Willi Ninja Remembered

The New York Times publishes a touching tribute to Willi Ninja, the legendary choreographer and dancer who passed over the weekend. "He prided himself on being a clean, sharp dancer, with swiftly moving arms and hands, and he was deeply inspired by the martial arts—hence his adopted name, Ninja."

The emphasis is placed upon Will's dance aesthetic and his legacy—bringing vogueing "to a level of visibility and perfection in performance that no one had ever reached before." Unlike many other reports, less importance is given to commercial endeavors, such as Madonna's "Vogue" or his choreography of that video. Actually, the Material Girl is never mentioned.

This focus is probably fine with all the children who knew the legendary dancer from back in the day. Like many other black gay man, especially living in New York City, we have our own Willi Ninja stories. Our first story pre-dated "Vogue" and Paris is Burning and actually began in Chicago around 1990, when we saw him appear in the music video for Malcom McLaren's "Deep in Vogue." Fast forward about nine or ten years when we moved to New York and met Willi when he used to host Escuelita on Thursday nights. He politely introduced himself and we spent much of the night talking about that video and modern dance. "If I want to remembered for one thing," he said. "It's that I want to be known as an innovator."

Willi Ninja, Made Vogueing into an Art (NYT)

Willi Ninja Tribute (Walk for Me Wednesdays)

Malcolm McLaren: Deep in Vogue (You Tube)

Willi Ninja: Icon, Legend, Friend (You Tube)

Previously:

• Still Burning? (Rod 2.0)
• Bruce Weber Does Detroit (Rod 2.0)
• Ballroom Culture (Rod 2.0)
• ATL Ballroom Scene (Rod 2.0)
• Chicago Ball Scene (Rod 2.0)
• Flavalife: The Perfect 10 (Rod 2.0)

Comments

[Brandon]

Thanks. That is a very touching memorial, more on the artist and the man. Less on Madonna;s muse. I was hoping you would say something fitting.

[hood]

The Youtube video with the words of wisdom from Willi is a great tribute, it not only showcases his talent but the need for younger GLBT individuals to heed advice from those that came before them and take that knowledge and build upon it. He will surely be missed and I salute his accomplishments, even though I didn't know him personally, he did influence the scene in NY

[Jim]

Here’s an interesting article about the Nigerian-American, Lola Ogunnaike, who wrote the obit of Willi Ninja in the Times:

[Click here]

[IbouDiop]

God bless him. Thanks to you, Ninja, "fabulous" will live on.

[Blue]

I was very sad, & indeed shocked to read about the passing of this superb dancer/brotha/entertainer & yes, *innovator.* I never knew him personally, nor ever met him face to face, soul to soul. But the ironic thing is, about two months ago, I happened to see him online at a popular website (won't mention which) and I was prompted to send him a quick message of admiration for his Gift, his influence & his legend.

Less than 5 minutes later, he had sent back a reply. It stated simply: "Thank you my Brotha. I really appreciate that."

I was impressed that he was a real cat who had somehow remained so humble.

May The Creator Bless His Talented Soul.

One.