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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Eva Corlett

Strike a pose: vogue balls go mainstream in New Zealand

A performer posing on a catwalk
Cypris Afakasi, known as Fatheir Fang Coven-Aucoin, participates in a vogue ball at Te Papa Tongarewa, New Zealand's national museum in October. Photograph: Renati Waaka

In a large gallery at New Zealand’s national museum in Wellington, a 600-strong crowd cheers ecstatically as a group of fabulously dressed performers take to the stage.

In impossibly high heels, the predominantly Māori and Pasifika (Indigenous people of the Pacific Islands) performers twist their arms into geometric forms and spiral to the ground, contorting their bodies into outstretched shapes. Other performers parade their highly stylised costumes, while some embody the struts, poses and attitudes of supermodels.

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