The drag show was one of t he many events included as a part of MSU’s Pride Week.
Advertising senior and University Activities Board multicultural director Michelle Cusick said the show generally follows the National Day of Silence, which was last Friday, and serves as a highlight of Pride Week.
Cusick said the event is very popular and attracts between 600 and 700 people. Last year, there weren’t enough seats for all attendees.
DeVille said a lot of students who come are seeing a drag show for the first time, and he feeds off the excited and sometimes nervous energy of the crowd.
Professional writing senior Cassandra Clay was one of those first-timers in attendance.
“I was curious,” Clay said. “I heard it was a very popular event on campus, and it piqued my interest.”
This year, UAB and RHA put together a new event as an addition to the drag performances. Prior to the show, the LBGT Resource Center hosted a panel to address the differences in transgender, drag queens and drag kings.
Cusick said the panel was created to give students the opportunity to ask questions in a safe, open environment.
“We kind of wanted a little bit of educational value,” Cusick said.
Music education junior Emily Pelky said she thought the panel was informative and liked how there was a wide variety of gender identities in the room.
“I think it’s a great way to introduce non-conforming gender identities to people who might n ot be used to that,” Pelky said.
Some of the performers in the show, as well as members of the transgender community, answered questions about relationships, lifestyles and the discrepancies between dressing in drag and actually identifying as a transgender individual.
Eva Steele, a drag queen from Grand Rapids, Mich., started dressing in drag in 2006 and began to live as a woman in 2010. She said she made the switch because she wanted to be perceived as a woman.
For Steele, being transgender is not something she hides from people, but her roommates do not know about her lifestyle choice.
Because she lives as a woman, she feels it often goes without saying, though there are misconceptions, she explained. If Steele thinks people won’t react well to knowing her choice, she said she won’t tell them.
“When people think of transgender, they think of boys in dresses,” Steele said.
While there are males who perform as females, the drag show also featured a few drag king performances.
Bianca Swinford from Lansing is not transgender, but dresses and performs as a drag king.
“I’m just two people,” Swinford said simply.
Although DeVille said it takes nearly two hours for him to get ready, Swinford said she can be dressed in her costume, ready to perform, in 20 minutes.
In addition to men’s clothing, some of the kings cut their hair or use fake facial hair. Some also wear binders, which flatten their chests to prevent their breasts from showing.
At the MSU show, there were three drag kings and one male by male performer, or a man who performs as a man.
Swinford said because drag kings are not as common, they are critiqued more on their performances.
DeVille said queens make their own outfits while kings can dress in street clothes, which is not as special.
“It’s easier for people to like queens than kings,” Swinford said.
Like Swinford, DeVille said his extensive makeup and homemade costumes just come with being a performer.
“I put all this on to go on stage and get underneath the spotlight, and at the end of the show it all comes off,” DeVille said. “The difference is, is it spotlight or is it sunlight?”
When he was 14, DeVille said he discovered drag at his first gay pride event and has been involved ever since.
“The bright lights and that energy exchange between me and the audience, I just instantly got addicted to it and knew that’s what I wanted to do for the rest of my life,” DeVille said.
DeVille said he used to skip high school classes to hang out with drag queens and go to drag shows.
His family was not as supportive of his decision, but DeVille said since they have seen him work full-time for the past few years, they have become more supportive of his choices.
DeVille, a Lansing resident, works as a show director at Spiral Video and Dance Bar in Lansing but is also a full-time entertainer.
“Drag is a big commitment. For me it’s what I’ve dedicated my life to,” DeVille said.
Editor's note: This article has been modified to accurately reflect the style
