Before Vogueing, There Was Posin’
Among the many glories of Arlene Croce‘s new must-read essay on Fred and Adele Astaire is her description of a specialty of Jimmie Lunceford‘s 1920s dance band called “Posin’.” Croce writes: ‘As performed at the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem, at some point in “Posin’†the band would stop, Lunceford’s singer would yell “Evvv-ry-bod-y pose!†and the dancers would freeze for eight counts.’ I smell a potential Madonna video here; or at least a main challenge on “RuPaul’s Drag Race.”
