High Heels, pantyhose and fishnets graced Commons Ballroom Tuesday night for a special Halloween show.
UNI Proud’s annual Drag-A-Ganza kicked off with a half-hour dance party including the Cupid Shuffle and other pop and dance songs.
Lezbie Yoncé (Viet Le) and Lady Xaxa (Xavia Publius) performed about half a dozen pop songs including “Ain’t Been Done” and “Burning Up” both by Jessie J. while the crowd whooped and hollered at certain provocative actions.
“I love dancing,” said Viet Le, senior communication major and fifth-time performer at UNI Drag shows. “It is fun especially around midterms since everything is so stressful.”
A dance party with strobe lights and pop music proceeded the Drag-A-Ganza’s annual costume contest where two males dressing as Cosmo and Wanda were selected as the winners of a free t-shirt.
To kick-off the second act, Xavia Publius sang “You Haven’t Seen The Last Of Me” by Cher, which is a new concept for UNI’s Drag Shows. Typically performers dance and mouth the words to their selected songs.
Following Publius’ performance, the commentator invited Wartburg’s Duh-versity Knights to the stage where they performed in vibrant orange shirts to conclude the evening’s show. The Duh-versity Knights were contacted about a week before the performance to come and attend.
“It was challenging because we hadn’t seen the stage before and we were used to a lot bigger stage,” said Gabrielle Larson, co-captain of the Duh-versity Knights. “It was nerve-wracking of course, but at the end of the day it was fun.”
The Duh-versity Knights are an organization that prides themselves on not being a selective dance group. They will be returning in the spring to perform at the annual drag show held in Maucker Union.
As Lezbie Youncé and Lady Xaxa concluded the show with a final number together, the students had the opportunity to mingle and dance to more pop music played overhead.
“This was my first time at a drag show,” said Rand Smith, sophomore English major. “I personally loved it. It was interesting and it was something that I had never experienced before.”
