Drag Ball celebrates 10 tuckin' years
By: Lanz Christian Bañes and Anna C. Forder
Issue date: 4/6/06 Section: LifeStyle
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The bitingly sarcastic, pink-cheeked and fishnet-clad Siren emceed Webster's annual Drag Ball, now in its 10th year, April 1 in the Grant Gymnasium.
The Drag Ball features both amateur and professional performers, dancing and lip-synching to songs from artists as varied as Gloria Gaynor to Marilyn Manson and, of course, the iconic Sir Elton John.
The gym was completely transformed into a birthday celebration for the occasion, complete with two large sheet cakes and streamers. An abundance of balloons littered the floor and were heard popping throughout the night. Wrapped birthday presents were piled on each side of the black stage, adding to a celebratory atmosphere. A large screen was erected next to the stage, which displayed live footage of the event as the drag kings and queens performed.
"A Decade of Drag"
Webster Pride adviser Steve Houldsworth said the organization chooses the best drag performers from all around the St. Louis area.
"You can't see them anywhere else together in St. Louis," Houldsworth said.
Though the Drag Ball is currently the largest event held at Webster in terms of attendance except for commencement, the Drag Ball began small, Houldsworth said.
"It's such an institution (now), but that's not the way it always was," Houldsworth said.
The Drag Ball, which has been around since Webster Pride itself was founded in the 1996-1997 academic year, was initially staffed by drag troupes rather than individual performers, Houldsworth said. Drag troupes are groups of drag performers that regularly perform together and are hired as a group.
This year, over 300 people showed up, and nearly 400 people that showed up last year, Houldsworth said. In its first year, the ball was held in the UC Sunnen Lounge and only brought in between 50 and 75 people.
"We outgrew the Sunnen Lounge," Houldsworth said.
The Drag Ball also changed when Pride began to introduce drag kings. The Drag Ball reached its greatest peak in terms of attendance last year when the Riverfront Times named Webster's Drag Ball as the "Thing to Do" for 2005.
Miles Petty, who co-founded Webster Pride Association with alumna Amy Ultch and helped organize the very first Drag Ball in 1997, is now an adjunct dance professor at Webster.
"It's good to see it's still going on, and that it's still a great show," said Petty, who attended this year's ball.
After a brief intermission in the show, Houldsworth went on stage and honored both the activist drag queens of the past and Petty.
"He was just a boy with a dream, and look what he wrought," said Houldsworth, gesturing to long table of food, the 300 seats and the star-spangled black stage.
Royal Performers
The professional performers included big names such as Dieta Pepsi, Saule Goode and Ms. Morgan Montgomery, a transsexual who has won 49 drag balls competing on the national level. Webster Pride originally hired only three drag queens and three drag kings, but two other professionals, drag queen Montgomery and drag king Tess Mills, participated without pay.
The larger-than-life Pepsi, recently profiled by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, has her own show at Union Station. During her last performance to Macy Gray's "I Try," in which she dressed as the Afroed singer, Houldsworth and a companion offered Pepsi a piece of cake, which she promptly ate while washing it down with a bottle of beer to loud acclaim from the audience.
Siren, with her characteristically blunt wit, asked for a round of applause for Pepsi and her alcohol, saying that Pepsi's voluptuous, all-natural breasts were a result of the many beers she drank.
Saule Goode, who through the night transformed from rock star Rod Stewart to actor Patrick Swayze, performed with Mills, a biological queen. A biological queen is a woman who usually performs as a drag king, but is performing as herself, Mills said. Mills and Goode recreated the famous dance scene at the end of the movie "Dirty Dancing."
Mills, who typically performs as drag king Justin Bloom, performed as a biological queen for the first time at the drag ball.
"I felt naked," Mills said. "I wanted my facial hair and cock."
Mills said she came to perform at Webster because Goode had previously performed at Webster's drag ball and wanted to do a duet.
"I witnessed my first drag ball here at Webster," Mills said.
The posh Montgomery, who began her second performance in a massive blue coat, had a refined style of performing, with languid movements and subtle lip-synching. However, this did not stop the tall and imposing diva from demonstrating what her full red lips were capable of on a bottle of beer in her first number, nor stripping off her flamboyantly rich clothes to revealing outfits - her first performance featured a red bra and a red thong, then, for her second performance, a darker outfit with a black bikini connected by a black net.
After stumbling on her second performance, Montgomery made a dismissive gesture to her routine and picked up another bottle of beer from the bartender, again to great appreciation by the audience.
This is Montgomery's 20th year performing in drag. Montgomery said she enjoys performing at Webster because of the environment and the people.
Amateur Performances
This year there were six amateur performers - two kings and four queens.
One of the night's most dynamic amateur performances, which garnered the most reaction from the crowd, was that of drag king Ashton, the alter ego of University of Dayton junior Maryn Miller.
"I just want to have sex with you. Is that alright?" called Siren from backstage, feigning arousal to Ashton's silky dance, a sensual number in which he pulled one of his female friends from the audience onto the stage and grinded against her. The petite yet commanding Asthon came dressed in a black blazer, black collared shirt and blue jeans, with a mustache reminiscent of an early-adolescent boy's.
Miller, who used to be a professional king, came at the behest of her friend sophomore photography major Quinn Gardner, president of Webster Pride.
Webster freshman Robert Moore, a regional theater major, performed as amateur drag queen Sasha for the first time. Sasha performed in a flowing, white formal dress to Gloria Gaynor's "Don't leave me this way."
Though Moore was nervous before his first drag performance the crowd showed their greatest enthusiasm thus far for him, forming a line to give her tips - the first such queue of the evening.
"When I got out there, I couldn't see anything," said Sasha of the twin spotlights trained upon her.
Though Sasha said the experience was hectic, she believed it was all worth it and the audience was "the greatest."
Webster alumnus Cade Holleman, a 2005 public relations graduate, performed as Mariah Hairy, wearing a messy blonde wig and short black dress that showcased her long legs. Holleman, who performed two Mariah Carey numbers, was the hostess of the drag ball three of the last four years.
"It's still the same open-minded event that the students at Webster can experience and the LGBT community can experience," Holleman said. "It's just as fantastic as it ever was."
The Biggest Event
Many of the audience members joined in the gender-bending fun and wore drag themselves, culminating in an amateur best-dressed contest.
Junior Josh King, a social sciences major, wore a blue '70s-style peasant dress and pigtails. This was the first time King had ever attended a Webster Drag Ball.
"This is the epitome of what Webster is all about," King said. "This is the epitome of Webster culture."
Sophomore Tony Barsanti, a video production major who transferred from St. Louis University this year, said he was not as shocked as he thought he would be.
"You're not really a Webster University student if you don't go to (the drag ball)," said Barsanti, explaining why he came,
video camera in tow.
In keeping with the gender-bending traditions of the Drag Ball, the restrooms evolved into unisex restrooms, and the UC Sunnen Lounge and Conference Room served as the night's dressing rooms, the windows of which were blocked out with black paper.
Gardner, president of Webster Pride, estimated the total cost of the Drag Ball was $3,500. The money came from a special pool fund set aside by SGA in which organizations with at least one co-sponsor can request money, Gardner said.
Along with Webster Pride Association, Students for Gender Equality, Women in Media and the Audio Engineering Society co-sponsored the Drag Ball. Fitz's Root Beer also donated two cases of soda to the event, while Recycling Concepts provided recycling receptacles. GTV had three cameras set up, providing live footage of the event that was displayed on a large screen next to the stage.
The professional performers were paid $100 each, and Siren, as the emcee, was paid $200. Other costs included renting spotlights and the stage, buying food and advertising. Gardner said she bought ads in both The Journal and Student Life, Washington University's student newspaper.
Gardner described how a member of Washington University's own pride organization came to her during the event and asked her to organize a similar drag ball at their own university.
"I feel like I made 10 or 15 new drag friends," Gardner said.
"They're always so friendly."
Gardner said the Drag Ball was a success, though she had wanted to see a few more older people as previous years. She also explained the slightly lower turnout to the high number of LGBT events that happened in the St. Louis area and the lack of RFT endorsement. Truman State University's drag ball was also on the same night.
Naturally, to great hoots and cheers by the crowd, Siren had something to say about that.
"I've been (to Truman). I've been here. I've been everywhere. And see where I am tonight."
For more Drag Ball photos see http://auden.webster.edu/~ulibarma/dragball/
A brief guide to words you might have heard at the Drag Ball
Gender: a societal role, based ostensibly on a person's sex, that tries to define the ways one must dress, act love, and live
Sex: the classification of male or female based on genitalia
LGBT: acronym for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered (Q is often added to this to include "queer," as in LGBTQ)
Drag queen: a person born of the male sex who dresses and performs in clothing affiliated with the female gender
Drag king: a person born of the female sex who performs in clothing affiliated with the male gender. Kings tend to receive less attention than queens
Transvestite: a person who dresses in the opposite sex's
traditional clothing, either all the time or only part of the time
Transgender: a person who lives life as the opposite sex one was born
Transsexual: a person who is hormonally and surgically transformed from one sex to the other
