Last Saturday, I had the utmost privilege of being in the fabulous presence of the grand
dame diva of the south, supreme dancing queen and reality TV show extraordinaire Miss
Alyssa Edwards.
I travelled down to the UNSW Roundhouse in Sydney to watch Alyssa perform her new
show ‘Dancing Queen: Live’. It promised new routines, new costumes, hilarious stories and
an all-around entertaining night from one of the biggest drag performers in the world.
I got all of that and so much more.
After making a fashionably late arrival to the stage, Alyssa immediately enraptured me. She
looked stunning. Drop dead gorgeous and was her usual charming, funny self. The show
itself seemed inspired by her journey. She performed routines from various points in her
extensive career; like lip-syncs from her time at Drag Race and in the pageant system.
Among all the incredible dancing and twirling, lip-syncing and fierce backup dancers, Alyssa
told various hilarious anecdotes. Like one about a recent flight where she entertained the
whole plane, and her time as a choreographer on Drag Race. All were told in typical kooky,
funny Alyssa style. I don’t think I stopped smiling whilst she was talking. And she talked A
LOT!
Later in the show, Alyssa had some young Australian dancers come to the stage and
perform. After all you can’t have ‘Dancing Queen: Live’ without some representation of the
kids that made up such a big part of the show. They were all extremely talented. Alyssa even
challenged one of the youngest, a five-year-old girl, to a dance off. Not even she could
compete with the girls sickening talent. Alyssa interacted so easily with the dancers and I
respected her even more for providing a platform for these young kids to show off their
talent.
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This interaction was easily one of my favourite moments from the night and left me feeling
very appreciative towards Alyssa. A lot of her anecdotes had me feeling the same way.
There was this inspiring vibe to the show that had me feeling uplifted when I left. Alyssa
talked about how she may have lost drag race, but she won at so many other things; She
has a TV show, is travelling the world performing and has her dance school to name a few.
She talked about how she is her own biggest fan and believes in herself. This was all said in
a light-hearted and comedic way, however it really impacted me. I left the show feeling very
inspired by her as a person and her journey to her success. Which was admittedly
unexpected. I knew I was going to leave thoroughly entertained, but I hadn’t banked on
leaving feeling heartened, like I too could achieve the success I wanted if I took up some of
her advice.
Prior to last week, Alyssa Edwards was already a favourite queen of mine. After seeing her
live I think she might be one of the best drag queens out there performing today. I would
110% recommend going to see ‘Dancing Queen: Live’, or any show, Alyssa performs in if
you get the chance. You’ll be left gagging by her beauty, her talents, her lip-syncs and her
dancing. You won’t stop smiling the whole time and if your anything like me, you might get
the bonus of leaving the show extremely inspired.
Written by Contributor Ashleigh House
DragAdventures 