If you're a homeless young adult, chances are good that you're gay, bisexual or transgender. And if you live in the Detroit area, the Ruth Ellis Center is trying to reach you. The center, based in Highland Park, Mich., has taken an unorthodox approach to helping homeless LGBT youth — and it starts on the dance floor, specifically with the dance form known as "vogue."
"It's all about your wrists and your imagination," says 21-year-old dancer Donnie Dawson. "You just have to make sure your hands are coordinated with your imagination."
Donnie, a regular at the Ruth Ellis Center, advises that you pretend you're holding a basketball, then mime with your hands the circular shape of the ball. Vogue dancing is sort of like break dancing meets ballet. But if you need a quick reference, think of Madonna's 1990 hit "Vogue" in which she sings about a dance form created by poor and working-class blacks and Latinos in New York City's gay community in the '60s and '70s. Today, vogue is still all about flipping, dipping and catwalking; it's acrobatic, sexual and at times very feminine in its movements.
See The Ruth Ellis Center's Dancers In Action