MADONNA might have claimed there's nothing to it. But Scotland is now learning to strike a pose as it hosts its first Waacking and Vogue dance festival this weekend.

Organisers claim the festival, which celebrates two distinct dance styles which came from the black LGBT communities in Los Angeles and New York, comes in response to the burgeoning Scottish scene which has seen dancers north of the border striking the poses brought to mainstream attention by Madonna's 1990 single Vogue.

It was inspired by the underground ballroom scene of the black, queer community which involved vogue dance-offs – fluid but defiant routines allowing freedom of expression. The Like A Virgin singer employed seven vogue dancers for her iconic, conical bra-clad Blond Ambition tour, three of whom later sued her for invasion of privacy during the accompanying documentary.

Waacking – also featuring this weekend in the three-day Glasgow festival at SWG3 – started in the gay clubs of 1970s LA and allowed black, Latino, and Asian gay men, who had to hide their gay identity in public, to escape judgement on the dance floors. Later also adopted by the straight community, it involves striking arm movements along with posing and footwork.

Festival co-ordinator Emma Jayne Park learned from innovators such as Tyrone Proctor, one of the original Waacking dancers who appeared on US cult television dance show the Soul Train in the Seventies and Kumari Suraj, one of the new wave of Youtube generation dancers who founded Waackfest in Los Angeles in 2010.

Park, after she was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma and was unable to travel, founded the Northern City Waackers group as a way of contributing to the burgeoning scene across Scotland and the North of England.

She said: "Waacking and Vogue are two different styles with a different history. Waacking comes from LA and Vogue from New York but they both use a lot of arms and have come out of the queer community so they are often paired together.

"I've been trying for a few years now – along with several others – to build the [Waacking and Vogue] scene in Scotland."

She said the ball – the high point of the festival, organised in collaboration with LGBT cabaret collective Dive Queer Party – offered often shy and retiring Scots a chance to be flamboyant. "People come dressed to impress and represent themselves and their heritage," she added.

Renowned Vogue dancer Jay Jay Revlon, who DJed at last night's Glasgow ball, said though the scene was "very young" in Scotland is was gradually growing. "It's not just about one person driving it," he added. "There is a whole team involved."

Born and raised in London to parents of Jamaican descent, he first discovered Vogue at just 14-years-old and at 25 has been credited with being instrumental to the rise of London’s contemporary Voguing scene as well as founding the Kiki House of Tea dance group in Glasgow.

"It's really important to have a community that is respecting the history," he said. "We were ostracised for being black and for being gay. That's fundamental to the narrative. Vogue gives queer people a place, a way of reclaiming space. At balls there are multiple emotions going on. There are laughter, there are tears, joy and anger. It can be playful yet powerful and it's a place to learn."

Punking: Punking is the root of Waacking, a storytelling dance form influenced by the over-acting of Hollywood's 1950s films and Looney Tunes cartoons and created by the LGBT community in response to discrimination.

Waacking: later adopted to replace Punking – a derogatory term directed at gay men. Waacking was also adopted by the straight community.

Ballroom culture: by the 1970s ballroom events – where Vogue dancers competed – were largely for the black queer community, offering them a place where they were welcomed without racism or homophobia. Houses, named after high fashion brands such as Dior and Cartier, were overseen by "mothers" and "fathers" offering a sense of family and community.

Kiki: a youth-driven offshoot of the ballroom scene aimed at having fun while advocating social change.

Posing: used by both Vogue and Waacking as "punctuation" to dances or to add drama.

Duck walk: a Vogue move that involves squatting on your heels and kicking your feet out as you move forward on the beat.

Dip: The Vogue show stopper in which the dancer dips suddenly backwards on the beat, sometimes folding their leg beneath to break their fall.