Don't you love it? At Tracks, a trendy New York City nightclub, the crowd gathers around the dance floor to watch a group called the House of Extravaganza do its stuff. The dancers, dressed in outrageous outfits, wave their hands languorously in time with the music, suck in their cheeks, stare icily into space and strut as if they were high-fashion models on the runways. Forget break dancing. So long to hiphop. At the hottest clubs in Manhattan, on MTV and at Paris fashion shows, the ultra-hip are into vogueing.
Named after Vogue magazine, the underground craze now seems posed -- er, ! poised -- to break into the mainstream for its 15 minutes of fame. Fashion designer Thierry Mugler imported two voguers from New York to camp it up on the runway at his recent Paris show, and teens are getting glimpses of vogueing in a music video playing on MTV, singer Taylor Dayne's Tell It to My Heart. The craze has already spread to Chicago. Predicts New York City video producer David Bronstein: "I see a lot of choreographers who could be influenced. I see a big crossover there for stage, for TV, for film."
Even so, the kids will probably not be doing it at the prom this year. Vogueing is an attitudinal affectation that mixes model-like poses with the athleticism of break dancing and the wry sophistication of gay humor. Until now it has been performed mostly by male transvestites, although hip straights make appreciative audiences in the clubs. Some are joining in. Danielle Leyshon, a waitress who vogues at the Smart Bar in Chicago, says enthusiastically that the dance can easily slip into "a battle of who looks more hip."
Vogueing began in the 1960s in Harlem, where transvestites parodied Seventh Avenue by calling their social clubs houses and holding annual balls that featured the dance style. Voguers from clubs like the House of Dupree practiced their steps in downtown discos, spreading the craze. Myra Christopher, a salesclerk in designer Patricia Field's New York City boutique, helped vogueing flourish after she went to a ball in the winter of 1987. Says she: "Here were these kids getting prizes and trophies for things they get made fun of for in the real world." She persuaded her boss to start a vogueing group called the House of Field.
Vogueing pranced a step or two nearer the mainstream last week. The houses of Extravaganza and Magnifique, among others, strutted their stuff at the venerable Roseland Ballroom for a show sponsored by the Design Industries Foundation for AIDS. Among the crowd present: the Talking Heads' David Byrne, actress Gwen Verdon and real fashion model Iman. Said the evening's master of ceremonies, David Ian Extravaganza: "I never thought I'd see the day when we'd be doing this downtown." Well, no; but, then again, don't dance off to California either, David. Vogueing has not yet arrived on the West Coast. Says a disk jockey at 2nd Coming, one of Los Angeles' hottest clubs: "L.A.'s too cool to vogue." Sure.