The House of Teki Latex

TEKI LATEX: I found out about Ballroom music around 2010 when artists like Mike Q and Vjuan Allure started remixing and releasing for labels like Night Slugs and Fade to Mind, of which I am a big fan. Then I started digging around and finding all these crazy videos of balls. I had seen the documentary Paris Is Burning about the NYC Vogue scene, but I didn't know there was a more contemporary version of balls and a voguing style called Vogue Fem based on re-interpretations of the classic Masters at Work song Ha Dance...

The scene is getting big and there are maybe a couple hundred dancers in Paris who are getting involved. There are more and more balls all the time. You have to bear in mind that balls are like big ceremonies. There are themes and outfits and very serious rules and codes to respect, but what was interesting with the Crème de la Crème parties was their regularity and their more 'laid back' format. It was a "come as you are" thing every week during last summer, so the focus was really on the performance and the fun and the experimentation. The categories and the DJs changed every week, but if one of the DJs from the ballroom scene was playing, the others would come and support or help with a category or two and it was a great way for us DJs to learn the intricacies of Ballroom DJing week after week. 

Some of these kids came in contact with the culture by watching Lasseindra and the original Paris voguers dance at the BBB (Black Blanc Beur) parties at Follie's Pigalle every Sunday, but then I think a huge number of them just watched Youtubes of balls and got into it. Either way, it's fantastic for a young gay black or brown person from the banlieue who suffers from prejudice, and who maybe lives in an environment where it's hard to come out to your family and friends, to have access to a whole culture to represent you. The problems these kids have to face are more current than ever, especially nowadays in France with the climb of the far-right Front National, the anti-gay marriage demonstrations, and the current climate of racism and homophobia...

The difference between Paris and other European capitals where Ballroom culture isn't that developed is the structure that the Mothers of the Paris Ballroom Scene, notably Stephane Mizrahi and Lasseindra Ninja, brought with them. They are like real mothers to them. They have lived and danced in the States and all over the world, so they knew the rules and the culture from the start, and they planted the seeds in the fertile soil that was the audience of the BBB parties. From there, a whole ecosystem developed. Now there's Paris chapters for 15 or 16 houses in the city. There's even a 100% Paris-born house, the House of Ladurée, the first French house. Shout-out to them. 

The beautiful thing in modern balls is that there's something for everybody. Some categories are more Disco-oriented, some are more House. In some, you have to play retro NYC 90's House, in others it's more of the harder Robbie Tronco thing. You have your old way your new way, your runway, and then you have the more (relatively) recent Vogue Fem category where most beats possess a 'Ha crash.' The Ha crash is a rhythmic element taken from the Masters at Work's legendary track Ha Dance (it's initially the voice of Eddy Murphy sampled from the movie Trading Places). Now there's a "Ha" for every hit song or cultural phenomenon: Rihanna Ha, Thundercat Ha, Resident Evil Ha, you name it. It's tied to the dance itself, the "Ha" sound comes at the end of each sequence of 4 bars and the dancer has to make a death drop that coincides with the "Ha". 

I realize that whole 'monster' thing in my bio is a little bit pretentious, but what the hell, this is probably a reflex I kept from my rapper days (laughs). A 'monster' DJ is one with the right combination of skill and feeling to make his DJing seem effortless. One who challenges himself all the time and who is always learning about the history of music as well as keeping an ear to new stuff from everywhere in the world. One who will react to and compose with the crowd. One who will make the audience love new tracks they haven't yet heard. One who will find the right balance between those new unheard tracks, the current "hot tracks," some throwback crowd-pleasers, and a couple of weird things to confuse the crowd once and a while. One who will think about the coherence and mood of the entire night before he thinks egoistically about standing out in the line up and making an impression. One who has paid his dues in the club as a warm up DJ and on the radio. One who can take a track A and a track B and blend them together flawlessly to create a track C. One who can influence the mood and emotions of the crowd in a positive way. It sounds a bit corny but DJing is my passion and I'm proud of having that kind of martial-arts-approach to it.

Saturday, December 19th, Le Bain presents Teki Latex (Sound Pellegrino | Paris) with MikeQ and Geng (PTP). Doors 10pm. The Standard, High Line.

Header photo: Teki Latex by Jacob Khrist