Celebrating the Legacy of Queer Culture

Upper School student heads of the Pride Committee welcomed Middle and Upper School peers to the annual Pride Morning Ex, which was packed with information on the lasting contributions queer people have made to dance, music and fashion that are a regular part of everyone’s lives.

In looking at the legacy of queer influence on dance, students learned that queer people have historically used dance and movement as an outlet for free expression and advocate for justice and representation in an oppressive society. Queer artists are responsible for new styles of dance that push boundaries of heteronormative ideas of gender.

The ballroom scene helped to enhance community among queer people and receives credit for the emergence of vogue dancing. The presenters talked about “Godfather of Vogue” Willi Ninja, and students watched a video comparing vogue dancing to waacking—both expressive forms of movement that emerged from the queer dance scene.

Next, students learned that LGBTQ musicians have played an important role in shaping music across genres and time. Their identities often affected the ways they wrote and performed their music and how listeners received it. The “Mother of Blues” Ma Rainey, a pioneering Black American blues singer who wrote lyrics referencing relationships with women, demonstrated that queer voices existed in early American music, long before those ideas were acceptable. Leslie Gore’s 1963 hit “You Don’t Own Me” spoke in defiance of women’s roles in conventional relationships, and the song became an anthem for queer-identifying women after she came out as a lesbian. Artists who never formally came out as gay, like Luther Vandross and Freddy Mercury, nonetheless made contributions, and publicly outed artist George Michael wrote music to push back against the shame associated with homosexuality in the ’80s. Current artist Lady Gaga was praised as one of a new generation of artists in mainstream music whose music and activism openly promote queerness.

In the realm of fashion, the impact of LGBTQ+ designers is the foundation of the modern industry; Jean Paul Gautier, Calvin Klein and Alexander McQueen used the runway to rebel, subverting gender norms and turning camp into art. Gautier was known for his gender-bending, putting men in skirts and challenging the most basic Western dress code for masculinity. He often cast nontraditional models in his shows, featuring people with piercings and tattoos and older and gender-nonconforming people, bringing the queer community underground to the Parisian runway stage. In his ads in the ’80s and ’90s, Calvin Klein celebrated the male body in ways previously reserved for women. Klein pioneered the unisex movement in fragrance and fashion, breaking down conventions. His contributions to the fashion world endure to this day. McQueen brought a more visceral aesthetic to clothing, with work that went beyond simple design, and tried to communicate the trauma, identity and otherness he felt as a gay man, moving fashion from the boutique to the museum. Those in attendance watched a video highlighting one of his fashion shows.

Presenters next discussed the influence of drag performers on makeup. The bright stage lights in drag performances require dramatic makeup styles to exaggerate the facial features of those on stage. Techniques such as heavy contouring, highlighting, bold eyeshadow and long eyelashes evolved in drag culture and later became common in everyday makeup tutorials. RuPaul, lauded as one of the most famous drag performers in the world, has helped introduce drag culture to millions globally and show the level of skill necessary for a drag artist. Dutch makeup artist Nikke de Jager showed how to use makeup for creativity and self-expression rather than something people should feel pressure to wear; she later came out as transgender and shared her story with online followers. Through his work with Kim Kardashian, gay makeup artist Mario Dedivanovic’s technique of modern contouring and shaping the face became one of the biggest makeup trends of the 2010s. The makeup brand MAC collaborated with drag performers, makeup artists and LGBTQ+ creatives in developing their products, and, in the ’80s and ’90s, the company established a campaign to benefit those with AIDS via lipstick sales.

After sharing this information, student presenters introduced the next part of the Morning Ex—a lip sync battle featuring dynamic stylings by students, parent/guardians, teachers and administrators performing their renditions of classic hits from Cher, Madonna, Whitney Houston and more, which received thunderous applause.