Crystal LaBeija formed the House of LaBeija in 1972 as a promotional gimmick for a drag ball she was hosting with a friend. Frustrated by racial biases, black queens began to stage their own events. Although attended equally by black and white audiences, black queens were expected to “whiten up” their faces if they wanted a chance at winning a title. By the early 1960s, the drag ball scene began to fragment along racial lines, coinciding with the intensification of the Civil Rights movement. This scene experienced backlash and police intimidation during the Depression, Prohibition, and the criminalization of homosexual relations throughout the first half of the 20th century. In newspapers, these balls were disguised as “masquerades.” However, by word of mouth, they came to be known as fag balls or parade of the fairies. Harlem’s Hamilton Lodge hosted its first queer masquerade in 1869. The culture surrounding drag balls and voguing can be traced back to the Harlem Renaissance. Willi began voguing at the Christopher Street Pier and Washington Square Park, popular hangout sites for LGBTQ youth, and made his debut in Harlem’s famous drag balls. They soon realized that they should create their own choreography.
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They would go to clubs and mimic the dance moves in the music videos being shown on the screens. Inspired by Fred Astaire, Olympic gymnasts, and the martial arts (hence the name “Ninja”), Willi formed a dance group who called themselves the Video Pretenders in the early 1980s. Presumably having some sort of acceptance, Willi’s experience stands in stark contrast to the lives of the African American and Latino gay and transgender youth he later mentored. In an interview with Joan Rivers, Willi describes how he never came out to his mother about his homosexuality in fact, it was she who confronted him, claiming that “mothers always know.” She told him that he was her son and she would love him no matter what. Esther often took Willi to the ballet and the Apollo Theater to see various dance performances. Not much is known about his childhood, although in many interviews he describes how his mother, Esther Leake, was very accepting of his sexuality and had a direct role in nurturing his interest in dancing. After high school, Willi dropped out of college, enrolled in beauty school and moved to Greenwich Village in the late 1970s. A completely self-taught dancer, Willi began to dance publicly at age 7. Willi Ninja was born William Roscoe Leake on Apand grew up in Flushing, Queens. His legacy continues as the House of Ninja members keep voguing alive and advocate on behalf of their mother to raise HIV/AIDS awareness. Willi Ninja transgressed rigid gender barriers as he participated in the ballroom scene and performed an androgynous gender presentation on and off the stage. Willi Ninja’s life illustrates what it means to be a black gay male in a world that lauds white male heteronormativity. After appearing in the documentary Paris is Burning, Willi rose to fame as a choreographer, musician, runway model and modeling coach, as well as serving as a direct inspiration to various artists who immortalized the style in their music videos.
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Ninja helped create and shape the dance form of voguing that combined exaggerated model poses and intricate mime-like choreography. Each house having distinctions, the House of Ninja was famous for its dancers. The houses of the drag ball scene provided the participants a support network and an extended social family.
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Moving away from showgirl drag, the Harlem drag ball scene provided African American and Latino youth a space to express nonconforming gender presentations. Willi Ninja founded the House of Ninja in 1982, acting as a “mother” to a group of adopted gay and transgender “children” in New York City. Recognized as the “Grandfather of Vogue,” Willi Ninja rose to prominence in the Harlem Drag Ball scene in the 1980s and took the dance form of voguing around the world.