Shedding off the velvet robe, she turned around on stage, revealing a translucent cut-stripped skirt and high-kicked her way onto the stage toward the audience. The queen became so lost in her routine that she did a cartwheel, which turned into the splits as the opening act for the diva drag show Monday evening in the Grand Ball Room of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.

Ceduxion Carrington, the sassy and flamboyant emcee for the event jump-kicked to begin the night with a running start off of the stage, and into the crowd, and ending with a slide. Many of the audience members cheered and clapped as Ceduxion stirred the crowd with her antics.

As the opening act for the night, she talked back to the audience members many times and even playfully joking with them. She saw an older couple in the audience and thanked them for making gay babies.

“Thank you for making gay babies because we can’t do that s–t,” Ceduxion said, laughing.

Often giving small tidbits of advice, she said coming out of the closet for anyone is about stepping into a new world and it’s essentially nobody’s business how people live their lives.

Dropping down to stage-level, spreading her legs, she placed her hands on her knees and gently twerked, causing the crowd to go wild in cheers and screams.

Kelasia Karmikal danced, taking the dollar bills of audience members.

Dipping up and down, she danced in a rhinestone-studded hot pink one-piece with a tassel for a shoulder sweep.

Much of the dancing the queens did were all high-energy filled with jumping, kicking and lip-synching. Often, the divas would drop down to stage-level on their knees, moving their hips seductively, but one queen took a more soulful approach.

“It’s all about what you do on the stage to entertain,” Ceduxion said.

Stepping onto the stage in an elegant lavender mermaid gown, one wrist decorated with a diamond bracelet, as she stood tall against the microphone lip-syncing to “I Will Always Love You,” by Whitney Houston.

Chanel Carrington, the “drag mother” of Ceduxion Carrington, was Houston for the hour.

Throughout the solo, she soulfully lip-synched to the song as crowd members walked to the stage waving dollar bills; but Chanel knew better than to stop her performance — she was an old pro at this. The crowd instead laid the dollar bills down by her heels and the bottom of the microphone.

Suddenly during the ballad, Chanel paused, reflecting — contemplating on her upcoming moment, the spotlight was on her as she took a small breath before hitting the high note of the song.

The crowd went ecstatic, standing and cheering. Chanel also channeled Tina Turner later that evening.

The queens were always full of high energy will all of their performances. One male seemed to be their favorite, as he received at least four lap-dances with two of them being consecutive.

Joe Winkoer, a freshman sociology major, said this was his first time attending a drag show.

“They’re on point; the talent here is monumental, I’m really glad I came,” he said.

Emerging from backstage in a gold dress with rhinestones was Amaya St. James, strutting her way onto the stage to Beyoncé’s “Countdown.” Her bodice, covered in gold glitz and glam matched her heels while she whipped her Beyoncé wig back and forth while lip-synching.

She danced with much exuberance, the crowd vibing and waving their hands to the medley happily. The crowd even sang the song with her as she walked up and down the runway and into the crowd interacting with them.

Amaya too enjoyed Winkoer’s company as she waltzed over to him and sat in his lap getting a small dance.

She was the ending performance to the first part of the drag show, her final segment was one of the highlights for the first part of the show. Both because of the Beyoncé medley and also because of how interactive Amaya was with the crowd; her finale gave way to standing ovations and cheering.

Roberto Hodge can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].