Drag show expects to dazzle

By Allison Kowalski
LIFESTYLES EDITOR

The Ninth Annual Drag Show should once again make a spectacular and enthusiastic appearance at the College at Brockport. It is expected to be the best and biggest show to date with a plethora of new performers and themes.

Hosted by the Sexual Orientations United for Liberation (S.O.U.L.), the theme for this year’s drag show is “Cabaret.” So, head down to the Seymour College Union Ballroom Saturday, March 8 at 8 p.m. and be dazzled and awed at one of the biggest events of the spring semester.

The theme was voted on by S.O.U.L. members like the 2007 annual drag show “Heaven and Hell.”
Members brainstorm possible themes and narrow them down to five. Choices this year included “Fairy Tales” and “Mardi gras,” but “Cabaret” was the winner. Cabaret is a style of entertainment that includes dancing, theater, comedy and song.

“[The theme] is very theatrical and catty,” president of S.O.U.L., Josh Sliker said.

Because this year’s drag show is going to be pumped up a notch, it will cost S.O.U.L. a pretty penny. Every year S.O.U.L. is given a budget of $10,000. More than six-eighths of it goes to the annual drag show, Sliker said.

This year, there will be a multitude of performers from across New York, hailing from Buffalo, Rochester and the Syracuse area, Sliker said. Sliker is a senior communication and history major who helped organize S.O.U.L.’s annual drag show.

Performers include Ambrosia Salad, Pandora Boxx, Anneal Pleasures, Olympia La Paige, Kasha Davis, Melody Michaels Windz and Olivia Lee-Shine. Kristen Becker of Dykes of Hazard Comedy Tour will host the event. DJ NICKL will provide music.

Though the event will be similar to last year, Sliker said, every aspect is bigger and better. A 2008 professional music video, featuring Sliker and performers, will be played throughout the event. Professionals Greg Winter and Jerry Syzmanski of Cyanotype Productions in Rochester produced the music video.

The video was shot Feb. 17 and took all day to shoot. It is expected to make a big bang at the drag show with 10 plasma screens and two 10-foot screens displaying the video.

There will not be a lot of sitting space, so be prepared to bring your dancing feet and comfortable shoes. There is going to be hours of fun booty-shaking for a social, dance-like atmosphere, Sliker said. Big props, colorful lights and amazing-clad performers in Cabaret style are sure to make the audiences mouths drop in amazement.

Additionally, Brockport Student Government President Darnell Pierce will give a special performance.

“He gets into everything he does and does it creatively,” Sliker said.

Tickets are currently on sale at the BSG Box Office for $4 with a student ID and $6 for the general public. Note, however, that attendees must have a valid ID and be 18 years old to gain admittance.

If you haven’t bought a ticket yet, then hurry because the drag show has been sold out the past two years.