The Pride Alliance held their annual Drag Ball event in the MacVittie College Union Ballroom on Saturday March 2. The event served to support the local LGBTQ+ community while entertaining the audience (Josie Kwan/Assoc. Photo Editor).
Energy and excitement pulsated in the MacVittie College Union Ballroom on Saturday March 2, extending throughout the whole building. The Pride Alliance hosted their annual Drag Ball, which included performances from both students and professionals.
“Drag Ball is an event we hold every year where we have both student drag performers and professional drag performers working together to create a really cool show,” Pride Alliance president junior Madeline Reichler said. “It’s a great opportunity for us to really bring a big part of LBGTQ+ culture to the Geneseo campus.”
The event consisted of a mix of professional drag dancers and students. Each performer danced and lip-synced to a song of their choice. The crowd was engaged and supportive, cheering on every performer and creating a concert-like environment as well as radiating love and positive vibes.
The professional performers at the event had either been on the American reality competition television series “Rupaul’s Drag Race,” or were planning to audition for it. Mrs. Kasha Davis, a former contestant on “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” announced the acts and also performed individually. All of the professionals wore high hair, colorful costumes and lots of makeup, which accompanied their practically endless energy.
“The event was full of life and energy, and Kasha Davis, even in her old age, was able to get a room full of young adults hyped,” psychology major freshman Andrew Levine said.
In between the acts, audience members were picked to go up on the stage and compete in a dance battle, while the crowd cheered for their favorite one. The winners and all of the student performers received trophies for their efforts.
Prior to the drag ball, the Pride Alliance held their annual cultural dinner, which is an event used to raise money for the club.
The audience was allowed to take pictures with the performers at the end as they came out to interact with the students, which showed how much both the professional and student performers cared about the audience and wanted everyone to have a fun time.
“There’s nothing really like it on the Geneseo campus all year round. Drag performance is just one of the most fun things in the world and everyone finds it so fun. Everyone who watches ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ finds it really fun no matter who they are,” Reichler said. “In person, it’s 100 times better. You don’t understand the level of intricacy, the outfits, the makeup, the performance, the tallness of the hair. You don’t get that until you see it in person.”