Vjuan Allure, icon of the ballroom scene, has died

Vjuan Allure, a pioneer and icon in the ballroom scene who created the Ballroom Beatz genre, has died, according to reports from sources close to the artist, who was in his late 30s and living in Washington D.C.

No cause of death has yet been made public. Tributes have been pouring in from across the worlds of dance music and ballroom, with many paying respects to his remarkable influence.

Born in Puerto Rico and raised in New York where he was a battle dancer from the age of 11 and would visit legendary clubs like The Sound Factory, Vjuan Allure was pivotal in the development of the ballroom sound and popularising it in the global club scene.

He was one of the first artists to make music specifically designed for ballroom and voguing events, releasing remixes and original material he would ‘Ballroom Beatz’, featuring his producer tag "This is a Vjuan Allure Magnifique Elite Beat."

In 2000 he reworked Master At Work’s ‘The Ha Dance’ to create the ‘Allure Ha’, which went on to form the bedrock of ballroom music and inspire DJs like MikeQ and club music labels such as Night Slugs and Fade To Mind.

In 2016, speaking about his first time playing it, he said: “The inspiration behind this track is I was at my first gig in Detroit – it JUST happened to be a ball – which is totally different from playing anywhere else. I got ready for this event and planned what to play – very excited. The night of the event I played my ass off, only to discover the people at the ball weren’t moving … I was running out of stuff to play and didn’t want to get into the Ballroom stuff yet… so I played ‘The Ha’ and all hell broke loose, everyone got up and danced all over the floor, me being a dancer got pissed off because they could’ve been doing this to the 100s of other tracks I played. So when I returned home from that trip, I went into my studio room and began making the ‘Allure Ha’ – I used a shady voice, the beat was hot, it was perfect for the new style of Vogue that had become the top category at the balls – Vogue Fem… I returned to Detroit 2 weeks later, different ball, same club, same scenario, no one dancing – I put ‘The Ha; on – everyone danced and I cut the turntable off so it wound down to a drag – then played my track “You want to vogue femm, you want The Ha, well I’ll give it to you, but not like YOU remember it, Welcome to the Vjuan Allure Exclusive…..the Ha…..girls get ready!”… – and history began that night. The reaction was phenomenal after that, it spread like crazy, and when I returned home I continued making tracks…and haven’t stopped since.”

Vjuan Allure held residencies in New York City, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Washington D.C., Baltimore, Toronto, London, Ibiza, and Naples Italy.

See tributes to Vjuan Allure below.