Lip-syncing, dancing and drag hit the stage as dollar bill after dollar bill rained on the performers as the Fall 2015 Drag Show commenced.

“Did everyone get their flu shots? Because tonight’s going to be sickening,” asked Onyxxx Gemz, a co-host of the show.

The annual fall Drag Show, held Saturday night in the Great Hall of the Memorial Union, was hosted by the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Ally Alliance and disk jockeyed by KURE 88.5.

The show featured performances by Robyn Davis, Brianna Gay, Molly Pumps, Heidi N. Dix, Shadya Severe, G-Dragon, T.O.P and Jasper.

Attendees were encouraged to dress in Halloween costumes and bring their dollar bills to help raise donations for members to go on their annual trip to the Midwest Bisexual Lesbian Gay Transgender Ally College Conference in 2016.

History of Drag

Drag has been a part of Western culture for centuries, dating back to past Shakespearian times, when men dressed and acted out women’s roles in plays. Drag has also been found in both ancient Roman literature and classical Chinese theater.

This is all deep rooted through the general idea the drag is used as a form of entertainment, where usually a man will impersonate a woman by wearing makeup, styling their hair and wearing the other gender’s clothing. This is not to say that women cannot participate in drag as well.

Originally used as a derogatory term to describe a gay man, the term ‘queen’ has been around since as early as the 18th century.

Initially beginning in the 1950s and 1960s, the drag queen scene didn’t fully take effect until the 1980s and 1990s, which is around the time when gay culture started to properly develop and flourish.

Drag is also not to be confused with being transgender, as noted by Blake Wilson, sophomore in communication studies.

“There’s this giant notion that doing drag is the same thing as being trans, or that this is a way to explore a different part of you that maybe identifies as being trans, but that’s completely not what it is at all, at least from my personal experience that’s not what it is,” Wilson said.

Drag at Iowa State

The LGBTA Alliance hosts a drag show bi-annually to help raise money and allow ISU students to either participate in the show or experience something different from their daily routines.

Starting preparation for the fall show immediately after the spring show and vice versa, the drag shows typically involve a lot of time and effort to make sure everything runs as smooth as possible.

This involves getting the rooms reserved as soon as possible to avoid any possible mishaps.

“We want it to be in the [Memorial Union] and we want people to be able to go,” said Kathryn Smith, senior in public relations and LGBTA Alliance president. “We don’t want it to end up being off campus or anything, which can happen if you wait till the last minute.”

The Drag Show, which has been going on for as long as Smith can remember, has not always been strictly rooted with ISU students, however.

In the past, the committee in charge of the show would bring in drag queens from Des Moines, but it noticed after a while that the students participating grabbed more of the attention.

“The people that ended up getting the most money were the people that went to school here because their friends were here to support them and their friends were the ones holding up the dollar bills, tipping and making them feel good […],” Smith said.

Smith wondered why the Drag Show wouldn’t be exclusive to ISU students because it is an ISU sponsored event at the university and hosted by an ISU organization. So the first ISU exclusive show took place last year.

This allowed students who really enjoyed drag, or just wanted to try something new, to be able to go through the experience with the support of the alliance, their friends and not have to worry about anything but having fun.

The process

Registration for the show took place in early October, when participants came prepared with a 30-second part of their act, themselves dressed in drag or a picture of them in drag, along with their performance shoes.

The only limitations following that is that all the songs are limited to about four minutes, nothing too obscene and no nudity.

“The motto last year was, ‘If you would not sing the song in front of your elder, you probably shouldn’t be doing it,’” Smith said.

The show

As the night began, an opening act by co-hosts Gemz and Lady Joker kicked off the night as Lady Joker did a performance of “Arms Race,” by Fall out Boy. The expression “Yaaaaaaas” was used a lot throughout the night.

Gemz introduced Sophie Saphire by telling the audience that she hopes “they all have their sweet tooth,” as Sapphire performed “Sweet Talkin’ Candyman.”

After Sapphire’s performance, silence fell to the stage as Robyn Davis performed “Harder to Breathe” by Maroon 5. The song, taking a few minutes to start, was interrupted by crowd interaction as audience members screamed, “I love this song,” which poked fun at the silence.

The show allowed audience members to feel involved, which created a comfortable environment for performers and the audience, alike.

Stealing part of the show, Brianna Gay, who started by the entrance of the Great Hall, did an adventurous rendition of “Girlfriend” by Avril Lavigne in which she interacted with the audience.

Prompting 10 people to come up to the stage from the audience in their Halloween costumes during the middle of the first act, the selected were asked to give a short performance to strut their stuff in an attempt to win the contest.

The whole audience was then asked to dance to “Anaconda” by Nicki Minaj because as Lady Joker put it, “It’s HalloF—–Ween.”

The contestants were then narrowed down to six people. Some of the costumes included a flapper, a gang of pirates and a “bloody priest.”

Joocee Gemz then performed “American Girl” by Bonnie McKee, and Clint Torres performed “Take Me To Church” by Hozier.

Shadya Severe then followed with “Right Now” by Britney Spears, and Heidi N. Dix performed “Fire N Gold” by Bea Miller.

After the intermission, the LGBTA Alliance cabinet was introduced to the audience. Smith also introduced the people who were beneficial in organizing the performance.

“We do have a lot of organizations who helped put this on,” Smith said. “Our souls have been sold.”

Mentions were sent to the Queer Graduate Student Association, which helped judge the costumes, KURE 88.5 and the Graphic Design Social Club.

After a dance-off by the costume contestants, Sugar B. Waters came out alive to the song “(Drop Dead) Beautiful” by Britney Spears.

Robyn Davis then shocked the audience with a mash-up between multiple songs, including “Thriller” by Michael Jackson and “Superstition” by Stevie Wonder.

Onyxxx Gemz then performed once again with “How Many Licks” by Lil Kim, which was met by many donations of dollar bills.

Bringing all the performers onto the stage, the night was concluded with one last performance — a duet by Joocee Gemz and Onyxxx Gemz.

“It’s just people who enjoy dressing up in the opposite gender’s clothing and putting on makeup and just entertaining,” Wilson said. “At the end of the day, that’s what we are, we’re entertainers. So, anything we can do to give the fantasy or fulfill a fantasy of the audience of wanting a diva or guys that come out and just rock your socks off, that’s what we try to emulate on stage.”