Jose Gutierez Xtravaganza

Jose Gutierez Xtravaganza (né José Gutiérrez, sometimes called Jose Xtravaganza / Extravaganza) is a dancer, choreographer, recording artist and New York City nightlife personality. He is one of the most widely recognized personalities to emerge from the NYC ballroom scene of the 1980s. He is best known for his work with Madonna.

Early life

Jose Gutierez was born and raised in the Lower East Side area of New York City; his parents having emigrated from the Dominican Republic. During his youth the neighborhood was a hotbed of raw creative energy, giving rise to the new wave music scene, the emergence of DJ culture, the development of the graffiti / street art movement, and the growing popularity of drag culture and entertainment. This ferment creative environment would influence the way Jose perceived the world around him and the opportunities it presented for his own creative energy. As a child he was recognized for his natural dance ability and enrolled in a program of formal dance education, sponsored through the New York City Department of Education. He would continue his study of ballet and other dance styles throughout his teenage years, going on to attend the prestigious NYC Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts and studying under master choreographer Eliot Feld.

Voguing and ballroom scene

During these same years Jose began to socialize among the Latino and African American LGBTQ community that regularly gathered along the west side waterfront of New York City’s West Village area, commonly known as “the piers”. It was there that he first became aware of the gestural vocabulary and projected attitude of voguing. The dance style first emerged as part of the NYC underground ballroom scene, in which the dancers transition through a series of poses that emulate those of fashion models. Much like break dancing (which developed in parallel during the same period), there is an inherent competitive aspect to voguing in which the dancers try to outdo one another through increasingly complex poses and the fluidity of their transition between poses. The underground ball scene and voguing would later be popularized through the 1990 documentary “Paris Is Burning”, in which Jose appears voguing in competition.

As a formally trained dancer Jose became fascinated with the expressive and gestural dance style, quickly picking-up the moves and integrating them with the more formal positions of ballet. As a teenager Jose began attending and competing in balls hosted by the NYC “houses”, where the best voguers gathered to battle on the runway for prizes and recognition. It was there that he came to the attention of Mother Angie Xtravaganza, matriarch of the ballroom House of Xtravaganza, and invited to become a member of the group. Consistent with the tradition of ball culture, in 1986 Jose took the House name as his adopted surname. Leveraging his formal dance training, Jose developed a unique style of voguing based on clean lines, precision poses, seemingly effortless transitions, with a projection of disciplined elegance. This combination made Jose a respected opponent in ballroom competitions, garnering him numerous trophies and awards.^[1]

Public interest in the ballroom scene began to grow in the late 1980s, providing Jose the opportunity to showcase his talents to a broader audience. In 1988 he appeared in Details magazine, photographed by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders for an essay by Chi Chi Valenti about the House of Xtravaganza.^[2] He also appeared in the December 1988 issue of American Vogue magazine alongside Naomi Campbell and other models,^[3] as well as the May 1989 issue of Time magazine,^[4] in addition to other local and national publications as interest in voguing and the ballroom scene continued to grow. In 1989 he participated in the Love Ball; an elaborate celebrity fundraiser organized by the Design Industry Foundation for AIDS which used the basic structure of the original balls as a template for the evening’s festivities.^[5] Love Ball participants included designers Carolina Herrera and Thierry Mugler; supermodel Iman, artists Keith Haring, Francesco Clemente, and Julian Schnabel; and performance artist Leigh Bowery, among others. Jose Xtravaganza took the Voguing competition grand prize trophy created by Keith Haring - likely the most valuable ball trophy ever created. That same year Jose and other House of Xtravaganza members toured Japan – introducing voguing to an international audience. In collaboration with GMHC, Jose appeared in a safe sex public service announcement geared toward the ballroom community. In subsequent years, Jose and the House of Xtravaganza would frequently lend their talents in support of organizations related to the LGBT community.

In 1990 the ballroom scene and voguing began to enter the mainstream. Jennie Livingston’s award-winning documentary film “Paris Is Burning” chronicled the underground scene and made celebrities some of the long-time stars of the ballroom scene, who to that point had remained mostly unknown to the larger public. Filmed between 1986 and 1989, the film captures a very young Jose Gutierez Xtravaganza voguing in competition, foreshadowing his transition to professional dancer the same year as the film’s release.^[6]

Career

Madonna’s 1990 hit single Vogue was based on the dance style developed in the ball scene. For the video^[7][8][9] and subsequent Blond Ambition world tour, Madonna worked with Jose Gutierez Xtravaganza and Luis Camacho Xtravaganza. Madonna’s “Vogue” would go to #1 in thirty countries and was the best selling single of 1990. The accompanying video, directed by David Fincher, featured choreography by Jose and Luis for which they were nominated for the 1990 MTV Video Music Award for Best Choreography in a Video. In addition to touring with Madonna, they also appeared with her in the 1990 MTV Video Awards live broadcast of “Vogue”, a “Rock The Vote” public service announcement, and the behind the scenes tour documentary “Madonna: Truth or Dare” (a.k.a. “In Bed with Madonna” outside of North America).^[10] Jose Gutierez Xtravaganza would also appear in Madonna’s music video “Justify My Love”,^[11] and model for Jean Paul Gaultier. His collaborations with Madonna would continue throughout the mid-1990s. During this period Jose would also work with as a dancer and choreographer for artists as diverse at Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam to Tony Bennett. He appeared in the 1991 Peter Lindbergh project “Models: The Film” alongside Linda Evangelista, Cindy Crawford, Stephanie Seymour, Tatjana Patitz and Naomi Campbell.^[12]

In 1993 as half of the duo “Jose & Luis”, he recorded “Queen’s English” with dance partner Luis Camacho Xtravaganza and music producer Junior Vasquez.^[13] Released by Sire / Warner Brothers records, the track featured background vocals by Madonna; the only record on which she is credited for as a background vocalist. Two additional tracks by Jose & Luis, "Do It To the Rhythm" and "You Want To Touch Me", would appear as part of Sire Records 1993 sampler "New Faces".^[14]

With a deep commitment to the House of Xtravaganza, in 2002 Jose ascended to the position of House Father.^[15] In this role of House Father, Jose took on the responsibility of leading the House in all public activities, both in and out of the ballrooms. That same year he was inducted to the Ballroom Hall of Fame, citing his contribution in helping to creating mainstream awareness of voguing and as a global ambassador of the ballroom scene.^[16] As House Father, Jose would produce several success balls at high profile NYC nightclubs, attracting a wide range of NYC’s cultural elite in addition to members of the ballroom community.^[17][18]

In the fall of 2012 Jose Xtravaganza partnered with filmmaker Jason Last, known for his cutting-edge fashion work, to create the short film “VOGUE(ing). As Jason Last explained, “(Jose) came on board with one very specific request – that we create something special together and present Vogue(ing) in a new way, steering clear of the obvious first degree references that would otherwise be deemed as simply syndicating what already was.” Toward this end, The Black Soft recorded “The Ballad of Venus” (inspired by the life of Venus Xtravaganza) to which Jose Xtravaganza choreographed a fresh and contemporary work using the physical vocabulary and attitude of voguing.^[19]

Twenty-four years after House of Xtravaganza members first took voguing to Japan, they returned for a multi-page feature published in the January 2013 issue of Japan Vogue. Photographed by Terry Richardson with cover supermodel Joan Smalls, the editorial titled “How to Vogue for Vogue” featured eight House members including former Madonna dancers/choreographers Father Jose Gutierez X and Luis Camacho X.^[20]

In September 2013 Swedish electro-pop duo ICONA POP released the music video “All Night” featuring Father Jose X along with other ballroom personalities.^[21][22]

In January 2014 luxury fashion retailer Barneys released a catalog and supporting campaign in support of transgender men and women. The campaign was created by noted photographer and filmmaker Bruce Weber. Father Jose and other House of Xtravaganza members were heavily featured as part of the campaign which supported the National Center for Transgender Equality and the New York City Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Community Center.^[23]

For the 2015 twenty fifth anniversary of the original release of Madonna’s Vogue, Jose reunited with fellow Blond Ambition dancer Salim “Slam” Gauwloos for a video tribute broadcast on MTV.^[24]

Mr. Gutierez is featured in the 2015 documentary Strike a Pose directed by Ester Gould and Reijer Zwaan. The film follows the lives of Madonna’s Blond Ambition dancers twenty-five years later; the dancers sharing their own stories about life during and after the famed 1990 tour. The film premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival in February 2016 to positive reviews. It is scheduled for screening at several international film festivals in the coming months, before being released for broader distribution.^[25][26]

For the upcoming Baz Luhrmann directed The Get Down, Jose assisted with choreography. The musical drama series, set in the South Bronx of the 1970s against a backdrop of disco and the birth of hip hop, is scheduled for release by Netflix in summer 2016.

Jose Guiterez Xtravaganza continues to work professionally as a choreographer and dance instructor, travels internationally as an ambassador of the ballroom scene, and maintains the role of Father of the House of Xtravaganza.

References

External links

• Jose Gutierez Xtravaganza on Facebook
• Jose Xtravaganza at the Internet Movie Database