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LAMBDA Volume 27: Issue 2
A Wonderful Week
Organizers for this year's
Celebration Week filled five days with excitement and enlightenment
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Photo
by Michael Jerch |
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Charlotte drag queen and
sexy temptress Angela Lopez strikes a pose for the 400-plus
people attending "Curious," Celebration Weeks drag show. Lopez
was one of the show's four professional drag queens |
Celebration Week began April 5 with
a bang as more than 400 people crowded into the Great Hall to see “Curious,”
the drag show put on by Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender – Straight
Alliance.
Before show time, the line into the
hall snaked through the Student Union outside to the Pit area as drag show
veterans and newcomers alike waited to get a glimpse of the night’s roster
of drag kings and queens.
At the show’s start, emcee
Namisheena Burns asked the crowd who had never before attended a drag show.
More than half of the crowd raised their hands.
Opening the show was UNC dance
troupe MiscONcEptions, which warmed up the crowd with an energetic
performance of “She Wants to Move.” From then on, the show came alive from
the fusion of the energy of the performers and the receptive enthusiasm of
the audience.
As the screeching violins from
Britney Spears’ “Toxic” blared from the sound system, Angela Lopez, from
Charlotte, shimmied across the stage in a diamond bra, attracting fans to
come up to the stage to cheer her on. Lopez was one of four professional
drag queens performing that night.
Amateur performer Kyle Yamakawa,
under the name Koko Minogue, riled up the crowd dancing to Kylie Minogue’s
“Slow.” She took charge by giving a private, provocative dance to a
well-dressed man on stage. Yamakawa was one of three amateur performers of
the night.
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Photo by Michael Jerch |
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Lauren Scott, a drag
queen from Greenville, NC, solicits crowd participation |
One of the night’s more theatrical
performances was by professional Diana Prince, from Raleigh, who began her
act in a Cinderella-style gown and was escorted by a prince in a tuxedo.
Soon after she hit the stage, the clock hit midnight and Prince busted out
of her formal dress into a skimpy, shiny pink outfit. Dancing to songs by
Selena and Beyoncé, Prince got the crowd off its feet as two men flipped
across the stage. The audience roared in appreciation of the show-stopping
performance.
Adding a serious note to the
evening, the Cuntry Kings, a local drag king troupe, focused its
performances on issues of civil rights and sexual violence. In one act the
troupe re-enacted scenes of pro- and anti-LGBTIQ rights protestors clashing.
On a projection screen beside the performers were parallel images from the
black and LGBTIQ civil rights movements. The final image projected the line,
“This is a question of love,” to remind everyone of the relevance of the
LGBTIQ rights movement.
This year’s Student Body President
Matt Tepper was in attendance and said that he had never been to a drag show
before but wanted to see what it was all about.
Sophomore Alex Ferrando, who
organized the drag show, was pleased with the diversity of the crowd. “It
showed that straight people are just as likely to come to these events as
LGBTIQ individuals are,” he said. The show is estimated to have raised
$1,800.
While the drag show was a first for
many in attendance, it certainly won’t be their last.
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