing.
The flamboyant dance form with its twists, twirls, struts and exaggerated hand movements that draw from fashion runways was part of the queer subculture of Harlem, New York City, in the 1980s, colloquially known as ballroom. But it’s back in vogue again the world over from New York to London to Ukraine to Beijing. And 19-year-old Krish, a first-year BSc student, fashion model, and vogue instructor is one of its unofficial flag-bearers in Mumbai, even though it’s not yet part of mainstream popular culture in India.
The cultural phenomenon was first brought to the mainstream by pop star Madonna with her 1990 song Vogue and the documentary Paris is Burning, and more recently in the award-winning Netflix series, Pose. Its third season ran on Netflix in 2021 and was embraced by the Indian LGBTQIA+ community. They flooded Instagram reels with their own voguing moves, set to popular Bollywood songs. The dance is in the news yet again as pop star Beyoncé’s world tour showcases moves from the signature style.
“Voguing as a dance form is more about an expression of self. So, whenever you vogue, you are not only voguing but also speaking to the people about your sufferings, about how you are always held down in the hetero society and it is like bending all the stereotypes,” said Krish.
For a small but growing community of LGBTQAI+ members in India, this movement has engendered a renewed sense of community, drawing people who are at different points on the spectrum of sexual identity. And it is percolating their performance and popular culture.
Along with their friends Muskan Singh (22), Anushi Singh (23) and Sunil Bormahela (22), Krish launched ‘Voguing in India’ in June 2022—a community that aims to spread the word about the history, beauty and drama of the dance form. Its Instagram handle @VoguingInIndia describes itself as the first ballroom culture platform in India.
“There is no boy or girl in voguing. There is always a person and a story to tell, and dance to perform,” said Krish, whose pronouns are they/them.
Free workshops
On a Saturday evening, at the voguing workshop in the Andheri studio, Krish leads a group of 12 enthusiasts who are relatively unfamiliar with the dance form. They don’t just issue a string of instructions but walk the participants through the history of the dance, its roots in the Harlem Renaissance (1920-1935) and the Harlem ballroom culture popularised by African-American and Latino gay men and the transgender community at the time.
The workshop is free but Krish charges around Rs. 500 for private sessions.
Most of the students are in their early 20s, and at least half have vogued before.
“You have to wear heels. Voguing demands it,” said Krish. “If you don’t have them today, make sure you carry them next time. Vogue heels are a fashion statement and a dance tool; most are slim and between 2.5-3 inches high. The students who
come prepared, trade their sneakers and flats for heels.
As a teaser Krish starts voguing while the class cheers him on. He spins, twirls, squats and slides to the ground—moving fluidly from one form to another almost as if he is walking on air.
“You are just too good. We won’t be able to match this,” said Sian, who signed up for the workshop.
Traditionally, voguing has five key elements: hands (telling a story through hand movements), catwalk, duckwalk, spins or dips and floor performance which involves rolling, twisting, posing, dipping, arching, and stretching.
At the workshop, Krish focuses on hand movements only. They are as important as footwork. Following their instructions, the dancers throw their hands up in the air, their fingers splayed. Whenever students get stuck, Muskan, who is observing them from the side, corrects them. The class goes on for two hours with only one small break in between.
“Voguing has helped me grow immensely. It feels like me,” said Muskan, her eyes lighting up as she talks about dancing. “I started taking care of myself, my looks, the way I talk. I feel more feminine and my confidence grew.”
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Vogue battles
Voguing is intricately linked to the Harlem ballrooms of the 1960s. These were not stiff-necked couples in gowns and tuxedos waltzing in formation, but spaces celebrating pageantry, fashion and dance. It was an expression of a community seeking acceptance and equal rights by church and state. But most importantly, it was a safe space for the community to congregate without prejudice. The dance competitions projected talent as well as identity in an assertive, self-affirming style.
Between the 1960s and 1980s, ‘vogue battles’ were all the rage, and ballrooms were organised for African American and Latino communities and other sub-communities.
“It is about a culture that enables you to represent yourself as how you were actually born. It is for queer people to bring their fantasies into real life. It’s a world of its own, and I am sure it will grow in India too,” said Krish.
Many voguers are adapting the dance form to popular Indian culture. Drag queen Abhishek Singhania aka Jiya Labeija’s choreography set to a remix of Choli Ke Peeche Kya Hai highlights the exaggerated hand movements and struts that are an important part of voguing. Another popular reel shows Sunil Bormahela in black and red pants and a fitted white crop top bringing a flurry of energy into the dance.
Over the decades, voguing evolved from the ‘Old Way’ where movements were defined by hard angles and straight lines, to the ‘New Way’ in the late 1980s, where elements like catwalk and enhanced hand performances were introduced. A third form emerged in the 1990s, Vogue Fem or Femme known for its dramatic flair and exaggerated feminine movements with jazz and modern dance influences.
This is what Krish teaches students.
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Letting go of inhibitions
Until they were introduced to voguing, Krish, who lives in the Mira Road-Bhayander area of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, was not much of a dancer. A voguing video on YouTube that Krish saw two years ago changed everything. It was a revelation. “When I decided to vogue, my friends supported me, but my family didn’t know I had taken it up,” said Krish, who is worried that they won’t understand or accept their choices. They still haven’t confided in them.
Krish learned how to vogue through YouTube videos and Instagram reels. A year ago, they started hosting online classes, and earlier this year began holding physical dance sessions like the workshop in Andheri.
From three to four students when it began, the class has already expanded to 15. Krish also performs at live shows organised by magazines like Drag Queen and Cosmopolitan India.
Muskan who lives in Mulund, began her voguing journey as a yoga teacher and ‘whacking’ dancer. Whacking or waacking is a dance form characterised by powerful arm movements, poses and footwork. Stylistically and historically similar to voguing, it evolved in the gay clubs of Los Angeles in the 1970s disco era. Anushi too has a background in whacking and trains with Muskan.
“Through whacking I was able to understand voguing as there is an element of posing in both. I’m more inclined towards whacking, but voguing has started to grow on me,” said Anushi. It was voguing that helped her shed her “inhibitions completely and dance like nobody’s watching”.
Krish first met Anushi at a drag battle they were performing in. She was the judge. They kept bumping into each other at events and dance battles, and over several meetings decided to create a voguing platform for the community. Sunil, who has been voguing for over six years joined the group as well.
Through their collective, the young group of dancers want to help more people find a safe space to express themselves.
“In India, the culture of voguing has yet to take off. There are only a handful of voguing artists in cities like Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru and Goa,” said Krish. It has no presence in mainstream films as well.
“We are mindful of that [it’s Harlem roots] and what the Indian queer community needs,” they said.
Voguing evolved in a specific cultural and historical moment of LGBTQAI+ rights. While the queer community in India may not relate to the exact context of New York in the 1980s, the dance form has transcended space and time to become a symbol of expression and resistance. It is also gaining prominence at a time when there has been a louder call for queer rights like the debate on same-sex marriage and horizontal reservation for the transgender community.
Krish acknowledges that voguing borrows from western culture, but they and the others are adapting it to the Indian context and music is one way to do that.
The community in India uses both–popular Hindi songs, and Ballroom Music, which is a mixture of disco, funk, hip-hop, house, rhythm and blues, and electronic music. The preferred soundtracks include cymbal crashes, sharp synth stabs, and other dramatic accents. Everything from Patakha Guddi by the Nooran sisters to Rakhi Sawant’s Pardesiya can be used for vogue, said Krish.
The collective has performances lined up in Bengaluru, Pune and Delhi, and are preparing for a big show in June for Tinder India in Mumbai. “I had to create a space for me and people like me to fit in,” said Krish.
They are determined to strike a pose that matters—one dance step at a time.
(Edited by Theres Sudeep)