Nightgowns
Our resident drag demi-goddess, Mistress Maddie has regular posts on drag and I believe you must go and read them all. It was one of her posts that inspired this one: drag is as drag does. There's not ONE way to do drag: the artist makes the piece.
So I decided to do my research on one of the most distinctive drag queens that have been through RPDR: Sasha Velour. Sasha is a non-binary queen who is also a visual artist. Sasha does multi-media presentations that blend music and dance and intricate theatrical shows. Sasha is one of those queens whose drag may not be your suburban cup of tea: it's not female impersonation per se. I see it more as a feminine idea of performance. And I'm here for that.
You may or may not remember Sasha for an EPIC lip-synch of Whitney's So Emotional in a season finale of RPDR where she brought the house DOWN with her perfect mastery of tension and theatricality:
In case you have not seen the undiluted version, here you go:
So you see why I think it's so cool? Also, Sasha promotes a space called Nightgowns in which drag queens of all genders have a space to show their art and boy, is that a treat. So I invite you to watch the video and enjoy the theatrical -and subversive- aspect of drag. You see, there's a lot of work behind that effortless twirl or behind those beautiful faces beat for the gods. There's sweat and probably tears. But it really pays and is well worth watching.
Enjoy!
XOXO
From the moment I saw her on Drag Race I was hooked, right through to her win.
ReplyDeleteEvery single thing about her,from the visuals to the performances to her personality in and out of drag,
Classic!
ReplyDeleteYears ago I was friends with another blogger that was a drag queen, however he mostly wrote about his health issues, so I didn't really learn anything from him. I'm so happy to have crossed paths with Maddie, now I understand drag and am a fan, before I didn't really understand the difference between drag, cross dressing, trans mtf etc. Maddie is the Queen!!! I think drag is making a huge comeback as in the way it used to be, which was it used to be really entertaining, which it's supposed to be.
ReplyDeleteLOVE Sasha Velour! She also did a catwalk for MarcoMarco.
ReplyDelete@bob: totally! From that primal scream to the rose petals, Sasha was on her way to the crown. She also brought interesting ideas and out of the box looks.
ReplyDelete@debra: she gagged all those queens. Now many want to have a ‘reveal’ at the end.
@steven: yes! Maddie is an expert. And thankfully drag is getting more recognition. It’s the perfect blend of camp and theater.
@jimmy: yes, she did. Marco always brings the queens to his shows.
XoXo
That is an incredible performance! How thrilling. I love all the muscle and creativity behind it. Stunning. No wonder she's a crowd favorite. Thanks for sharing this. You exhibit such fine taste!
ReplyDelete