Dina’s Diner 5/11/15

GET YOUR PRANCE ON

The Prancing Elites

The New York Times Arts section had an article about The Prancing Elites troupe in the April 22, 2015 edition. The article was a preview of the group’s Oxygen cable network show that debuted in April. Other entertainment news outlets also had items about the new show and its unusual stars in April.

The Prancing Elites Project (as the new show is titled) follows the activities of the troupe consisting of “five black gay and gender nonconforming dancers who compete in a style of dance called J-Setting, a lead-and-follow form of hip hop mixed with cheerleader-like movements” according to an article from The Los Angeles Times. The “J-Setting” march-dance styles originated with groups of female dancers who would perform with marching bands at all-black colleges in the South. Eventually, some troupes allowed male members and it bled into black gay club culture and pride parades in the South. The Prancing Elites became the best known of the organized groups when they were denied entrance to march in a Saraland, Alabama parade. When the Elites marched in a Christmas parade in Semme, Alabama they ran into some vocal bigotry and disapproval. Some people, though, congratulated them and expressed admiration for their routines and style. Shaquille O’Neal tweeted his followers to check out a YouTube video of the Prancing Elites in 2013.

The members of the Elites wear baton-twirling inspired spangly leotards, nude tights, and white marching band boots. One of the members, Tim Smith, presents as female but does not identify as transgender. All the members of the group are in their 20s and (as The New York Times report says) have “wide-eyed innocence” combined with “a deeply refined sense of how they’re perceived.”

The New York Times article points out that the Oxygen network show “fulfills the original promise of reality television.” As shows look for new fodder for viewing eyes, the need to find offbeat, unique material shines a light on little-known individuals and groups like the Elites. It gives the members a chance for wider exposure and (possibly) fame and it gives the rest of us a chance to see something we may never have found on our own.

A LIFE IMAGINED…IN PANTS

Gen Yoshiko Kawashima

The New York Times Book Review section of May 3, 2015 included a review of Manchu Princess, Japanese Spy: The Story of Yoshiko Kawashima , the Crossdressing Spy Who Commanded Her Own Army by Phyllis Birnbaum. The book tells the life story of a well-born girl in China who was given by the father to a Japanese ally to raise. Yoshiko was born in 1907 and was sent away around the age of 8.

Yoshiko apparently had a hard time of growing up with her Japanese guardian, a mercurial, short-tempered character prone to exaggeration. After being pursued by “a hellish series of suitors drawn from the ultra-nationalists who surrounded” her guardian, “Yoshiko rebelled, cutting off all her hair.” She is quoted as saying “I decided to cease being a woman forever.”

Based on the Times review of the book, the story is confusing. Yoshiko adopts the dress of a young military man. She had a position within the Japanese Kwantung army in the early 1930s under the name Commander Jin and led her own army. It seems that Yoshiko was a fabulist when it came to her own experiences. Author Birnbaum rattles off a number of supposed exploits that may — or may not — have happened to her. She was imprisoned by the Chinese Nationalist army for her work with the Japanese. Birnbaum writes that Yoshiko’s prison confession begins, “My whole life has been informed by false gossip about me.” But the book also says, “Yoshiko herself seized every opportunity for aggrandizement. She described herself as the last emperor’s daughter and dressed in drag to outsmart assassins. She was a pilot, an expert shot, a painter, a poet. Her listener believed and transcribed every word.”

During her trial by the Nationalist Chinese government, many of the exaggerations and false biographical facts she had spun herself were used against her. “Yoshiko was astonished that fiction would pass for evidence.” She was sentenced to death and in March 1948, she was executed. But wait: the book intimates that perhaps she was spared death and spirited away to a life in hiding. It would make a hell of a story.

WHO REALLY WANTS A ‘MAKE-UNDER’ ANYWAY?

Dawn Williams

The HuffingtonPost website had a follow-up article about Dawn Williams, a 40-something Canadian mother of two who had a “makeunder” on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2010. Mrs. Williams had been sporting a flashy (perhaps trashy) look with surgically enhanced breasts, platinum hair extensions, a nose ring and oodles of makeup.

The HuffPost article said, “While she says she felt sexy and comfortable with her revealing look, the Canadian mom from Alberta was willing to tone it down for the sake of her teenage children. “I am a mother, first and foremost,” Williams said back then. “I would really like for both my daughter and my son to be proud of me.” That’s when fashion expert Carson Kressley joined up with The Oprah Winfrey Show to help Williams redefine her style. The big reveal was jaw-dropping, with Williams strutting on stage in a flattering wrap dress while sporting a sassy shoulder-length cut and beautiful, fresh-faced makeup.”

But the HuffPost reports that “a few years after that show, however, Williams admitted to Oprah: Where Are They Now? that she had mostly reverted back to her old look, saying that it made her feel “much happier” and more like herself. The 2010 makeunder had expunged the platinum hair and traded in the tacky sexy outfits with a professional look. In 2013, Dawn got remarried and the wedding photo in the HuffPost gallery shows the platinum hair was back and the wedding gown was strapless with a generous display of cleavage. But, really, she looked great.

This tension between “classy” and “trashy” was a big point of controversy in crossdressing circles when support groups and talk shows were bringing heightened exposure to our favorite pastime in the late 1980s and 199os. Let’s face it, some women — and some crossdressers — just prefer a sexier image — even if it isn’t quite working for them. And you cannot impose “class” (whether true personal class or taste in clothing choices) from the outside.

GOT TIME FOR A COUPLE QUICKIES?

Last month, I had an item about artist Gil Elvgren who painted iconic pinup portraits from real-life models. I saw an advertisement in The New York Times for an art auction (at Heritage Auctions in Manhattan, HA.com) on May 14 that will feature works of Gil Elvgren. According to the ad, the price range for one of his pinup portraits in oil will be between $60,000 and $80,000. You don’t need to know anything about art…just what you like.

A dress too naughty.

The prom season has been filled with the usual silliness of guys wanting to dress as girls, gay couples wishing to attend together, over-the-top “promprosals,” the new way to ask for a date to the prom, and of course dresses that were banned by the school. I’ve written about prom stuff for several spring prom seasons now.

The latest two items that caught my eye were the (really quite beautiful) prom dress that was deemed to be too revealing for a prom in Muskegon, Michigan. Mireya Briceno was sent home in tears for wearing a backless but otherwise tame polka dot gown. Really, what are school monitors thinking themselves if they find this too revealing? Is there such a thing as a “back fetish”?

Ariel Winter and her dad.

Sometimes celebrities accept invitations to attend proms with high school fans who ask them. I think even a porn actress went to some lucky kid’s prom after he popped the question a couple years ago. But in this case, television actress Ariel Winter (Modern Family) is herself only 17-years-old and attended her own prom with her boyfriend. She posted some of her prom gown photos on Instagram afterwards. The photo that caught my eye was this one posed with her father.

Speaking of revealing prom dresses…take a gander at that decolletage.

A MOTHER REMEMBERED

I was looking around for a Mother’s Day item for this month’s Diner and came across an article from January 2014 that appeared in the New York Post. The headline was “My Mom was a Vegas Showgirl.” The article was about Suzanne R. Krauss who had recently written a book about her mother Olivia’s transformation from Philadelphia housewife to Vegas showgirl in the early 1970s.

Showgirl mom.

Suzanne’s story covers the glamour and the sleaziness of life in the old Vegas. Her mother was an older showgirl when she started at age 32 and only one of a few Jewish showgirls in Tropicana’s Folies Bergere show. There were meetings with famous celebrities, a bad marriage, and keeping the fact that she had two kids at home a secret to maintain the image of youth and liberation.

Daughter Suzanne also had issues with Mom’s former profession and was too ashamed to tell about it or admit to it for the longest time. Suzanne writes, “When I moved to New York City after college to begin a career in publishing, I started therapy to deal with my anxiety. I’d made a name for myself in marketing. I was engaged to an amazing man. My life was great — but my past was taking its toll and I had anxiety attacks. It took just one session with a therapist to connect my secret past and my stress. The more I began to open up, the more questions I had.” When she talked to her mother about her past, the book resulted.

Mothers come in all shapes and sizes…and professions. Some are platinum blonde bimbo types, some are proud of their daughter’s prom dress — even if the prom authorities are not, some are Diner waitresses, and some are showgirls. Vive la difference.

Tags: Ariel Winter, featured, Gil Elvgren, opinion, Suzanne R. Krauss, The Prancing Elites

Category: Transgender Fun & Entertainment, Transgender Opinion