Archie Burnett is a highly respected underground club dancer in New York City who was one of the prime dancers during the late 70s and 80s, becoming well known for his individual freestyle of Waacking and Voguing. He was a close friend and assistant of the grandfather of Voguing, the legend Willi Ninja, and is up until now a striving force in the NYC dance scene. He is often invited as a judge for battles.
He appears in the documentary film Check Your Body at the Door (2001) by Dr. Sally Sommer, (Professor of Dance at Florida State University), that explores the movement vocabulary of legendary NYC house dancers, including Archie Burnett, Willi Ninja, Ejoe Wilson, Marjory Smarth and Conrad Rochester. Made possible in part by contributions from the National Endowment of the Arts, Dr. Sommer interviews dancers from the local NYC scene and captures now-vintage footage from the late 1980s and early 1990s. Check Your Body at the Door now stands as an historical document and testament to the early years of NYC’s house dance culture.
“I've travelled all over the world doing what I do best and what I love most: that’s spreading the house vibe that lives and thrives in NYC. I have a documentary produced by Sally Sommer, Check Your Body at the Door that chronicles the lives of some of the dancers that are the life’s blood of this underground scene. We began filming in 1991. Now I’m happy and proud to say it has become a historical record of that moment in time. Dancing has always been my voice, my body, my instrument and music my passion. May the music live forever. It’s not over till it’s over!!!”
17.05.2013
