Madonna’s Former Dancers ‘Strike a Pose’ In Revealing Logo Documentary

02.17.2017

Logo unleashed a gripping sneak peek of the upcoming documentary , due in April.

The 2-minute trailer spotlights seven of 's male dancers, who joined the entertainer for her controversial "Blonde Ambition" world tour in 1990 and documents how their lives changed, using both old and new footage along with never-before-seen images.

The featured dancers are Oliver Crumes III, Carlton Wilborn, , Salim "Slam" Gauwloos, Kevin Stea, Jose Gutierez and Gabriel Trupin (who passed away in 1995).

The film's title comes from the opening line in Madonna's 1990 hit song "." Voguing was a dance style that evolved out of the Harlem, N.Y., LGBT ballroom scene of the 1980s, and was already a popular art form among African-American and Latino before it was later mainstreamed by the singer.

A few of Madonna's chosen dancers were already popular ballroom "Voguers," such as Jose Guiterez, who was a member of the . The dancers' high-profile stint on Madonna's tour helped break barriers for generations of LGBT people pushing for more visibility and acceptance; and toured the during a socially conservative time in the country-Republican president George Bush, Sr. was in office, the AIDS crisis was still claiming thousands of lives, and LGBT people were openly discriminated against in almost all segments of society.

"The daring progressive message was that you can be gay and human," said an interviewee in the clip. Another saying, "I wanna be like those guys, be that sort of free and open."

Breaking barriers didn't come without pitfalls.

"Faking that you're strong, faking that you're confident, faking, almost all of it," confesses Wilborn in one emotional scene.

"With AIDS coming out and HIV, everyone got really scared," said a dancer in the clip.

"There was a whole other backstage that you didn't get to see, that none of us were ready to talk about," says Gauwloos in a filmed interview before breaking out in tears, "And it's hard because this is the first time."

The doc comes from filmmakers Ester Gould and Reijer Zwaan and made an appearance at New York's Tribeca Film Festival before being picked up by Logo Documentary Films.

"Be proud," says Gutierez, "whatever it is, because everyone is someone."

Strike a Pose premieres Thursday, April 6th at 9 p.m. ET on Logo.