The Daily Campus

Issue date: 9/24/07 Section: Focus

Media Credit: Jake Lucas Miss Allison Wonder, along with other drag queens performed at the 4th annual Caixa's Birthday Bash.

On most days at UConn, boys will be boys. But Friday night, the boys were girls, and the girls were free to be themselves for once. The audience at Caixa's Birthday Bash was so large that a line formed and people had to be turned away at the door by security. It gave the conference room a feel of exclusivity normally found at hot nightclubs or movie premieres.

The maximum capacity for the room was 300 and that many, if not more, squeezed into the room to see drag queens strut their stuff on a makeshift runway, courtesy of SUBOG. "What a Drag 4: Caixa's Birthday Bash" is a semi-annual event. Allure Infiniti, Brianna Powers, Caixa Infiniti and Miss Allison Wonder supplied the entertainment with a mixture of pulsing dance, catwalk moves and choreographed lip-syncing.

Infiniti looked like a darker skinned Princess Diana, in a red dress and costume jewelry. She sang to discotheque and vamped it up on stage. During one of Infiniti's early performances, there were technical difficulties, or "testicle difficulties," as she said. At times, the music briefly skipped. When this happened, Infiniti made joking asides to the spectators, which increased their applause and fervor.

Next, her protégé came onstage. Wonder, took the floor looking like Fergie and doing a knockout impression of Christina Aguilera. As more drag queens made the rounds in different costumes, the crowd still cheered, but grew a little restless.

"Chairs would have been nice," said Steven Lewis, a 1st-semester French major, who disapproved of the seating and the head-straining by latecomers who had to stand.

The runway had students crowded around it, shifting every few minutes, as others tried to stake out a good spot.

"I love them, the music. Gotta love Beyonce! I feel as though it's very crowded," added Corey Schmitt, a 1st-semester political science major as he tried to get a better view of the stage. "We need the bigger ballroom. I'm sweating in here."

When Powers came up, she brought students into the show to interact with her. She came out in a white evening gown looking like Eva Longoria. Caixa, pronounced (KAY-SHA) was introduced as the birthday girl, still performing at the ripe old age of "one hundred and seven years old," Wonder joked.

Continued...

Page 1 of 2 next >

Article Tools