Campus drag show a success

By Michael Moeschler

Looks were definitely deceiving at The Bronco Friday night. Host to the first annual Santa Clara drag show, the on-campus bar was packed with curious students hoping to glimpse the courageous cross dressers.

The drag show was the finale to a week of events that highlighted sexual diversity around the University.

"The goal of the drag show was to raise awareness of gay and lesbian issues on campus," said show coordinator Claire Riecke, a sophomore.

Dressed in tight brown leather pants and midriff shirt, with platinum blonde locks bouncing below the shoulders, the Shakira impersonator shimmied and shook his way into the hearts of the full capacity crowd.

Senior Pablo Torres made a diva-like entrance as he took to the stage from the back of The Bronco. Motionless, with his back to the audience, Torres burst into a spastic interpretive dance to the music of India Arie.

Sporting a bright purple wig, long black stockings and mini-skirt, senior Joe O'Malley commanded the audience's attention as they chanted the chorus to "I Touch Myself."

"The audience was wonderful," said O'Malley. "There are a lot of people here, and they might not know why they came, but they'll leave knowing why they were here." said O'Malley.

Of all the performances, the crowd favorite was N'TYSE, with front man Claire Riecke leading the boy band through the choreographed dance sequence of N'SYNC's "POP."

"This was the most fun, maybe, in my entire Santa Clara experience so far," Riecke said.

Despite some students beliefs that the administration would not allow a drag show at a Jesuit institution, Riecke said she received full support from the university.

"Everyone was totally behind me," Riecke said. "I did not get, on any level, anyone administratively trying to stop this from happening."

Although it wasn't needed, the events planning staff at The Bronco was prepared to deal with students who were disrespectful to the performers.

"The energy of the audience was so positive that anyone that had been negative would have been completely outnumbered," Riecke said.

Riecke admitted that finding performers was challenging because of fears that the crowd might respond in a negative manner. Because of the assumptions people make about a man dressed as a woman, Riecke said it was more difficult recruiting male performers.

"You have to be secure with yourself to get up there," she said. "To get up on stage, any performer has to be secure with themselves. But to get up on stage in drag, that takes guts."

The Bronco was at full capacity for most of the performance. Several times, late arrivers had to wait at the door before The Bronco staff would let them enter. Students stood on chairs and packed tightly together on the floor for optimal viewing pleasure.

Support from the audience was overwhelmingly positive. Junior Jamie Evans called the evening "The greatest night for all humanity."

After the event had ended and the DJ began spinning his records, talk about the second annual Santa Clara drag show had already begun. Several students commented that the show was the best event they had attended all year and with the inauguralevent garnering such succes, the future of drag shows looks bright at Santa Clara. "I do not doubt that it's going to be twice as big nextyear," said Riecke. "I don't know how we're going to fit more people in that room, but we're going to try. I'm excited about this tradition."