- I think what I'd like people to know
about performing as a drag artist is that
you don't have to be a Type A or a Type B.
- The whole point of drag is that there isn't rules.
- Drag was really how I found myself as a person.
- I feel like drag is limitless.
(funky dance music)
- I'm Dvvsk.
I have been performing for four years.
My pronouns are they/them.
- I'm Tytus Androgynous.
Prefer he/him/they/them.
I've been leaning more towards they/them,
and I have been performing for seven or eight years.
- My name is Vod Sinclair.
I go by they/them,
or sometimes he/him on stage as well,
and I've been performing for four years.
- I'm Clit Eastwood.
I've been doing drag for about three years
and I go by more they/them out of drag,
but in drag, I've been preferring more he.
While in drag, I more identify as just like a,
a man who has too much gender for his shoes.
(chill electronic music)
- I mean for me, personally,
drag is everything that I've wanted to ever be
is acceptable.
Like, it is my escape into doing something
that wouldn't normally be possible.
I can be any character I want to.
I don't know, drag is kinda like being a superhero.
- Like, drag is when half affirming my gender identity
because I've done this in order to push my boundaries
of my gender expression, but at the same time,
I've discovered more about myself, like along the way.
- Drag is being your true self
'cause we are everchanging
and that, honestly, is what inspires my drag
is just to be what the (bleeps) ever.
- It's whatever you want it to be.
Male, female, somewhere in between.
It's sort of exploring the spectrum of gender.
- The whole point of drag is to show
the ridiculousness of the expectations
put on men and women
and how we're supposed to present
and how we're supposed to perform,
but in recent years, I've kinda been realizing,
just like with my gender identity and my transition,
the more I started to take hormones,
the more comfortable I got about the ideas
of not having to ascribe to male or female.
That you can sit in the in between
and I feel like drag has become extreme binary
in the last few years.
- Sometimes even in your own community,
you get a lot of folks who still don't understand
what your expression is, you know,
and they put you under that category
what they view you as and what they perceive you as.
I think I fight it the most by being visible.
Just what has kept me going
and what has literally just lit a fire under my ass
is just like the fact, be visible.
- When I first started drag,
I was traditional drag, more feminine.
For a long time, I was going through,
just battling if I was trans or not.
I kinda was able to play around
with the rules of gender.
It did kind of open my eyes
to what my true essence was.
- I generally consider myself a drag king
or somewhere in the middle, like a drag thing.
Drag was really how I found myself as a person.
I guess when I started drag,
I had always felt sort of a masculine energy inside
and that kind of allowed me to bring that out.
I went sort of full masc.
Was considering transitioning and I was like,
I'm a transman and this is my identity.
As I sort of progressed through drag and I learned more
and I did research on other performers,
I was like, I kinda feel like I still fall in the middle.
I've sort of gotten to a place, because of drag,
where I can accept my body for what it is
and just allow it to be that.
I (bleeps) with gender and it pays me.
(chill electronic music)
- I don't feel like a he, even in this.
That's the whole point of why I picked the name
is that it's more of like,
kind of a really gay alien (laughs).
Tytus is where I can hide
and put on clothing that I'm afraid
to wear out in public.
I feel more like myself in this persona
than I do in everyday life.
- There's been many times where I've felt
both empowered and also like, it felt like my power's
taken away from me at the same time.
You know, it's just like,
also, when you get this platform to perform,
it's euphoric, you know.
Like, first time I put on a mug, it was euphoric.
You know, I'm just like oh,
this is what I really wish I could be.
You know, just something that transcends humanity.
- My art is inspired from my hardships in my life.
When I was young, I was in foster care for a long while
and through moving around a lot through foster care
and moving around a lot with my father
who's in the military,
a lot of ridicule for being queer,
a lot of ridicule for being darker than most people.
So I took that and I turned it into something.
Something that's shapeless.
That can be understood by everyone
in some kind of way.
Regardless of if it was male or female.
I just wanted to be this shapeless figure
that someone could look at.
I just wanted to
take my hardships or take the ridicule I've been through
and find the little bit of light in it.
- Kings are just as valid
and the people who are in between
are really pushing for this different idea of gender
because that's where it starts.
- I think it's really important to our culture now
to have that as a form of self expression,
especially in the queer community,
to be able to explore your gender
and explore your sexuality and just explore,
like, what it is that you're passionate about.
Then you can take that and you can put it on the stage.
Non-binary drag exists.
There are aliens among us
and I think, like,
you know, we need to be seen.
- People appreciate what we do
and the only way to start being like,
oh, you know, people don't wanna see weird stuff.
That's 'cause you don't book it.
That is the only reason why.
It's because you don't book it
and people aren't used to seeing it.
- I don't know, I just want people to stop boxing us in.
I just pray for more openness, more acceptance.
Just more love.
That's what we're missing.
I know it's really cheesy
but it comes down to love, to be honest.
(light electronic music)