Kim Aviance

Kim Aviance is a performance and visual drag artist, and nightclub hostess from the voguing and ballroom House of Aviance.[1][2][3][4] She is a classically trained dancer and musician, and one of New York City's nightlife personalities.[5] She is deemed a "New York nightlife queen", and has won numerous awards in the ball culture world.[6][7] Aviance is a gender-non-conforming, and trans appearing.

Researcher Madison Moore explains Aviance's specialty: “Voguing, a dance form often tied to marginalized brown communities, and the runway, which is of course tied to high end commercialism and the sale of expensive commodities, is a ripe theoretical intersection. On the one hand, the movement on a ballroom floor is creative and is a means to its own end. Reputations are at stake, and it is important to give a good performance on the ball floor. But because the ball world is its own queer subcultural universe, balls have a means to their own end.”[7]

In 2005 she was a featured dancer for Susanne Bartsh and Kenny Kenny's mega club in the Happy Valley venue.[1] In 2006 she was featured at Larry Tee and Josh Wood’s club Bank at the newly renovated venue Element.[2] One of her performances there was with performer Paul Alexander for his dance track “Walk for Me,” an “ode to the ballroom scene” where he sings “I want you to take to the catwalk, darling. You sure look gorgeous! Walk for body, walk for face. Walk it and snatch first place. Walk for me.”[6] Aviance, on a treadmill, proceeded to vamp and vouge all while working the exercise machine like a fashion catwalk as if in a ball contest.[6]

Kim performed at the Cock alongside Ari Gold during LGBTQ Pride week as a benefit for fellow House of Aviance member Kevin Aviance through the Anti-Violence Project; Kevin was assaulted in an anti-gay attack.[3] In 2012 she hosted a weekly event, The Underground Tea Dance Party by Twitch Productions.[8] In 2013 she was a host of Taylor Scott's The Underground Party at The Rosewood Club.[4] In 2014 she performed at Click Friday's at BPM.[9]

References

1. "Catching Up With Past Nightlife Awards Winners: Happy Valley". Paper. 2013-10-17. Archived from the original on 2020-11-08. Retrieved 2020-10-30.
2. "Cashing In | The Village Voice". www.villagevoice.com. 21 February 2006. Retrieved 2020-10-30.
3. "Shocking, But Not Surprising | The Village Voice". www.villagevoice.com. 13 June 2006. Retrieved 2020-10-30.
4. "The Underground Party With Junior Vasquez @ The Rosewood Club :: January 27, 2013". EDGE Media Network. Retrieved 2020-10-30.
5. Yuzna, Jake, ed. (2013). The Fun: The Social Practice of Nightlife In NYC. Museum of Art and Design/Powerhouse.
6. Moore, Madison (2018-01-01). Fabulous: The Rise of the Beautiful Eccentric. Yale University Press. pp. 175–6. ISBN 978-0-300-20470-4.
7. Moore, M. (2017). “I’m that bitch”: on queerness and the catwalk. Safundi, 18(2), 147-155.
8. "The Underground Tea Dance Party :: August 26, 2012". EDGE Media Network. Retrieved 2020-11-01.
9. "House of Aviance". houseofaviance.blogspot.com. Retrieved 2020-11-01.

Further reading

• Battle, Juan; Barnes, Sandra L. (2009-11-24). Black Sexualities: Probing Powers, Passions, Practices, and Policies. Rutgers University Press. ISBN 978-0-8135-4816-6.
• Baker, Stuart (2011). Voguing and the House Ballroom Scene of New York City 1989-92. Soul Jazz Records. ISBN 978-0-9554817-6-5.
• Browning, Barbara (2013-06-17). Infectious Rhythm: Metaphors of Contagion and the Spread of African Culture. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-136-05182-1.
• Butler, Judith (2014-09-03). Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of "Sex". Routledge. ISBN 978-1-134-71141-3.
• Desmond, Jane (2001). Dancing Desires: Choreographing Sexualities on and Off the Stage. University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 978-0-299-17050-9.
• Fitzgerald, Tom; Marquez, Lorenzo (2020). Legendary Children: The First Decade of Rupaul's Drag Race and the Last Century of Queer Life. Penguin. ISBN 978-0-14-313462-6.
• Lucas (2013-11-25). Paris Is Burning: A Queer Film Classic. arsenal pulp press. ISBN 978-1-55152-520-4.
• Nyong'o, Tavia (2018-11-27). Afro-Fabulations: The Queer Drama of Black Life. NYU Press. ISBN 978-1-4798-8844-3.
• Malone, Jacqui (1996). Steppin' on the Blues: The Visible Rhythms of African American Dance. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-06508-8.
• Mears, Ashley (2011-09-14). Pricing Beauty: The Making of a Fashion Model. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-95021-4.
• Willis, Deborah (2013). Legendary: Inside the House Ballroom Scene. Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0-8223-5582-3.
• Wright, Kai (2008). Drifting Toward Love: Black, Brown, Gay, and Coming of Age on the Streets of New York. Beacon Press. ISBN 978-0-8070-7968-3.