Inside Beat
Spring drag show takes over Demarest Hall
“Lip-synching, hip-swinging, norm-flinging and singing,” were all encouraged for participants at the spring drag show at Demarest Hall. The event was free and open to all Rutgers students. The show will include people in and out of drag, but most of the performances will be in drag, said Alexander Bowers, a School of Environmental and Biological Sciences sophomore and the organizer of the drag show.
Generally, performers are either lip-synching or singing along and dancing, he said. The drag show has been a traditional event that has been a long lasting part of the Demarest building's history, he said.
“I'd want students to take away how arbitrary the concept of gender roles are,” Bowers said.
Drag is a form of exaggerating and playing off of the constructs of gender that normally constrains society, he said. “It's fun but behind it is a really powerful narrative of, ‘look at these norms in a different way and how nonsensical they really are when shown through this light,’” he said.
It was one fierce and fabulous night at Demarest Hall on Thursday night, one that would even make RuPaul proud. The lights were out, the strobes were on and the high-heels were sharpened to perfection as the annual Demarest Hall drag show popped off without a hitch.
As soon as you entered the room fun and friendly smiles greeted you as music from all different decades seemed to welcome you into a wonderland of drag. Kings and queens of the art dressed to the nines as the atmosphere screamed "be yourself", and "live your life" exactly how you want to live it.Apr 19 2016
