What event can effortlessly combine the glitz and glamour of the Academy Awards and the music, dancing and suggestive tipping of a strip club? Simple — a drag show.

The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Ally Alliance (LGBTAA) kicked off their Coming Out Days Saturday night with a bang, hosting two back-to-back drag shows at the Maintenance Shop.

The first show began with a few announcements about events scheduled for the coming week. Then the microphone was turned over to the charismatic host, “Mookie,” Margo Buscomb, junior in psychology.

“Who here has been to a drag show before?” Mookie asked.

The better part of the crowd stood up. Mookie then debated with the crowd on whether she should drink on an empty stomach. She was persuaded to do so, but she introduced the first act before she took a drink.

The acts included performances by both drag queens and drag kings, who performed in a variety of outfits and to different music.

Mookie encouraged people to go crazy for the performers.

“You all gotta get crunk,” she said. “‘Crunk’ is yelling, screaming and drinking.”

The show’s undisputed queen of glam was “Celina,” Ross Wallace, the evening’s first performer. Celina kicked off the show in a black one-piece swimsuit covered by a transparent fishnet dress and high heels.

Accompanied by the Divinyl’s “I Touch Myself,” Celina twirled around the stage to thunderous applause. Celina appeared in the crowd after her performance wearing a yellow gown, greeting people and watching the other performers.

For her second performance, Celina walked onstage in a giant multi-colored coat and that she took off to reveal a purple swimsuit, adorned with diamonds and neon strings. Later, she appeared in a skin-tight leopard print gown.

“Welcome to extravagant dress change number 17,” Celina said at one point. “Yes, she brought half the closet with her tonight.”

For her final bow at the end of the show, Celina came on stage wearing a sparkling blue shirt and matching pants. Not everyone was as glitzy as Celina, however.

The drag queens didn’t all perform in flamboyant dresses and over-the-top makeup — several of the queens came to the stage dressed simply. Dressed casually in a gray T-shirt, denim shorts and a pink bandanna, “Synitha,” P.J. Rodriguez, Des Moines, used Lil’ Kim’s music as the soundtrack and inspiration for her dancing, which included grinding her hips all over the stage and even on Mookie in order to earn tips.

“Samantha Star,” Jackson Chandler, Des Moines, was another drag queen who used her dancing rather than her outfit to get tips, straddling audience members and letting tippers spank her before they gave her a dollar.

The show’s drag kings were more focused on entertaining the crowd through their dancing rather than their costumes.

“Jack Horner,” Anne Wiltgen, sophomore in political science, who performed twice, first appeared dressed in a red and white Hawaiian shirt and white pants, complete with facial hair and sunglasses. For his second performance, Horner wore a “Blues Brothers” black suit with a purple shirt and tie.

Drag king “Avante,” La Tia McPherson, junior in psychology, also performed in a dress shirt, pants and suspenders, seductively walking around the stage and through the audience, accepting tips during a slow R&B tune.

The show was finished off with a performance by drag king “Holden Johnson,” Laura Rusk, senior in exercise and sport science, along with drag queens “Sassy,” Jeremy Hayes, graduate in educational leadership and policy studies, and “Amanda,” Scott Reichmann, Des Moines. Holden, dressed in a ’50s-style suit, lip synched the words to Frank Sinatra’s “That’s Life.” Sassy and Amanda, dressed in high fashion, lip synched the back-up female vocals.

The show finished with all the performers returning for the final bow. With arms over each others’ shoulders, their laughs were drowned out by the ecstatic applause of the audience. As they took a bow, the volume of the applause increased. Beaming with pride, the performers walked offstage.

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