Pride Alliance’s annual dinner and Drag Ball
Photo courtesy of Managing Editor, Kendall Cruise
Geneseo students greatly appreciated all of the performers who took their time out of their weekend to share their love of drag with the campus.
On Saturday, Apr. 5, 2025, Pride Alliance held its annual dinner, followed by its Drag Ball. The dinner started at 4:30 PM and went until 7:00 PM. It was a ticketed event, with tickets for students costing six dollars, for faculty/staff seven dollars, and for Geneseo community members eight dollars. On the other hand, the Drag Ball was a free event open to all interested community members. Both events took place in the MacVittie College Union’s Ballroom.
The Pride Alliance’s dinner theme was “Banquet of the gods,” and guests were encouraged to wear clothing inspired by the Ancient Greek gods and goddesses. The decor of the evening followed similar trends, with the tables dressed in green tablecloths with faux-laurel wreath crowns, mini-statues, and a golden candlestick holder.
Throughout the two-and-a-half-hour period, guests had the pleasure of various bits of entertainment alongside the dinner. In a skit put on by Pride Alliance’s executive board members, “callers” looking for dating advice called into the goddess Venus’s “dating tip line,” all ultimately being disappointed by Venus’s misunderstanding of modern dating. This was followed by a small dance, where audience members were asked to join on stage, learn a short dance, and then execute it to music. Later in the evening, Between the Lines also joined in on the fun, performing three different song arrangements.
Greece also inspired the food of the night. The menu included spiced bread, pita, chicken and veggie souvlaki skewers, stuffed peppers, fasolada (white bean soup), and tzatziki sauce. Dessert consisted of ambrosia, loukoumades (honey donuts), and a fruit tray. The drinks provided were either water or apple cider. The dinner wrapped up a tad before 7:00 PM, and Pride Alliance got to work setting up for Drag Ball, taking advantage of the hour between the two events.
A few minutes past 8:00 PM, Drag Ball opened its doors for attendees. Along the back right side of the Ballroom, Pride had set up a concession-esque table, where those who came could grab hand-held fans in either rainbow or a variety of solid colors and a snack-size chip bag, which ranged in brands and flavors.
As in previous years, Rochester drag queen Samantha Vega, or Grandma Vega, as she is affectionately known, hosted the night. She brought a humorous energy and began crowd engagement right off the bat, which led attendees into a welcoming and exciting evening of performance. Other performers that night were drag queen and co-owner of the Rochester nightclub ROAR, DeeDee Dubois, Eden Alive, drag king HeMayde Malik, RuPaul’s Drag Race (2009– ) season twelve and RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars (2012– ) season six contestant, the drag queen Jan Sport.
During these performances, the audience witnessed various approaches to the art of drag, including both feminine and masculine impersonation. Some performances leaned more into the dance aspects of drag, while others focused on the art of emoting through lip sync, careful movements, and facial expression.
Student performers were also welcomed into the performance, and fellow Geneseo community members were able to watch some of their peers perform in drag as well. Three student performances were given by drag queen Aquamarina, drag king Afyne Mann, and the drag trio known as Glacier and Company. Two of the three groups were returning performers from last year, and returning audience members enjoyed seeing how these acts improved their look and act over the year that had lapsed.
One part of the evening that stood out to me was when, while stalling some time for Samantha Vega to get ready for her second performance, DeeDee Dubois called onto stage anyone who had caught a pair of underwear that had been thrown into the audience by Glacier and Company during their performance. These audience members, then, were given time to go backstage and style their acquired underwear however they would like. Then, they all performed a group runway to show off their style. This portion of the evening just felt so in-the-moment and fun. It was an excellent way to get the audience involved, and seeing a familiar face brought up on stage and strutting their stuff made cheering them on all the more fun.
As always, Pride Alliance did a great job planning, hosting, and planning each of these events. I would highly recommend going to either of these events next spring, when they take place again, or attending any of the other fun, thematic, and celebratory events Pride Alliance puts on throughout the academic year, such as Second Chance Prom. To keep up to date with Pride Alliance, follow them on Instagram, @prideatgeneseo— you won't want to miss out!