Starting in the United States in 1999 and adapted globally over time, every year June is recognized in most parts of the world as Pride Month. For those of you not familiar, Pride is a global celebration and recognition of the LGBTQ+ community. However, Pride is not as widely celebrated in some countries. If it is acknowledged, the rights afforded those in the community are few and not always protected in their home country.
In Korea, the MZ generation has been the generation more accepting of the LGBTQ+ community within the last decade. Public queer festivals started with small community festivals in only major cities such as Seoul and Daegu. It wasn’t until 2000 that the capital of Seoul held its 1st official Pride parade with only 50 people recorded attending. It was another 9 years before the 3rd largest city in South Korea, Daegu, held its 1st parade, followed by the 2nd largest city, Busan, in 2017. According to Reuters, organizers of this year’s parade in the capital of Seoul recorded an estimated 30,000 in attendance. Floats displayed all expects of queer culture, from flags to drag queens, allies and spectators celebrating on the streets of Seoul. In a highly conservative country such as South Korea, where strong language of hate and intolerance expressed not only in society but by government officials, this show of pride is significant. Along the parade route this year and every year are conservative Christian rights groups protesting with banners showing the phrases, “Homosexuality Stop,” and “Destroys Families.” In Korea, they would rather queer culture be unseen and unheard. As per a 2024 survey by Equaldex, only 26% of Koreans believe LGBTQ+ community should be open about their sexuality, and only 33% supporting equal rights and protections.
Only a handful of Korean celebrities and artist have come out publicly as being apart of the LGBTQ+ community. Hong Seok Cheon, a well-known actor and entertainer, is recognized as being one of the first well known figures to come out publicly in 2000. Since then, he has been a prominent figure in the Korean LGBTQ+ community and strong advocate. K-pop soloist, Holland has been open about being gay since his debut in 2018. Recently, Bain of rookie boy group Just B, came out on stage during their April performances in Los Angeles. Since then, he has been supported publicly by his fandom, his label, and his band members on social media, recently by posting ally support TikTok videos. This has led K-Pop adjacent idols such as Lara and Megan of girl pop group Katseye to announce that they are both bi-sexual and apart of the community.
However, few may know or recognize that queer culture has been popping up and intertwined in one of South Korea’s most lucrative exports, K-Pop.
When Vogue Meets Kpop: Crazy by Le Sserafim
Released August 30th, 2024, Crazy by Source Music artist Le Sserafim hit the airwaves with fun lyrics and an ear-worm chorus and hook to the delight of fans globally. However, what soon followed was one for the K-pop history books as the Crazy music video, that has not one but four distant MV versions of the song, showcased choreography highlighting a dance style known as Voguing. Two of the four MV’s highlighted the foundation of Voguing which is the Black LGBTQ+ history of ballroom culture by featuring the globally famous House of Juicy Couture. For some FEARNOT’s, Le SSerafim’s fandom name, seeing Voguing to this extent may be new to some. So, I wanted to take this opportunity to educate and highlight not only Voguing as a dance style, but Voguing as an extension of Black LGBTQ+ culture and freedom of expression.
A Brief History of Houses and Ballroom Culture in the LGBTQ+ Community
The explanation of what a “House” represents in LGBTQ+ culture is multifaceted. They are known as spaces for queer kinship, performance, and care. These houses are usually run by a ‘house parent’ usually someone within the LGBTQ+ community who is older and are often a guide or a form of safety for younger ones in the community, especially those who have been displaced from their homes. House parents, who are referred to as ‘platonic parents’, provide guidance for their ‘children’, who are typically poor or working class, of various ages, race, and ethnicities (usually Black and Latinx), genders and sexualities, and from cities and regions throughout North America. These houses are substitute families for those that are no longer in communication with their blood relatives, or as an extension of their family. Some houses provide refuge for homeless youth and provide shelter, health resources, and continued education support.
Typically, each house is given a name, similar to the familiar name of a birth family. In Asian cultures this would be the Kim Family or the Park Family. Or think Game of Thrones-The House of Stark or The House of Lannister. Houses are typically named after well know fashion designers and get their names from fashion brands, such as House of Balenciaga, House of Armani, and House of Gucci. Moon Glasgow Brown who is a National Ballroom Leader and a co-host of the Black Fantasy Ball says these names can be viewed as an act of rebellion:
These house communities allow for freedom of expression and to explore community further. One form of expression is through dance and hence the ballroom community was created. Ballroom communities create an alternative world that consists of a kinship structure that critiques and revises dominant notions of gender, sexuality, family, and community. As described by Dicionary.com, ballroom communities are also referred to as “Kiki’s,” or social gatherings, usually for the purpose of casually “kicking back,” historically connected to LGBQ+ communities and a subculture of ballroom.
Harlem, New York’s Hamilton Lodge, an often-popular place for the LQBTQ+ community, revered as the birthplace of the Ballroom scene starting as far back as the 1920’s.
Black people in general have always had to create spaces that we were not included in. Ballroom is no different.” Ballroom communities create space wherever they are because we are used to having to do that. You can look back at the history of Black people enjoying music, educating themselves, and celebrating themselves underground. Sometimes Queer folks must celebrate in spaces that are underground and unseen still till this day, just because we are Black and Queer.”-Cici National Ballroom Leader and Kansas City’s Alain Mikli House
A Brief History of Voguing
In the early 1970s, Black and Latino gay, trans and queer individuals developed a thriving subculture in house balls, where they could express themselves freely and find acceptance within a marginalized community
Voguing was named after the famous high fashion magazine, Vogue. Individuals would take poses seen in high fashion magazines, runways, and ancient Egyptian art to create improvisational dances. In addition, exaggerated hand gestures were added to tell a story and imitate various genders in performances within categorized drag genres. According to Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing, it was in the 80’s that voguing was introduced to ballroom culture that incorporated “vogue battles” into competitions. These competitions would allow individual participants to win money, trophies, and bragging rights for their House.
There are currently three distinct styles of vogue dance:
In its purest and historical form, voguing of the old way is a ‘duel’ between two rivals.
Vogue Fem is based on the ‘old way’ performance and embodies feminine appearance and movement. With five basic elements: hands, catwalk, duckwalk, spins/dips, and floor, influences are taken from a wide range of dance genres, including Modern Dance and Ballet.
The House of Juicy Couture
One of the biggest features of the Le SSerafim’s Crazy music videos is the House of Juicy Couture. Consisting of house members Lolita Juicy Couture, Tati Juicy Couture, Kimiyah Juicy Couture, Brooklyn Juicy Couture, Shakeem Juicy Couture, Day Day Juicy Couture, Antonio Juicy Couture, Mekhi Juicy Couture (The Creative Director), Simba Juicy Couture.They are also members of season three of HBO/Max’s ballroom competition show Legendary in which they won the grand prize.
Seen in the majority of the main official MV as featured dancers they represent the best of the voguing community. As one of the largest and globally famous houses of the LGBTQ+ community, seeing them prominently within the music video is monumental, not just for the global community but for K-pop and Korean society. Even in the English version of the Crazy music video, Le Sserafim carries the same energy as the original with their dance of vogue heavy in the choreography.
Clearly the importance of showcasing queer ballroom culture in the music video is obvious, not only with choosing to bring in and feature dancers from the House of Juicy Couture, but also with the dance challenges that followed after the videos release. This would include having Legendary’s host and a legend within the ballroom community dancer/choreographer Dashaun Wesley to appear a series of TikTok videos giving Le Sserafim members tutorials on some of Crazy’s dance moves.
What I Learned
Until now various aspects of ballroom culture have been featured in other music videos by other K-pop idols. In the choreo for Chung Ha’s “Stay Tonight,” ballroom elements such as classically exaggerated hand and arm movements, duckwalks and even death drops, were added to the music video. Throughout the music video for Irene & Seulgi’s “Naughty” aspects of voguing heavily influenced intricate hand and arm movements. This is very reminiscent of the same complex movements typically found in ballroom culture.
Therefore, although Le Sserafim is not the first group to include voguing and ballroom dance within their choreo, they are the first to include the architects of the culture and make it a focal point from beginning to end. There is a certain respect unlike represented in the past for an art form that is steeped in the culture of a marginalized group, especially in South Korea.
There is a saying within the Black American community when speaking about appropriation vs. appreciation, “they want our rhythm, but not our blues.” This is in reference to the origins and foundation of where a lot of Black American music, dance and culture was formed. The culture that is often drawn from and integrated within K-Pop music and choreography comes from stories of struggle, alienation, and community. Le Sserafim including not only the dance style, but also including one of the many architects of the culture is monumental. Not only for the LGBTQ+ community at large but for the thousands of South Koreans that are still fighting to be respected, seen and heard. Hopefully, although small, Crazy is one duckwalk in the right direction for the greater good.
Until next time…….
***For more information on the LGBTQ+ community in South Korea, the creation of Houses in America, and the creation of Vogue and Ballroom culture in the United States please click on the hyperlinks throughout the article and the sources below***
The Rise of Korea’s Kiki Scene
Getting Juicy: Inside the Iconic House of Juicy Couture’s 15-year Anniversary Ball
Queens and Queers: The Rise of Drag Ball Culture in the 1920’s
The Melanin Ajumma 