Walker Art Museum goes 'Vogue' for ballroom competition

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - On a beautiful summer night on a terrace at the Walker Art Museum, having a ball is suddenly in vogue. 

"Everything is about telling a story,” said Michael Grecke, a ballroom kid. “In ballroom you are telling your life story."

A colorful collection of characters are walking the runway and striking a pose as part of a ballroom competition called "Vogue Night."

"I call it a fashion show on steroids,” said Fatha Jazz Bordeaux, House of Bordeaux. “There is going to be dancing, voguing, fashion, runway. You name it, it’s going to down tonight."

Ballroom culture has been in the public consciousness since 1990 when the documentary "Paris is Burning" chronicled how black and Latino LGBTQ young people in New York City went to "war on the floor" to celebrate their identities and find acceptance.

Voguing went mainstream that same year when Madonna highlighted the urban dance form in one of her biggest hits "Vogue.”

These days, the show "Pose" on FX is bringing the outfits and antics of the previously underground scene to a new generation of fans.

"It gives us a space to belong, but more than that it gives us the opportunity to build community," said Bordeaux. 

On this night, ballroom kids from different “houses” compete in categories like ace and executive realness - more for bragging rights than any trophy. Fans of the Twin Cities ballroom community hope voguing never goes out of style.

"It’s fun,” said Grecke. “There is nothing wrong with being who you are in this day and age."