A blonde lady took the Reitz Union Grand Ballroom stage Thursday night to perform “Wrecking Ball,” but it wasn’t Miley Cyrus.
Alaska, in a pink sequined floor-length gown complete with hip-high slit, sang her own rendition of the song as part of her drag performance.
More than 800 guests were in attendance to see national and local drag performers take the stage in “Sunny with a Chance of Shade: A Drag Show.”
Pride Awareness Month and Reitz Union Board Entertainment collaborated to put on the 14th annual drag show, which is continually the biggest event of Pride Awareness Month, said Bobby Brito, the event’s director.
The show featured drag queens Bianca Del Rio, Courtney Act and Adore Delano from the current season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” as well as Alaska from last season.
The queens each took the stage, performing songs and interacting with guests, who often approached the stage to slip dollar bills to the queens.
Jay Teran, a 19-year-old UF public relations sophomore and member of the Pride Awareness Month board, said his favorite part was everyone coming to support the drag queens.
“We’re a minority group, so it’s great seeing people come from different communities,” Teran said.
[A version of this story ran on page 8 on 4/11/2014 under the headline "Drag queens grace Reitz Union for PAM"]
Alaska, from Pittsburgh, performs Thursday in the Reitz Union Grand Ballroom as part of Pride Awareness Month.
