If anything, its amazing that it took till 1990 for America to take notice of voguing, which had been popular in the gay ballroom scene for decades. Fluidly moving from rigid pose to rigid pose, the dance is an entrancing burlesque of modeling that can grow to incorporate gymnastics, breakdancing and ballet. A tossed off tribute originally planned as a b-side for 1989’s “Keep It Together,” Madonna and company soon realized that it too good to not be released as a single itself. Attached as a ringer to I’m Breathless, her soundtrack to the film Dick Tracy, the song hit #1 in several countries, thanks in large part to the black & white video directed by David Fincher, which features lots of voguing and a blouse that seems see-through while hiding Madonna’s nipples. A year later, the popular documentary Paris Is Burning would reveal the richness of the culture that inspired her smash. Not since the Village People had more middle class Americans been seduced by the allure of the gay underground.

Mad-Eyes.net - “Vogue” Single Page