And not just any grown woman. One of the fiercest grown women we’ve ever seen work a stage!
French choreographer Yanis Marshall first danced his way to our hearts in a pair of nine-inch stilettos over the summer, when he and a gaggle of sexy gays stormed through the streets of Paris to film an epic Spice Girls megamix.
Most recently, he and his trusty backup boys danced their way onto the Ukrainian version of So You Think You Can Dance and performed a sick rendition of Beyonce‘s “Grown Woman”. We dare you to watch it without throwing snaps in the air and screaming.
KittyLitter
No snap or cheer here, but I ain’t no screaming queen- so yeah…
ouragannyc
no snap or screams here.
Not into men in heels.
hank123
beyonce should hire these guys
CaptainFabulous
Doesn’t do a damned thing for me. Sorry. If you’re gonna dance like a drag queen you should look like a drag queen. If you’re gonna look like a man you should dance like a man. Otherwise it’s just jarring and looks odd.
SteveDenver
Saw him and his entourage a few years ago on YouTube and it was novel then. Now it’s “nothing new,” but he seems fully dedicated to his own “fierceness.” This is drag rehearsal: unshaven and without frock. His bitch hips, pouty expressions and shoulder shrugs deserve two eye-rolls, no snaps.
Eric Auerbach
How off-putting.
balehead
A homophobes wet dream cliche for sure….
ArmieShieh
“Drag queens should look like drag queens and men should look like men.”
You’re funny. Next you’ll tell me that a man should be with a women. Pfft
loganlea
Holy Crap, they are such good dancers! I’m a little surprised at all of the negative comments made about his dancing in heals. It is a sad thing to discredit their talents because a man in heals doesn’t give your dick a rise.
Bee Gaga
@CaptainFabulous: Well then a person like you shouldn’t be surprised when straight people look at you in disgust and patronize you because being in a relationship as a man with another man is just not what “men” do like you said.
AshNYC
I totally dig men dancing in heels…Kazaky turns it out. But I’ve never been able to get into Yanis. He is talented but he always seems like he is doing a drag number without the hair and make up.
Matt G
Just like women are to straight men, we are all just objects for the male gaze. If you can’t be used to sate a man’s lust 24-7-365, you have no worth whatsoever.
HeroQueero
Really? Aren’t we supposed to be the progressive ones here? Why do people constantly feel the need to categorize people as masculine or feminine or straight-acting or gay-acting? People are free to be whoever they want and to be with whomever they want. This ain’t the ’50s anymore, folks. Let’s leave the stereotypes in the the past.
Bee Gaga
It was an overall good routine I liked it. I don’t understand the comments about “it’s off putting” like this is about their talent….not how “hot” you do or don’t think they are. Y’all want to behoove these men are exacerbating stereotypes but y’all’s in abilities to look at someone without immediately sexualizing them and without being shallow sex crazed fiends is just as much of a stereotype as these men expressing their femininity. With that said, they were way off in execution and style in regards to the caribbean and african dance moves they were doing. They should of had a black person teach them how to do it or at least have one on stage so it wouldn’t have looked that bad and poorly done. Other than that great job boys! @ouragannyc: @Eric Auerbach:
Tackle
I love what they did, and I don’t find it off putting in the least. It takes alot of practice, skill and talent to be able to move and dance that well in heels. And they are 100% men.
Eric Auerbach
@Bee Gaga: Nah, Bee, it just looks ugly. Really ugly.
Maharajah
So then – let me see any of you bit*hy queens do the same – and in heels… That’s right – quick to judge and little to do.
Who needs homophobes when you have a gaggle of gays to rip you down, right?
Yanis is exceptionally talented, and for his age – has accomplished a portfolio that most other dancers would die for – and yet, the one community that wishes to tear him down – is the one that he most fights for.
It’s a shame to see someone ignorant laugh at him, but its a travesty to see a fellow LGBT member do the same – considering that we’ve all suffered.
As for this performance – I am not impressed – because it is Yanis, preforming a song that he has done before (he had to remove the practice video in order to put this one up), and it showed his talents both raw and sophisticated to levels that inspired his entire class.
Believe me, I’m going to be a Yanis fan – through and through – partly because of his talent, partly because of his ‘fierceness’, partly because the he is gorgeous, and mostly because it takes courage to wear heals, dance in them, do it flawlessly – and still take the moans and groans of insignificant people on each side – but still come out of it, stronger, better, and fabulously.
Seriously – unless you can do better, shut up with the negative comments.
Maharajah
And, on another note – what the hell is with all this hate for drag queens?
Drag Queens have been the heralds of our society (and along with that, many times – the things the offended homophobes the most – thus becoming one of the most visible and vulnerable targets for hate…). Have we forgotten them? Are we so short sighted that we are willing to hate the ‘undesirable’ parts of ourselves to achieve greater mainstream acceptance. Seriously, leave that idiotic logic for the ‘straight’ boys on Craigslist, take the c*ck out of your mouth and recognize – that if it weren’t for drag – the proud, queer, and fabulous LGBT community would be a darker, more jaded, and much less invigorated place.
Believe me, it’s more than a dress and heels – looking flawlessly, and keeping a sense of humor – being sassy and yet intelligent, brave, crass and sarcastic enough to make comments – and be brave enough to often be the brunt of everyone’s hate – both in and out of the community. If you had 1/10th of their vivacity – these comments would then show as the out-dated, ignorant, misogynistic and hateful – just like the homophobes that you always never want to be.
Seriously – unless you can do better, shut up with the negative comments.
sfsilver
If you want the most homophobic comments on the net you need go no further than this page. Just read the bitchy queens on Queerty who just can’t abide anyone who violates a precious proscribed gender rule! This is what I fought for all these years? We’re worse than any of the jerks in high school who called us names and made our lives miserable. Liberation and freedom turned us into “masculinity” obesessed gender police.
Vince Smetana
That number in the video, while not a traditional, “acceptable” form of masculinity, was truly amazing. If you experienced an emotion as great as “hate” towards the dance then you have a few things you need to work out within yourself. Until then, comment anonymously to express your own dis-ease. :lmao:
CaptainFabulous
@Bee Gaga: WHOOOOSSSHHH… that’s the sound of it going right over your head (or right thru your ears, since clearly there is no brain to get in the way). Way to completely miss the point. But this is Queerty after all, so I shouldn’t be surprised.
CaptainFabulous
@Maharajah: So wait, you’re free to slather praise on him like peanut butter, but Heaven help us if someone else doesn’t care for his schtick and says they don’t like it?
And it has nothing to do with him being “gorgeous” or “talented” (either of which is debatable), it’s simply not liking the presentation given. Or are we now just supposed to like everything queer-related simply because we are LGBT? Sorry, but no. I didn’t like it. I said so. If you liked it, hey, good for you. But you don’t get to tell me what I am supposed to like, and that I’m a bad gay if I don’t like it. Fuck you.
CaptainFabulous
@ArmieShieh: If one is attempting to market themselves to the greatest possible audience, then yes, it helps if your visuals align. Now if you don’t give a shit, and are ok with being a 15-minute blip, then by all means do whatever the fuck you want no matter how many people are on the sidelines saying “um, dude, yeah, that looks weird”. Cause really there is nothing he’s doing that any number of drag queens and female dancers haven’t already done, he’s just using the juxtaposition for shock value.
The problem with dance is that’s it’s a visual medium. And when the moves and look don’t match, it’s gonna turn people off. That’s just truth. I’ve learned this the hard way myself, so I know of what I speak. You can’t force people to like your gender-bending dance routines. And if you want to be a success in the entertainment industry you have to find a way to get people to like what you do. If not, you’re done before you even get started. Like it or not, it’s just the way things are.
Eric Auerbach
@CaptainFabulous: Excellent posts, CF.
Vince Smetana
@CaptainFabulous:
“If you’re gonna look like a man you should dance like a man. Otherwise it’s just jarring and looks odd.”
I like that it’s jarring, because it challenges one’s conventional notions about gender.
They really did their job too, because it has brought out an incredible amount of passion from you and others on this topic.
CaptainFabulous
@Vince Smetana: The problem is in 48 hours no one will give a shit, and he’ll be back to being a man that dances like a Black woman in heels and not being able to figure out why only a few homos are taking him seriously.
Vince Smetana
@CaptainFabulous: LOL. Judging from your reaction, this isn’t about these dancers. You’ll figure it out. <3 <3 <3
luisro19
I don’t consider myself a queen. In fact, I’ve yet to meet somebody as masculine as myself. I have only admiration for Yanis. He is amazing at what he does. He is equally sexy when he is masculine, as when he is feminine. You don’t have to be a queen to appreciate artists.
hephaestion
Nobody has commented on the most amazing thing about this video: They are dancing in Kiev, Ukraine!! Ukraine has lagged behind Europe in coming around to accepting gays, but the fact that they are cheering these uber-gay dancers must mean a lot of people there are coming around.