After Dark: Erickatoure Aviance, Artist And Nightlife Personality by James Nichols - Huffingtonpost.com
This is the fifteenth installment in HuffPost Gay Voices Associate Editor James Nichols'
ongoing series "After Dark: NYC Nightlife Today And Days Past" that
examines the state of New York nightlife in the modern day, as well as
the development and production of nightlife over the past several
decades. Each featured individual in this series currently serves as a
prominent person in the New York nightlife community or has made
important contributions in the past that have sustained long-lasting
impacts.
HuffPost Gay Voices believes that it is
important and valuable to elevate the work, both today and in the past,
of those engaged in the New York nightlife community, especially in an
age where queer history seems to be increasingly forgotten. Nightlife
not only creates spaces for queers and other marginalized groups to be
artistically and authentically celebrated, but the work of those
involved in nightlife creates and shapes the future of our culture as a
whole. Visit Gay Voices regularly to learn not only about individuals
currently making an impact in nightlife, but those whose legacy has
previously contributed to the ways we understand queerness, art,
identity and human experience today.
What did your journey to becoming a fixture as an artist within the New York nightlife scene entail?
Erickatoure Aviance: I moved to NYC in 1999 to attend Tisch School of
the Arts at NYU as a Dance major. I had been itching to see what the
club scene was really all about since the first time I saw "Club Kids"
on daytime television. I started going out immediately after arriving in
New York, with my first trip to clubland being the legendary Tunnel. I
waited for two hours in a line that stretched from the West Side Highway
all the way to 11th avenue. When I reached the door I was given a near
cavity search by the largest man I had ever seen. I payed my 20 dollars
and the doors opened -- it was magical to say the least. There were
throngs of muscular, sweaty, writhing, shirtless men, candy ravers,
glamorous drag goddesses, scary clown club kids, gogo dancers in cages
-- and a entire room covered in hot pink "fun fur". There I was, a
little girly-boy from a small town in New Hampshire, right in the middle
of it all. It was clear to me that THIS was how I wanted to feel and
THIS was where I wanted to be. For nightlife and I, it was love at first
dance.
I started going out with a vengeance. It didn't take
long to notice that drag queens never waited in line and never paid. So I
started dressing up and nightlife scene started paying attention.
Tunnel, Twilo, Roxy, China Club, Cheetah, Sound Factory and Limelight
were regular stops in my first years on the scene. My first paid drag
gig was in 2001. Working at the big clubs was a dream come true and paid
very well. However, the dream didn't last long. Over the next few years
the big clubs were all but wiped out by Mayor Giuliani's war on
nightlife. So we all had to make the transition to smaller venues and
smaller paychecks.
It was during this transition that I met
Jonny McGovern
at one of his parties at The Hole and we became fast friends. I became a
part of his crew, so to speak, and ended up working parties and
performing with him for years after. It was Jonny who pushed me to
explore my drag character further and make my own music.
I released my EP "Work Ericka" in early 2009 and the video for the single "My Pumps" came soon after.
In
the interim I have been hosting, singing, performing and creating all
over NYC and, as of late, mostly hosting parties for Susanne Bartsch and
Brandon Voss. Later this year I'll be releasing three new singles
produced by Adam Joseph and next year an album produced by Clifton
Brown. It's been a long, winding road but I wouldn't have it any other
way. I couldn't exist anywhere else and I couldn't be anyone else. I
have tried. Nightlife is filled with Peter Pans and I am most certainly
one. The only place for me is Neverland.
You produce a diverse spectrum of work. How would you describe your aesthetic and your work as an artist?
I would have to say that I am, first and foremost, a performer. The
artistic gifts I've been given and skills I’ve acquired over the years
-- singing, dancing, songwriting, sewing, costume construction -- are
usually called upon in service of my primary passion for performing.
In
my younger years, my aesthetic was more that of a Prince protege/'80s
sex siren -- sexy with a high fashion edge. Leather dresses and lacy
lingerie. As a child I was obsessed with Vanity and Apollonia. Over the
years I've made the transition to full on "Art Drag." My embracing of
the avant-garde has been due, in large part, to my friendship and
creative collaborations with the inimitable
one-half NelSon.
My aesthetic is continually evolving and wide-ranging. From space-alien
club monster to high fashion chanteuse. From grunge-rave sex kitten to
amish-goth voodoo priestess. My aesthetic comes from all over the map.
As a result that's sometimes where my art ends up. I'm cool with that.
How would you say nightlife influences or informs your art -- or
vice versa -- as well as your identities as an artist and nightlife
personality?
I am a disciple of the beat. The dance floor is where I go to worship.
It's primal. Tribal. Transcendent. So much energy pouring out of such a
diverse array of souls. Inspirations for all of my creative endeavors
have been plucked from the rich ether of nightlife.
Nightlife
introduced me to the wonder of Kevin Aviance. His performances in my
early years in NYC were extremely influential. I found him captivating,
dynamic and inspiring. He was completely his own creation unlike
anything I'd ever seen before. His command over an audience was
enrapturing -- his spiritual essence could envelope an entire room. The
gravitas he had as a performer is always in the back of my mind when I
create anything and every time I perform.
EVERYTHING I know about
being a queen I learned on the dance floor at the club. Nightlife taught
me how to walk, how to talk, how to work a room, how to lip-sync, how
to carry myself, how to put together a look... I doubt very much
Erickatoure would even exist without nightlife.
What is the House of Aviance and what role do you play in it?
The House of Aviance a community of like-minded creatives with a similar
aesthetic: DJs, drag queens, performance artists, visual artists,
singers, songwriters and musicians, the majority of whom are or have
been a part of nightlife in some way. I've always called it a "working"
house -- you'll find us throughout every aspect of the nightlife
industry.
Aviance was a clear choice for me. A lot of the queens
that had the most fashion-forward looks, the most devastating runway
and the most stunning performance were involved with Aviance. The fact
that the house didn't really walk in balls was also a plus for me. I
always found them a bit scary and I've never been much for competition.
Aviance,
for me, is a name that is synonymous with high style and innovation. I
wear it proudly. As Mother Juan Aviance loves to say: "You make yourself
who you are, the name doesn't make the individual." So, my role is the
same as every other Aviance: to represent the house by making the most
of the talents I have been given.
You're involved in a number of collaborative groups and projects, notably with one-half NelSon. How do these groups intersect with nightlife?
one-half NelSon and I have been involved in a mutually inspirational
creative relationship since we met rolling around on the floor at the
legendary Mr. Black night club. He brings out the artist in me, I bring
out the performer in him and we bring out the party girl in each other.
He is one of the most creative people I have ever met. Our creative
collaboration began with the video for "My Pumps," for which Nelson
constructed all the looks. We both started working for Susanne Bartsch
on a weekly basis for the Catwalk party at Marquee two years ago. We
created coordinating looks each week. This is really when I made the
full transition into "art drag." one-half NelSon really pushed me to
leave behind the traditional and embrace a more artful approach to my
drag. We have a wonderful synergy that I think really shows in the
things we create together -- costumes, decor, performance concepts. He
is my creative guru.
enSUBTITLES is a performance art group
started by myself, one-half NelSon and Clifton Brown. Our first show was
for one of the Spank parties in the east village. We were living
florescent hieroglyphs lip-syncing to "Mesopotamia" by The B52s. So its
roots are firmly planted in nightlife. Our performances together are
always a reimagining traditional drag shows with bizarre concepts and
unconventional costuming. We are currently conceptualizing an entire
evening-length work for this group.
Leo GuGu spoke in his feature
about nightlife spaces as art galleries/community centers/wreck rooms.
How have you seen this play out in your own nightlife experiences? Why
are these kinds of spaces important?
The club is where I cobbled together the band of eccentrics I now call
family. I met the vast majority of people I now hold dear in clubland.
We
live in an age where people are becoming increasingly detached from
social interaction. No matter how loud or messy, nightlife spaces are
some of the few places left where conversations happen. People can put a
face to different viewpoints and lifestyles. With the ever-increasing
number of queer subsets standing up to be counted, it is essential that
we all know what's going on within our own community. The queer
community coming together for any reason is important and,
unfortunately, very rare. Nightlife spaces are a sort of neutral ground
for communication to take place -- even if that communication is through
a haze of drugs and alcohol, muffled by thumping base.
Nightlife acts as a major force of cultural production. Now, Susanne Bartsch is pushing an initiative to take art "from the clubs to the galleries"
-- which you were recently involved with -- in order to showcase and
celebrate this work in a different context. How do you see this
influencing the future of nightlife?
I think its a very exciting prospect. I put a lot of time, thought and
effort into what I bring to the club as a performer and nightlife
personality. To have my hard work appreciated without beer goggles by
people whose main purpose for being there isn’t to get laid is
thrilling. I'm always looking for ways to expand my creativity. My art
is primarily wearable or performance-based but I'm willing to try and
push into visual art.
It's an amazing opportunity for artists who
reside primarily within the boundaries of nightlife to reach a wider
audience. I don't think nightlife will lose any of its art makers... I
see it more as spreading ourselves around for the world to enjoy.
Domonique Echeverria said in her feature: "I
think the truly innovative people that I'm seeing are playing around
with gender and sexuality. I think that's what our generation has to
offer -- the idea of acceptance and blurred lines of gender. It's
causing discussion, debate, new laws to be made and it's causing more
art. THAT is the movement that's happening" -- how do you see this
playing out in nightlife? Do you feel like nightlife will player a
larger cultural role in changing perceptions surrounding gender and
sexuality?
Pushing limits and breaking taboos involving sexuality and gender has
always seemed safer under cover of night. The nightlife realm has and
will continue to be a safe space for those on that fringe to push
boundaries even further. It has always been a place where beautiful
creatures of indeterminate sex and gender have flourished. That being
said, even throughout my own ascent within the nightlife ranks there
have been boundaries that I have been encouraged not to cross. Lines
that I have been told to steer clear of. Those boundaries are all but
non-existent for queens today. For instance, a queen with a beard or
body hair was not seen and simply not done when I was a young thing. At
least not in NYC. Now, bearded queens are fairly commonplace and body
hair abounds. It's a big, brave, beautiful "fuck you" to convention and
that's alright by me .
When these types of looks from make their
way from the club onto the street is when attitudes start to change. You
can no longer ignore what's ordering a latte in front of you at 6 a.m.
What is the most important thing you see coming out of nightlife today? What do you see as the future of nightlife?
I love to party. I'm a party girl. Give me a beat and I'm happy.
Nightlife is an escape. That is its primary function. That is why it
exists. That is it's most important function now and in the future.
Nightlife provides a place where anyone can go and forget all of their
troubles and the ills of the world. Nightlife will ALWAYS provide that
place.
