This Dance Subculture Is Thriving Among Black Gay Men In The South

In 1990, filmmaker Jennie Livingston captured ballroom dance culture and its performers ― many of whom hailed from the black, Latino and queer communities ― for posterity in the documentary, “Paris Is Burning.”

Some 28 years after that award-winning film, choreographer Jamal Sims examines a different, albeit similarly subversive, dance-based subculture in “When The Beat Drops.” The documentary, which premieres March 11 at the 2018 Miami Film Festival, takes a behind-the-scenes look at “bucking.” Just as voguing was pioneered by members of the ballroom scene, bucking is thriving among displaced troupes of black gay men across the South.

HuffPost got a sneak peek at the movie, produced by Jordan Finnegan and World of Wonder’s Randy Barbato and Fenton Bailey, via the clip above. In it, some dancers explain the divide between their day-to-day lives and their bucking personas.

“If they knew that I did what I do now, if someone found out, I might lose my job,” one dancer, who works full time as a schoolteacher, explains.

Source: Huffingtonpost