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Sunday, June 7, 2026

Voguing | Dance Style - Sketchbook Notes on Harlem, Body, Stage and Audience



"Strike a Pose!" Laurence Fournier Beaudry & Guillaume Cizeron | Rhythm Dance #MilanoCortina2026

Sketchbook page by Pieter Lategan, Silent Monumentalism, voguing study, 2026, created in Pretoria, South Africa, showing handwritten notes on voguing, body movement, belief, strength and fashion-model poses, focusing on presence, gesture and performance.

Voguing and the Body - Sketchbook Page 005

My Confession to God Today

O God, I am hard to reach.

My meaning is that You make us strong enough to believe, because You let me know, You let me feel, and You let me learn what it means to be a king and a warrior.

Kings do not make themselves strong only by themselves. They become strong because You choose where to place them. It is important for them to speak, to find strength, to carry responsibility, and to show respect.

Voguing

Voguing is a dance style inspired by the poses of models in fashion magazines.

Video reference note:
YouTube — Vogue Supremacy — 90s Ballroom Style — Derek Faces
Final spelling of the video title must still be checked before publication.

Silent Monumentalism — Voguing
Pieter Lategan
21 April 2026, 2:42 PM
Pretoria, South Africa


Sketchbook page by Pieter Lategan, Silent Monumentalism, voguing study, 2026, created in Pretoria, South Africa, showing handwritten notes on Harlem ballroom culture, angular poses, dramatic movement and the body as visual structure, focusing on stage presence and performance.

Voguing as Dance Style - Sketchbook Page 006

Voguing is also known as vogue dance.

It is a dance style born from the LGBTQ Harlem ballroom scene of the late 1970s and 1980s.

It is named after the famous fashion magazine Vogue. It draws inspiration from fashion modelling, couture, angular poses, and Egyptian hieroglyphics.

In this ballroom dance, dancers use sharp angles, dramatic poses, and intricate hand movements. It mimics the poses of runway models and turns the body into a strong visual structure.

The dance is dramatic, controlled, acrobatic, and expressive. This dance form uniquely celebrates the body.

Harlem, New York, Manhattan, is an intellectual, cultural, and artistic hub for people of colour.

135th Street Station connects to the history of Harlem.

The name Harlem comes from Dutch settlers and refers to Haarlem in the Netherlands.

Silent Monumentalism — Voguing
Pieter Lategan
21 April 2026
Pretoria, South Africa


Sketchbook page by Pieter Lategan, Silent Monumentalism, Harlem study, 2026, created in Pretoria, South Africa, showing handwritten notes on St. Nicholas Park, Central Harlem, jazz, streets, Apollo Theater and performance culture, focusing on memory, music, place and cultural structure.

Harlem, Park, Jazz and Performance Space - Sketchbook Page 007

St. Nicholas Park.

The area connects to Dutch-American history, St. Nicholas Park, City College, immigrant communities, and Hamilton Heights.

Central Harlem.

Jazz developed here and became part of mainstream African-American music and culture. The music, the streets, and the jazz players all form part of this history.

This reminds me of jazz.

A difficult past is carried through music. Music tells stories about what happened in the streets, in history, and in the lives of people.

Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard and Harlem streets become signs, symbols, and structures in the memory of the city.

The Apollo Theater is a venue for performance.

Soul food, Harlem, Black culture, clothing, street life, music, and performance become part of the same visual field.

Spanish Harlem and wider Harlem communities form part of this cultural landscape.

Silent Monumentalism — Harlem
Pieter Lategan
21 April 2026, 22:25
Pretoria, South Africa


Sketchbook page by Pieter Lategan, Silent Monumentalism, Harlem study, 2026, created in Pretoria, South Africa, showing handwritten notes on Morningside Heights, Manhattan, Harlem, video references, poses, movements and voguing revival, focusing on place, dance history and cultural memory.

Harlem, Morningside Heights and Dance History - Sketchbook Page 008

Harlem is home to large Dominican and Puerto Rican communities.

Morningside Heights.

Riverside Park and General Grant National Memorial are part of the historical landscape of Manhattan.

Manhattan.

Video reference note:
YouTube video — Visit the Iconic History of Harlem, New York
Approximate playtime: 21:49 minutes.

Video reference note:
YouTube — New York: The Voguing Revival
BBC Travel Show.

The story is about poses and movements.

Voguing came from Harlem. It came from drag shows, ballroom culture, pose, movement, identity, and performance.

Silent Monumentalism — Harlem
Pieter Lategan
21 April 2026
Pretoria, South Africa

Sketchbook page by Pieter Lategan, Silent Monumentalism, stage study, 2026, created in Pretoria, South Africa, showing handwritten notes on voguing, performer and audience relationships, stage movement and participation, focusing on presence, transition, spectatorship and performance space.

Observation: Performer, Audience and Stage - Sketchbook Page 009

Observation: I see an interesting stage.

It is not only the performer who performs. The public also becomes part of the performance.

While the performer performs, the audience stands around the performer and watches how the performance happens.

When the performer wants to perform, he steps out of the audience and moves into the circle or stage. He becomes the performer.

When he finishes his dance, or his voguing, he moves back into the audience and becomes a spectator again.

The audience is part of the stage.

Within this movement, the person can become performer, actor, dancer, viewer, and participant.

The audience may also mimic or copy the steps with their hands and bodies.

This dance style was born from a marginal space and later became known by a broader public.

Silent Monumentalism — Stage
Pieter Lategan
21 April 2026, 22:47
Pretoria, South Africa



New York: The voguing revival! - BBC Travel Show | 2020