The Dance Historian Is In: Alyssa Chloe on Punking

In this month’s Dance Historian Is In, choreographer and cultural archivist Alyssa Chloe explores the history, legacy, and evolution of Punking—the expressive BIPOC gay dance movement born from Los Angeles’s underground clubs of 1970s. Inspired by the embodiment of cinematic imagery and storytelling, escapism, self-liberation, and survival, Punking emerged as a radical self-expression through movement and sound.

Through rare archival footage, personal narratives from the last original punker, Viktor Manoel, and embodied research, this presentation traces Punking’s authentic lineage through its primary force and originator, Andrew Frank, alongside original key innovators such as Tinker Toy, Billy Starr, Michael Angelo, and more—people who creatively transformed their lived experiences into physical artistry before the form was reinterpreted and extracted by outsiders. The presentation also examines the cultural and historical consequences of this extraction, as elements of Punking were later absorbed into commercial dance under the name “Waacking.”

Photo Credit: Alyssa Chloe in Cash Me At The Ball, Soul.Sessions in Oslo, Norway,  2019. Photo by Ortenheim.

This event will take place online via Zoom. A streaming link will be emailed to everyone on the morning of the event.

ASSISTIVE LISTENING AND ASL | ASL interpretation and real-time (CART) captioning available upon request. Please submit your request at least two weeks in advance by emailing accessibility@nypl.org.

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PRESS | Please send all press inquiries to Alex Teplitzky at alexteplitzky@nypl.org. Please note that all recording, including professional video recordings, are prohibited without expressed consent from the Library.