I made a couple of mistakes when I first spoke with Rashaad Newsome—  a visual and performance artist who makes digital and video work largely inspired by vogue– ahead of his third King of Arms art ball. In these situations I usually shrug and move on, but what I assumed were slight missteps actually indicated a larger misunderstanding on my part of some essential tenets of ballroom culture. Thankfully the King of Arms, held Sunday night in Bushwick, offered an introduction to the pillars of vogue for many newcomers like myself, while pushing the medium beyond its bounds for the old school ballroom crew in attendance.
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