When Loverboy began planning our hopes & dreams for a new decade, being quaratined in self-isolation was not top of our list. So during this downtime, we have found solace in the memories of 2019, whose many highlights included, seeing Bad Bunny onstage, the Thierry Mugler expo, interviewing Roisin Murphy & Detox and witnessing our Queen, Mariah perform twice on her Caution Tour. Yet somehow one event brazenly stepped up and snatched the trophy without us even warning us first!
One weekend, last July, we ventured out to the Parisienne suburbs for our first Vogue Ball, The Olympics Ball no less, to see if the city was still burning. Children, we were not ready. The energy, the ensembles, the eleganzaaa! The whole event eclipsed every other experience from the last twelve months.
One dancer we clocked early on was was Yanou Ninja, owning the Old Way category. Then last month, he hosted a workshop here in Barcelona as part of The Sinners Kiki Ball. So we grabbed some Ramen together and discussed becoming part of The House of Ninja, being an Up and Coming Legendary & explaining the origins of Voguing to Russia.
So, Yanou, tell us, how did you start voguing?
The funny thing is when I was nineteen, I didn’t know a thing about Voguing. I was more of a club kid. I had always loved dancing but had been too shy to go to any dance workshops. I had smoked weed since I was sixteen but I no longer wanted to be that person that only smokes and just thinks about dancing. So one day, I grabbed myself by the balls, dropped out of university and said, ‘OK, I want to be a dancer, so I’m going to be one’. I started working in McDonald’s to pay for dance class because my family was not that excited about this project.
At the same time Manif Pour Tous, a movement against LGBT marriage and adoption was protesting across France and it really pissed me off. Then I realised, ’Shit, I have no gay friends.’ I was in a Hip Hop Dance School so everybody was straight. The only gay people I knew were my lesbians and the gays I fucked with. So I needed family.
One night, in a club, I met Lasseindra Ninja, the Pioneer and Mother Ninja in Paris. We talked about Voguing in France, I took her number but it took me a few months to go to her workshop. Then I started to take classes and participate before becoming a Ninja in 2014. In the meantime I’ve discovered the whole culture and not just the dancing aspect of it which is how I saw it first.
How does that whole process work?
They have to notice you and you have to notice them. A lot of people get flattered and say ‘Yes’ to the first house that asks them which is stupid because two months later they’re going to switch to another one. You’re fucking dumb if you do that. If you’re in one house and then the next minute people see you in another house, it just looks like you are not a stable person. I am very loyal. If I start something, I finish it. If I’m in a house, I’m going to stay in that house…and not just for four years but all my life.
Why did you choose the House of Ninja?
From all the houses that asked me, my mother was the only one really kicking my ass. At times she was aggressive and shady but in the end that’s what I wanted, that’s what I need. I was in a Dance School at that time so I knew that criticism would not kill me. Well, sometimes it did. Was it constructive? Not all the time. But I would rather have that than someone who says, ‘You’re great!’ I want someone who is going to tell me how to progress. The people in the House of Ninja, to me, were the most creative. I wanted to contribute to the legacy of this house. In a way I feel they need me and in another way I feel it’s me who needs them. It just felt very obvious for me.
You’re currently here in Barcelona, teaching a workshop. When did you start travelling with Voguing?
Well, there are two different ways of looking at it. I started travelling to walk the balls in 2014. But then I started to be asked to work, or to judge, in 2016. The more Grand Prizes that I have earned, and the more known I have become, the more I get asked to travel. Anyone can just contact me via Instagram. Sometimes I am recommended. Sometimes it’s people from my house that want to invite me.
You’ve been travelling a lot recently, right?
Yes, now I am judging some of the first balls in countries like Slovakia. Eastern Europe is on fire, although it’s not the same vibe as Western Europe. It’s more mainstream-ish. When I was there for the first time two years ago, they had their first drag performers. I heard they had their first transwomen walk in Russia the other day so things are moving in a good way. Voguing there started through fashion and dance, so it was not as politicised as Western Europe. But now they are beginning to travel and think, ‘OK, maybe we should focus on the real culture of Voguing and help the LGBTQ community.’
Do you politicise things during your workshops?
I always try to bring a message when I am in Eastern Europe. One time I was speaking to my class about how voguing came from the black trans community and I just saw the eyes of these little girls getting bigger and bigger…they all thought it was made by white girls. So I’m like, ‘OK, I don’t mind you girls doing this dance. You cannot force yourselves to be black or gay, but please be a good ally. Protect the community and make everyone feel safe because this is their space.’ I also love to provoke people because I’m a fucking Scorpio, so I wear very cunt outfits.
Where is the most diverse scene in Europe?
For me, it’s the Dutch scene. They have lesbians, bisexuals, non-binary and also so many different kinds of ethnicities. There are Indians, North Africans, Asians on the scene. It’s so much more diverse than in Paris where black people are the majority, which is logical due to our colonial past, then you have a few Arabics and white people. Also in Paris, almost everybody is doing Vogue Femme but in Amsterdam there will be just as many people dancing Old Way and New Way as Vogue Femme.
And I know you’re judging and doing a lot of workshops, but are you still competing as much?
Yes. Internationally. But the biggest difference is that I have stopped walking in my category, Old Way. Before, Old Way was basically a cigarette break for people. They thought it was boring or slow. They wanted drama and some fast dips. But it grew!
I would say that since I got deemed being one of the best. I’m an Up and Coming Legend so I want to let everyone know in a more challenging way and then show how legit I am for this title. Now I walk Performance which means I battle Vogue Femme bitches, just to let them know that Old Way can still slay their ass. There was a Zodiac Performance Category at the Galaxy Ball in February, I slayed the whole Vogue Femme team by myself….then lost, but I still had my moment!
Do you have an end goal with Voguing?
When people ask me if I am a Voguer, I always feel offended, even though it’s a compliment. To me, I’m a dancer and Voguing is one of my styles of dancing, just as popping is one, breaking is one. I hate stickers. The perspective I have about my career and my life is that it’s bigger than just ballroom. I see Ballroom like a school of life. I grew up so much because of ballroom. But I cannot focus my life on that. And everybody that understands ballroom, sees things that way, because you are not going to pay your bills with ballroom. I would say that I don’t have a goal but I know I am on the right path because I am travelling the world, building my dance skills, building a reputation. I feel way more confident than when I started voguing. I have made an international family. When I’m 35 I don’t know where I will be but I know I’m on the right path.
We know now that the bottom dropped out of voguing originally and people were left without jobs. Is that something you are conscious of happening again?
I have thought about that, but then I was like, ‘No.’ Paris will always be the city of fashion, the city of art. If you are an artist you are always going to work. If not, it means you suck or you fucked up.
Now we are named after the biggest selling single of 2001, so we always ask everyone, what is your favourite Mariah Carey song?
‘All I Want For Christmas Is You.’ I’m so grateful to Mariah Carey for creating Christmas twenty five years ago. I can listen to that song even when it’s not Christmas. I just think how much of a genius she is and how that song is perfect just like Mariah herself. She’s a whole mood.
Follow Yanou on Instagram.
