This past Tuesday, Minnesota State University’s LGBT Center sponsored the 2017 Gender Bender Drag Show. The event made for a memorable night of music, dancing and some outrageously beautiful costumes and people.
The show comprised of dance routines performed by three professional queens and kings known for performing at the Minneapolis club Lush: Victoria DeVille (who also acted as our hostess), Damien D’Luxe and Genevee Love. Along with these performers, we also saw three ameteur queens and kings come on to the stage – all students of MNSU. And I honestly would not be surprised if at least one of these performers could find a career out of this.
The songs used in the show ranged from club compiliations to traditional Broadway tunes (from shows such as Kinky Boots, Chicago and Cabaret) that performers would either lipsync to or, in the case of our hostess, actually sing. Most of the routines consisted of a performer dancing to original choreography, which the audience would shout and cheer for whenever possible – especially when someone would go into the audience or do either the splits or a cartwheel in high-heeled shoes. There were lines left and right for audience members to give money to the performers. Two audience favorites were definitely Damien D’Luxe’s “Harry Potter” tribute (“I Got the Magic In Me”) and Genevee Love’s dance to Beyonce’s “Formation.”
I came away from the show regretting my lack of one-dollar bills and my voice absolutely lost to all the cheering. I look forward to the next performance, and would highly recommend it to anyone who’s able to go as well. The world these days is too upsetting and restrictive not to go out and have the kind of fun that says “to hell with your prudishness and labels.”