Joe Guzman
Equinox Staff
On Saturday, September 6, Keene State College held the “Glitterati and Glamazons” drag show in the Mabel Brown room — a drag show where the students and people of Keene could come and watch other people express themselves.
First years Breana Norton and Hunter Macdonald at Keene State College and first year at the University of New Hampshire Shayne Downey expressed interest and excitement towards the show and the idea of it. Downey explained even though she was commuting all the way from UNH, she didn’t know what to expect: “I don’t know, I wasn’t told much. I just said ‘ok, I’ll go,’” Downey said.
Norton said, “[I’m ready for some] drag queens and some good dancing.” Macdonald said, “[I’m ready for] people doing their thing I guess?”
By the time the show had started, a great deal of time passed. For a long time, people were mingling amongst themselves. After roughly six songs, the host of the night — Mizery — came out on the stage and was getting the audience hyped up; getting people dancing up and down the aisles, and even doing small activities with audience participation. Mizery even taught some of the people in the front rows how to twerk. Towards the middle of her dancing to “Rather Be” by Clean Bandit, she dropped herself into a split — the audience went nuts with support and excitement.
The show also featured two other dancing acts who did two songs each — once at the beginning, and once and at the end. Porsha J Shanelle and Destiny both sang and rapped along to an array of songs by Beyoncé, Destiny’s Child, Abba, Camila Cabello and many more!
After the first two performances, Mizery came back out and danced to “Fantasy” by Black Box. She then started asking the audience questions about the history of the LGBTQIA community. Everything was then topped off with a small Q&A with the audience, and then two more dances by Porsha and Destiny. Mizery wrapped the event up with a last solo dance, singing a couple songs with the audience, and then lastly all the dancers came out on the stage to dance to one last song as an exuberant group together.
By the end of the event, the same people who had been interviewed before were questioned again so that they could be assessed on their feelings and thoughts on the show.
Unfortunately, Macdonald had left the show before it had ended so he could not be reached for an interview. Norton and Downey said they’d definitely come again next year. Norton added when asked (in regards of participating in the show next year), “For right now, I don’t think so.” She alluded to in the future, she may actually take part in the fun competition.
When both asked an extra four questions – Now that you have seen the full show, what are your thoughts on it? Did it meet your expectations? Favorite part? What are your overall feelings on the show?
Norton explains how she absolutely loved the show! Saying how it “Exceeded my expectations [and my favorite part was] the final dance!” by the end of the interview she added that she loved it again, and then said how she can’t wait for future years. Downey explained how she “thought it was a super fun and a great way to spend a saturday night!” The show had met all of her expectations. She also said, “I liked how much the performers seemed to be having fun, and how interactive they were with the audience.” Her favorite part was when all 3 of the performers did the “Moulin Rouge” song together at the end. Downey’s final thoughts on the function were: “I thought it was fun and the performers did a great job, I was super impressed, especially when [Mizery] did a split!”
Joe Guzman can be contacted at
jguzman@kscequinox.com
