Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

City's Vogue Community to Host Tribute for Murdered Dancer

By Gustavo Solis | January 27, 2014 5:04pm
 Terrell Anderson, a prominent Vogue dance performer, was found dead Thursday in his Crown Heights apartment with a stab wound to his head.
Terrell Anderson
View Full Caption

MANHATTAN — While his family prepares to bury him, his friends prepare to dance for him.

The city's Vogue dance community will hold a tribute for murdered performer Terrell Anderson Monday night at Escuelita club in Midtown on Feb. 3, according to his friends. The tribute had been scheduled to take place on Monday night at the weekly Vogue competition, but organizers decided to postpone it at the last minute. The doors open at midnight and the event is scheduled to begin at 3 a.m.

"Terrell would've liked it that way," said his childhood friend Ramon Croft. "He liked the spotlight."

Anderson was found stabbed to death in his Crown Heights apartment Thursday afternoon. No arrests have been made, police told DNAinfo Monday. The city's Medical Examiner ruled that his death a homicide on Monday, as a result of multiple stab wounds, they said.

A well-known and respected member of the city's Vogue community, Anderson started attending dance competitions when he was a teenager in the early 90's. He made a name for himself in the early days of Vogue by helping develop femme voguing — a form of Vogue that is more athletic and acrobatic than the original.

Anderson, whose mother died when he was 9, quickly formed a family within the Vogue community. He joined a series of "Houses" — a sort of fraternity of performers who compete with one another for cash and accolades — performing against other houses around the country, Croft said. He was most recently a member of "House of Ebony," friends said.

Days after his body was discovered, friends remembered Anderson as an entertaining performer and a generous man who helped many in the gay community deal with loss and abandonment.

“Whenever I needed advice he was always there for me,” said his friend Keyana Reines. “He was like my brother and he was like my sister. We didn't have any other family."

The family plans to finalize funeral arraignments by the end of the week, Anderson's uncle Darin Anderson said.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly indicated that the tribute took place Jan. 27.