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Javier el Jugador entered the Goldstein Auditorium stage for his performance dressed in gray sweatpants and a leopard print shirt from Forever 21 patterned with red roses. He danced provocatively, showing off black underwear with the words “DADDY” written in rainbow font before stripping down to nothing but a metallic thong.

High-energy and confidence-filled performances like this made up the 19th Annual Drag Show Preliminaries, hosted by Syracuse University’s Pride Union on Sunday night. This year’s show was held in a hybrid format, with people attending in person and over Zoom.

Following the preliminary round performances, the audience had the opportunity to vote for their top four performances. The finale will take place on March 27.

The show was hosted by Paris LuRux and Maxi Glamour, both of whom are popular queer influencers. LuRux’s virtual performance opened up the night, and Glamour’s video concluded the night.

LuRux, who is from New York, was on the second season of the YouTube series “Camp Wannakiki.” She touched on her experience on the show in between performances. Glamour, a drag queen and multimedia artist, was a contestant on the third season of the Netflix show “The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula.” They also brought their own experiences and personal touches to the student-run show.

Performers had the option to do live, recorded or hybrid performances. El Jugador, who said he is a very audience-centered performer and likes to interact with the crowd, went for a hybrid performance — where the audience is shown a prerecorded video and the performer comes on stage for a live performance. Despite his performance being different than in past years, he still felt confident going into the show.

“My performance is different this year than it’s been in the past, and I’m excited for that,” he said.

The student performances ranged from Monarch Jay’s debut singing performance to Steve the Twink — who the hosts called the “self-proclaimed skinny legend who doesn’t know how to dance” — stripping and cutting hair with shears onstage.

Pride Union President Barrington Bucknor and Vice President Hunter Gorick wanted to give back to a community they benefit from and support drag artists. The pandemic hit the drag community especially hard because of the lack of live performances, which drag artists tend to rely on as their main source of revenue, Gorick said.

Bucknor and Gorick weren’t entirely sure what to expect with this year’s drag show. Bucknor was extremely nervous that no one would show up on the Zoom call or in the auditorium.

He was wrong. The chat was filled with over 100 comments throughout the night from 50 virtual attendees.

Bucknor and Gorick agreed that trying to organize an event that was both in person and virtual was challenging, as the drag show is Pride Union’s biggest event of the year.

“It was very, very stressful trying to organize in person and then organize online to make sure that everyone was satisfied and able to get the best out of it,” Bucknor said. “It’s very exhausting.”

Planning for the annual Pride Union Drag Show usually begins during the fall semester, but this year, Bucknor and Gorick had to wait until the start of the new year to be able to follow the new COVID-19 safety guidelines for the semester.

Gorick said that planning for the show involved “hours and hours and hours of work” right up until he and Bucknor walked on stage to begin the event. Aside from the difficulties they faced and their worries, the two said the show exceeded their expectations and went really well.

“I know all of our attendees, they loved it. They had a great time, and we’re just hoping that we gave them as (much) enjoyment as we can, given what we had,” Gorick said.

Published on March 14, 2021 at 11:53 pm

Contact Gavi: gavi@dailyorange.com | @gavi_azoff