Frieze DJ in Residence: Sydney Baloue

Ballroom culture spans multiple decades and includes many different musical genres. From Philadelphia soul, disco and funk to house and techno, the sound of ballroom has been in a constant state of evolution since its inception. This playlist gives a taste of the soundtrack to ballroom life over the decades.

The version of ballroom culture that we know today emerged in the 1970s. Back then Soul Train (1971–2006) was on TV, folks were dancing to disco, funk and music by Salsoul Records in New York clubs like Better Days, The Loft and Studio 54. In these spaces songs like Diana Ross’s ‘Love Hangover’ (1976) and ‘Let No Man Put Asunder’ (1977) by First Choice – both of which feature in my playlist – dominated the disco floor. ‘Love Is The Message’ (1973) from MFSB, however, is the tune that really embodies the birth of ballroom culture and voguing by extension. Larry Levan, Paradise Garage’s long-time resident DJ, would play the track throughout the late 1970s and early ’80s as voguers struck dramatic poses while framing their faces as if on a runway. It became a staple sound at any ball that was being thrown in New York.

Even though I first learned how to vogue 12 years ago, ‘Love Is The Message’ is especially important to me as it reminds me of the original style of voguing that emerged in the late 1970s and ’80s which borrowed moves from breakdancing and martial arts to tell a story with the body through geometric poses. The song was incredibly influential and can be found throughout the canon of ballroom music, from tracks like David Ian Xtravaganza’s ‘Elements of Vogue’ (1989) to ‘Work Me Goddamit’ (1996) by Armand Van Helden.

When Masters at Work released ‘The Ha Dance’ in 1991, this forever changed the sound of ballroom music as the pronounced notes, or ‘stabs’, used to mark where one should strike a pose shifted from the more subtle trumpets of ‘Love Is The Message’ to the crash-whip that strikes the beat in ‘The Ha Dance’. That crash has been remixed and revived for over 30 years and continues to offer voguers a place to stop on the beat for their dramatic dips and poses. Beyonce revisited these sounds in her Renaissance (2022) album remixes in tracks like ‘Break My Soul (The Queens Remix)’ which sampled Madonna’s 1990 hit ‘Vogue’, and ‘PURE/HONEY’ which sampled MikeQ’s ‘Feels Like’ (2011). As ballroom culture changes through the years, so does the music, but the rhythm and the joy it brings remains the same.

Main image: MFSB, 'Love Is The Message’, 1973, album cover