By Hayley Roder, Broadside Correspondent
The lights dimmed in the Johnson Center atrium. The stage lit up as Reann Ballslee walked up the steps and back into the spotlight.
Reann Sassie D’Loceanono Ballslee sparkled in a green, black and white dress, silver heels and her Ms. Mason 2009 sash and tiara. She captivated the cheering group of students, family members and friends who lined all three levels of the Johnson Center. She readied the crowd for a fierce and fabulous night of performances and fashion as she kicked off the 2010 Pride Week Drag Show.
Better known during the day as Ryan Allen, Ballslee returned to host Pride Week’s main event after graduating last year.
She has been a crowd favorite since she first appeared in the drag show four years ago and has hosted the annual event ever since.
Ballslee gained international media attention after being crowned Mason’s Homecoming Queen last year. Friday night, she told the audience that she was updating her Wikipedia page to reflect that she is also George Mason University’s final Homecoming Queen, since the competition was redesigned this year to be more inclusive and featured only one winner crowned “Mason Majesty.”
Usually a festive event, Friday’s show began on a somber note as Ballslee took a moment to remember and honor her “drag daughter” Brianna Spice who passed away last fall.
“I’m only going to be serious once tonight,” Ballslee said as she dedicated the show to Spice, also known as Brian Picone, a Mason student who graduated last May.
“She’s with us in our hearts,” Ballslee said. “She was always the light of our drag show, and we dedicate all of our performances tonight to her.”
Picone’s mother and father sat in the front row at Friday’s show to show their support for Mason’s drag community and the show he performed in for two years.
As in years past, the 2010 show included a mix of student performances and professional performances from the female impersonators at Freddie’s Beach Bar in Arlington, which Ballslee described as Northern Virginia’s only gay bar.
A crowd favorite was professional impersonator Destiny B. Childs who was the first to perform. She came on stage in a gold sequined cape with a fur collar and began to sing a slow version of Ke$ha’s “TiK ToK” before the music returned to its normal beat and she threw off the cape, revealing sparkly black undergarments and knee-high black boots.
After Childs’ initial performance, Ballslee reclaimed the stage to tell the crowd that tipping the queens and kings is not only polite, it’s expected. Ballslee said that anyone attending the drag show and not tipping the performers would be immediately de-friended by her on Facebook.
Matt Loffman from Connect2Mason conributed to this article.
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