‘Be bold.’ Local drag queen hosts drag boot camp for women
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) – “I am a holiday. I am a classy, sassy, ferocious type,” said Vivian Deveraux Valentine.
Valentine is a drag queen entertainer who is inviting women to participate in the “Kitty Kat Drag Queen Boot Camp.” The boot camp is July 6 at the Zeiders American Dream Theater in Town Center in Virginia Beach.
Valentine said the boot camp was inspired by a woman who went to more than 25 of Valentine’s shows.
“It made me want to think about, well, what was the motivation and the reason why? And as I started to dig in, you know, women would come and they would have a good time and it would be like, ‘yes, yes.’ And then I would see them later on out and about. But they had a different demeanor,” Valentine said.
Valentine gave it more thought, and wanted to create a positive change.
“You know, y’all [women] are told, ‘too much makeup’ or ‘too much this,’ or ‘don’t do that,’ or ‘don’t do this.’ And in drag, I think you all see us do what y’all do and you understand it,” Valentine said. “And so you celebrate it even more. And for me, I wanted to celebrate y’all without limits and without boundaries. And drag to me is just like RuPaul said, whatever you put on is your drag. And so women can come and they can be animated. They can be a character. They can be, if they want to be extra, extra pretty, or they want to be extra, extra strong, be whatever you want to be.”
The boot camp includes a session on dressing like a drag queen, creating a drag makeup face, choosing an entertaining name and performing in front of family and friends.
“What I want them to take from this, and the most important thing is the Kitty Kat Circle,” Valentine said. “In the Kitty Cat Circle, we address fears and we address anxiety. We address the things that doesn’t make us brave, and we create a foundation for them to be bold.”
Valentine has been a drag entertainer for two and half years. Valentine said the event has the ability to allow others to understand drag culture.
“I’m excited because it’s like I really, really want to build bridges instead of ditches, and I want to break the stereotype about drag and about our community,” Valentine said. “Drag is not a crime. Drag is art. We’re entertainers, just like people go to the movies, they go to the circus. Entertainment is healing.”
According to the National Center for Transgender Equality, the term drag dates back to British theater slang in the 19th century. The organization has a resource titled Understanding Drag.
“For me, drag personally, is just an expression of freedom as a gay man to have the right to be soft and not have to be masculine and hard all the time. It’s just a physical representation to let that soft part of me fly and be like Tarzan and swing from one branch to the next,” Valentine said.
Valentine also released a single for the boot camp called “You Better Work,” which can be found below:
“I think that people allow so many excuses to come out of their mouths that they don’t realize that they’re the one holding themselves back. Two years and five months, I’ve performed over maybe 50 times,” Valentine said.
In addition, Valentine has a goal of making it on RuPaul’s Drag Race.
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