Gender lines were not only crossed on Friday night at Freeborn Hall, but twisted, danced, strutted and swaggered on at Delta Lambda Phi (DLP)’s 20th annual Davis is Burning drag show.
The sold-out show attracted one thousand people with men dressed as women, women dressed as men, women pretending to be men pretending to be women and all other sorts of gender-bending combinations possible.
Angel Villadarez, or “Lady GagMe,” hosted the show in a Lady Gaga look-alike gold dress, heels and blonde wig.
“I think that this has been the most successful [Davis is Burning] we’ve had so far,” said Villadrez, who is also DLP’s vice president. “We finally got familiar with the space at Freeborn and learned a lot from last year to make this year a lot better.”
Professional queens like “Mahlae,” who performs at Faces Club in Sacramento also danced throughout the night. Mahlae’s performance as a Beyoncé look-alike, complete with the infamous “Single Ladies” dance, received a standing ovation from the crowd.
“Taryn,” who also performs at Faces, dressed as a grandma with a walker. Taryn pulled two members of the audience to the stage, once pulling down a man’s pants and spanking him over her knee with accompanying laughter from the audience.
Villadrez said that it is vital for an event like Davis is Burning to not only bring a good show, but raise awareness to the Davis community.
“I think it’s important to have these types of events on campus so people know more about the drag community. We always want to be visible to the community at large to know we exist,” Villadrez said. “We want to make them aware that we are here and not going anywhere.”
Villadrez said he was happy to see other members of the Greek community come out on Friday to support the event and its message.
“Straight fraternities were there to support us. It shows that they are really open-minded and accepting,” he said.
Other performers included student dancers, a group dressed as nuns and the “Spice Girls”- who were members of DLP. The audience chose King and Queen of Davis is Burning with applause for best walk, costume and responses to a question-and-answer session.
-Text by ANGELA RUGGIERO
-Photo by KRISTA JACKSON
