NEW YORK TO BEIJINGThe highly stylised dance form developed in the 1980s, but traces its roots to early 20th century New York where an underground ballroom culture blended elements of beauty pageants, modelling and dance contests.Balls became a safe haven for the LGBT black and Latino community in particular to socialise and express themselves freely.Performers grouped into "houses" with a fierce sense of solidarity, which often became a replacement for the birth families that had ostracised them.Madonna's 1990 hit Vogue spotlighted the culture, and voguing is now hugely popular in the West, helped by American TV shows like RuPaul's Drag Race and Pose.It travelled to China relatively recently, after making inroads in Japan, Korea, Taiwan.