How to vogue: The theatrical dance style, explained, ahead of Calgary Pride

To quote pop icon Madonna:"Vogue, let your body move to the music."

Essentially, that's what The Coven, a dance troupe composed of three queer Canadian artists, do when they perform vogue, a striking, theatrical style of dance.

You can see Ralph Escamillan, Ross Wirtanen and Kevin Fraser perform vogue at Calgary Pride on Sundayon the main stage in Prince's Island Park at 1:15 p.m.

In a chat with Escamillan, the CBC's Lisa Robinson discussed all things vogue on the Calgary Eyeopener.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Q: What is vogue?

A: Vogue is a dance form that comes from the emulation of models in Vogue magazine. Vogue came from Harlem from the Latinx and African-American community.

Originally, it was an extension of the drag pageantry of competing.

There are three types of vogue.

The first, the original, which is the old way is similar to the shapes that you see in Madonna's vogue. It's inspired by popping and breakdancing.

Second is called new way, which is an extension of old way, but a little bit more dramaticized, with hyper-flexi body blooms going everywhere.

The third style that I also train in and teach is called vogue femme. It was made by the trans women of the ballroom scene. Less picture-like than old way, this style is more fluid with the drama the vogue is known for.

Q: Why did you get into vogue?

A: For me, coming from a really diverse background, when I found vogue it became something that I was really excited to share, with it being one of the only queer dance forms that exists that was made by and for queer people.

I think this is something that, in a lot of dance forms, we don't get to experience, especially in colonial dance forms like modern, ballet or jazz. I feel like there's just something about the form that makes sense within my body.

Q: How do you vogue?

A: When I vogue, I kind of embody a voluptuous body. I pull from, maybe, someone like Beyonc.

It's the type of energy that I can't really describe in a sense but, with my background as a contemporary dancer, I really pull in my experience from the floor work and really intricate kinds of shapes.

Q: What does it take to vogue?

A: To be good at voguing you really don't need much, you just need a strong character.

I teach lots of students who don't have any dance background at all.

Within vogue and ballroom culture when you're competing, vogue is one of the many categories when you go to a ball.

You have face, you have runway, you have bizarre, you have all these other categories that, if you're not a dancer, you could still fit into the ballroom scene.