Drag queens and kings performed in a risque show Halloween night.

The annual fall drag show hosted by the LGBT Ally Alliance raised funds to send students to the Midwest Bisexual Lesbian Gay Transgender Ally Collegiate Conference in Kansas City, Mo., the largest of its kind in the country.

“I really enjoy the drag show, I think it’s fun and it’s a really relatable way that a lot of people can experience the culture of drag,” said Melanie Pope, LGBTAA vice president and coordinator of the show.

Pope, who was the emcee, dressed as Ursula from “The Little Mermaid” and performed “Poor Unfortunate Souls” with Trixie Firecracker.

A catwalk jutted out of the main stage and a rainbow flag hung overhead in the Great Hall of the Memorial Union.

The majority of the crowd stood right next to the stage for the full performance.  They clapped along with the music, cheered and screamed many times per song.

The audience was encouraged to come in costumes to celebrate Halloween.

Audience members went up to the stage during performances and gave the dancers tips.

Sahid Taha said it was one of the Alliance’s better shows and that he had seen improvement from last year’s performance.  Taha’s favorite performer was Madame Cunterina, who performed a Bollywood number and most of the Middle Eastern songs.

Cunterina said she performed the Middle Eastern music because she is Arabic and it is her heritage. She got into drag last year and performed in the spring drag show as well. She said the crowd reaction was amazing.

“When the crowd screams, I just freeze,” Cunterina said.  She has always danced, she said, but it is much harder in the 4-inch heels she was wearing. Many of the performances were done in high heels, and almost all of the queens’ outfits were skin-tight leotards.

“It’s really important if they can fundraise and get folks to attend that they can lower the cost to getting students the access and opportunity to go,” said Brad Freihoefer, LGBT Student Services coordinator.

All of the performers were ISU students and performed one of the more musically diverse shows the LGBTAA has had, Freihoefer said. There were four foreign language songs, including a Bollywood piece.

One performer, Rawan, said she gets her inspiration from pop culture.  Whenever she listens to a song, she imagines a video for it, she said.

“It’s a creative outlet and I’m not from here.  We don’t have anything like this,” Rawan said.  She said she makes all her outfits by hand. 

“It’s about gender performance and gender expression and talking about how we perform gender or expectations, and we kind of call it a gender-bender,” Freihoefer said.

The Drag Show raised $2,022 after the first count, said Blake Miller, president of the LGBTAA.  Based on the money raised, about 250 people attended the event, Freihoefer said.