Dashaun Wesley is an American dancer,[1][2] actor,[3][4] choreographer,[5] and ballroom performer,[6][7] MC,[8][9] and commentator.[10][11] He is known for hosting the voguing competition series Legendary[12] and for his appearances on the television series America's Best Dance Crew[13] and Pose.[14] He is often called the "King of Vogue".[15][16][17][18]
Wesley was born in Brooklyn, New York[16] and grew up in its Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood.[19] He began dancing at age four.[20] Wesley first encountered voguing at 14[21] and became involved with the ballroom scene as a teenager.[16]
Wesley has worked as a dance[7][22] and vogue instructor.[23][24]
Wesley became involved in ballroom as a teenager in the late 1990s[18] and has competed in balls frequently since then,[19] also hosting[18] and commentating at balls.[25] He began emceeing balls in 2003,[14] and first performed voguing "in front of a big crowd" in 2005 or 2006.[19] Wesley has been a member of a number of houses, including the House of Latex (which he joined in 2000),[19] the House of Evisu,[26] and the House of Lanvin,[27] in which he was a father.[28][18] He is the founder[29] and father[30] of the House of Basquiat, which debuted on the second season of Legendary in 2021.[31] Along with the House of Garçons, he was featured in the 2023 Capital Pride parade in Washington, D.C.[32][33]
He is a ballroom legend[34] and received icon status in 2018.[35]
In 2009, Wesley competed on the fourth season[36] of America's Best Dance Crew as a member of the group Vogue Evolution.[37] In 2013, he appeared as a dancer[38] on Hit the Floor.[39] In 2015, Wesley appeared in the film Magic Mike XXL,[40] for which he also instructed Channing Tatum in voguing.[41] Later that year he was an ensemble member in The Wiz Live![42] Wesley played Shadow Wintour (also known as Shadow Khan)[43] in seasons two[44] and three of Pose on FX.[19] In 2020, he was announced as the host of the HBO Max ballroom competition series Legendary,[45] and served as host and MC[46] over the show’s three seasons.[3] In 2022, he was featured in Billy Porter's[47] performance at the BET Awards.[48]
In 2013, Wesley was featured as a dancer in the music video for Fergie's song "A Little Party Never Killed Nobody (All We Got)".[49] In 2015, he performed as a vogue dancer[50] and commentator for FKA Twigs' show "Congregata".[24] Wesley was a dancer for Rihanna's 2016 Anti world tour[51] and featured in Teyana Taylor's 2018 K.T.S.E. tour.[52] He also appeared in the music video for Taylor's song "Work this Pussy".[35]
Wesley is a member of MikeQ's label Qween Beat[53][13] and was featured on the track "Walk" on its 2016 collection Qweendom.[54] In 2023, he was featured on the song "Giant Bird in a Man Suit" on the cast recording of the off-Broadway musical Lewberger: The Wizard of Friendship.[55]