Jennie Livingston’s Paris is Burning (1990) follows an ensemble cast of performers in the Harlem Ball scene, each of whom finds a different outcome (death, fame, resignation, etc.). Willi Ninja, the film posits, is the one who made it out.
In part thanks to Paris is Burning, Ninja spent the 1990s well-employed; he was featured in several major music videos, and worked as a model, for a time, for Jean-Paul Gaultier. He taught dance––his style of voguing, in specifics–across Europe, and in Japan. Back in New York, his “House of Ninja” grew, becoming the first multiracial Ballroom house.
I was fascinated by Paris is Burning‘s portrayal and framing of Ninja. In contrast to the fate of it’s other major protagonist (if the figured can be considered as such), Venus Xtravaganza, Ninja’s apparent success story is a sliver of a very external form hope in a film which is largely about disadvantaged people needing to create hope for themselves.
Ninja probably did “make it out” more than anyone else in the film. He went on to teach dance, be on TV, and shape the Ball scene going forwards. But he did not escape, not fully. The figures of Paris is Burning talk often about wanting a “normal life”. Ninja died of AIDS-related complications at the age of 45.
According to the Google Arts and Culture article about Ninja, he will be remembered thusly: “[his] legacy is the legacy of voguing, and the exquisite form of dance and expression that he brilliantly developed. Ninja passed away on September 2nd, 2006, in New York City, but remains deathless in his art.”
He may remain deathless in his art. He would today have been 64.
Further reading about Ninja can be found at the following links:
Google A&C
New York Times Obituary
Mental Floss
Ninja’s IMDB
Outhistory (Video links at the bottom of this page)
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