A few queens referenced ballroom culture on the premiere on RuPaul’s Drag Race season 15.
Bernardo Sim“I'm so into voguing right now!”
Legendary head judge Leiomy Maldonado is commenting on RuPaul’s Drag Race queens who used ballroom moves and references during the recent grand premiere of season 15.
Though Maldonado didn’t mention anyone specifically by name, Las Vegas queen Anetra won the first maxi challenge of the season with a Variety Show performance that included duck-walking and referenced it by name.
In a series of tweets, though, it appears that Maldonado had thoughts on more than one particular queen using ballroom culture despite seemingly not being a part of the ballroom scene.
“I really wish those contestants would stop making a mockery out of ballroom by continuously NOGUING 'for their lives,'” she wrote. (For context, “noguing” is a term used to describe people who attempt to vogue without actually doing it correctly.)
Maldonado also retweeted a previous PSA she once shared on Twitter about the differences between “virgin vogue” and “noguing.” The Legendary star explained:
“There’s def a huge diff between ‘virgin vogue’ n ‘Noguing.’ Virgin vogue means you’re studying videos/attending classes to learn from voguers. Noguing is more so someone seeing vogue and just imitating and displaying voguing however they feel it is because they’re ‘dancers.’”
Aja, who appeared on season nine of Drag Race as well as All Stars 3 and would later compete in the third season of the ballroom competition series Legendary, also shared thoughts on what she saw on the premiere of Drag Race season 15.
Generally speaking, Aja asked queens to “stop noguing on Drag Race” and later name-dropped Anetra as a reaction to her Variety Show performance.
It’s important to note that Aja did slightly backtrack her statement regarding Anetra, however. She wrote in a subsequent tweet:
“Ok wait I was too busy being a hater but Anetra actually did carry lmfaoooo.”
While it is important to celebrate and elevate LGBTQ+ performers, it is also completely understandable that people will sometimes feel protective over art forms when they’re pushed into the mainstream by individuals who didn’t come from the world where certain moves and words were originated.
Maldonado has always been a fierce advocate for ballroom culture, and her voice is extremely important when evaluating mainstream performances that borrow so heavily from the ballroom scene.
RuPaul’s Drag Race season 15 is currently airing Fridays on MTV.
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0Leiomy Shares Thoughts on Drag Race Queens Using Ballroom Culture
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