Vancouver Magazine
Burdock and Co Is Celebrating a Decade in Business with a 10-Course Tasting Menu
The Frozen Pizza Chronicles Vol. 3: Big Grocery Gets in on the Game
The Best Thing I Ate All Week: Crab Cakes from Smitty’s Oyster House on Main Street
The Grape Escape for Wine Enthusiasts
5 Wines To Zero In On at This Weekend’s Bordeaux Release
Recipe: Make Your Own Clove Simple Syrup
If you get a 5-year fixed mortgage rate now, can you break early when rates fall?
5 Things to Do in Vancouver This Week (September 18-24)
10 Vancouver International Film Festival Movies We’ll Be Lining Up For
Dark Skies in Utah: Chasing Cosmic Connection on the Road
Fall Wedges and Water in Kamloops
Glamping Utah: Adventure Has Never Felt So Good
On the Rise: Meet Vancouver Jewellery Designer Jamie Carlson
At Home With Photographer Evaan Kheraj and Fashion Stylist Luisa Rino
At Home With Interior Designer Aleem Kassam
With an estimated 60 drag performers currently slaying on the reg in Vancouver, our robust homegrown drag scene is made up of a close-knit cohort of larger-than-life characters who portray a rich spectrum of identities, from hyper-queen to non-binary clown, and produce shows every night of the week.
Pictured left to right:
“I grew up doing ballet and did it for 17 years. Through that time, I noticed issues surrounding male and female gender roles, and in wanting to be cast on the other side. I found that this drag character was my way of rebelling against the classicality of that. In the finale for Vancouver’s Next Drag Superstar—which I ended up winning—I did my final number en pointe, painted completely silver.”—PM, @pmforagoodtime, performer for 2.5 years
Appearing at the Late Night Snack One-Year Anniversary Party on May 10 and RuPaul’s Drag Race Finale Party on May 30.
“If you look at history, drag queens are pioneers. We’re the ones that led the revolution in Stonewall. We’re the loudest, we’re the most out there, most in your face. Don’t mess with us or we’ll take you down, honey: these high heels are used for dancing and other things, if you know what I mean.”—Carlotta Gurl, @carlottagurl, performer for 15+ years
Appearing at Absolutely Drag-u-lous, Saturday nights at the Junction; Werk It Wednesdays at the Junction; and Bingo For Life, Wednesday nights at Mary’s On Davie.
“I remember watching drag artists when even I didn’t understand my sexuality and gender, and they were the ones who clarified how I wanted to live. They showed me all of the possibilities of gender and where that expression can lie. It is on a spectrum, and we get to dance on it.”—Continental Breakfast, @withcontinentalbreakfast, performer for two years
“I think people would be surprised by the diversity in Vancouver’s drag scene: the types of performers, the types of drag people do. There’s classic drag, with cis men impersonating women. There are drag kings. I’m a hyper-queen: a cis woman doing a hyper-feminized version of drag…but hyper-queens can also be femme-presenting, trans, non-binary performers, and we also have drag “things” who don’t identify as anything; they just do drag.”—Rich Elle, @phaserssettostun, performer for three years
Appearing at the Late Night Snack One-Year Anniversary Party on May 10.
“It’s not really a character for me. For some people, it is. When I first started, I had these grandiose ideas of catchphrases, and as I got busier when I started to drag professionally, I just didn’t have time for that. I’m not a method actor at all: what you see is what you get. Sometimes I get in trouble for saying something real on the microphone because it’s just me reflecting what I see.”—Alma Bitches, @alma_bitches, Emprex 48 of the Dogwood Monarchist Society, performer for nine years
Appearing at The Return of the Shequel!, the first Sunday each month at the Junction; Sanctuary Sundays at the Pumpjack, Werk It Wednesdays at the Junction; and RuPaul’s Drag Race Finale Party on May 30.
“Drag provides an outlet for doing the things we love to do. A lot of people think you want to be a girl, but it’s not about that. It’s about art, about theatre, about makeup. Girls come up and say, “I wish I could do makeup like that,” and I’m like, “Ummm… it’ll take you three hours.”—Mina Mercury, @vanityboi, performer for 10+ years
Appearing at Bingo Night at Chicha’s, every Thursday.
“‘Maiden China’ is a name that popped into my head one day, way before I started doing drag, and I pocketed it. I think it came from the fact I was not made in China. I’m second generation, but even in 2019 I still get that ‘Where are you from?’ question, and I say, ‘I’m from Langley,” and they say, ‘No, where are you really from?’ It’s just a play on words and a stab back that I wasn’t actually born there, and I’m owning that part of my identity.”—Maiden China, @queenmaidenchina, performer for 2.5 years
Appearing at RuPaul’s Drag Race Finale Party on May 30.
“You can’t be a successful drag artist without being somewhat…I’m trying to find another word for ‘conceited.’ It’s a business you’re creating, surrounding you as a figure, and you’re putting your art or performance on yourself, and you stare in a mirror for two to three hours at yourself doing makeup, and then there’s the self-promotion, which I fucking love.”—Rogue, @itsjustrogue, performer for 2.5 years
Legends Cabaret! at the Junction
Monday’s Most Wanted at 1181
Brat Pack at the Junction
Late Night Snack at Save on Meats (every second Friday)
Bye Felicia! at The Biltmore (every second Saturday)