Thanks to all of you who came out and supported us tonight! You were a fantastic audience and you helped motivate us to keep on draggin’
Merci à tout le monde qui est venu nous soutenir ce soir. Vous étiez un public fantastique et vous nous encouragez continuer à dragger!
A gaggle of King Size girls mess with gender norms
BILL BROWNSTEIN, The Gazette
Published: Friday, June 29, 2007
They sing. They dance. They do comedy shtick. They dress up as guys. They’re King Size, a gaggle of Montreal girls who just want to have fun.
They perform their brand of drag-kinging tonight at La Sala Rossa in their latest burlesque escapade, The Parlour.
Think Liza Minnelli in Cabaret, and then some. The ‘then some’ also includes the delightfully dry wit of comic/emcee DeAnne Smith and the divinely inspired hoofin’ of the Dead Doll Dancers featuring the incomparable Velma Candyass.
Drag-kinging is something of a phenomenon in the rest of North America and Europe. Introduced in Montreal by the Mambo Kings a few years back, it petered out, but is now making a comeback with King Size, a 12-to-15-woman collective that has been kicking it up together since January.
One of the leaders of the King Size pack is Gary Dickinson. By day, she’s Nancy Leclerc, a single mom and a respected anthropology professor at a local CEGEP. But by night, she morphs into Gary and acts out her cultural anthropological instincts – in a manner of speaking.
“It’s just about letting loose,” says Nancy/Gary. “I’m doing stuff at night as Gary that Nancy would have liked to do as a teenager by day. Of course, I get to charm the ladies as well as the guys at the same time.”
Donning her academic chapeau, the prof points out there is also a sort of social message to the madness: “We’re messing around with the established gender norms and getting the message out there that we don’t have to stick to such rigid norms.”
Since the dawn of civilization (or thereabouts), drag queens have been messing with established gender norms and have gained mainstream acceptance, particularly on the urban cultural front. Drag kings are relative upstarts compared with their drag-queen cousins and have had to work harder at breaking down barriers. Which explains why they feel compelled to be more than one-trick cross-dressers.
“We cover the gamut of entertainment,” says Nancy/Gary. “There’s an awful lot of diversity. Some of us sing. Some of us dance. Some of us do comedy. Some of us do all of the above. We’re trying to be very well-rounded.” No pun intended.
And then there’s King Size crooner Nat King Pole, who changes the lyrics of popular tunes and elicits king-size guffaws as a consequence.
“What we really want to avoid is becoming predictable,” Nancy/Gary explains. “We don’t want to be the sort of performers who put on the same show all the time and who people will, consequently, only see once.”
For her/his part, Nancy/Gary lip-syncs and role-plays on stage. It requires abundant rehearsal time, but the work has proved to be therapeutic. “I had been confused for a long time, well before starting to drag-king. I had gender issues when I was young. I wanted to be a boy. I didn’t think it was fair that I was a girl. But drag-kinging has helped me sort through a lot of that stuff.
“The group’s members do this for different reasons. But for me, it’s been helpful in coming to terms with my masculine side.”
Curiously, the prof’s buddies all believe that Gary and Nancy would make the perfect match together. “Now if I could only figure out how to get Gary and Nancy in the same room together. … Maybe it would work, but we would probably get on each other’s nerves because we are so similar. I’d give it a shot, even if it seems to be a little narcissist.”
Nancy assumed the role of Gary at the recent Fringe Fest’s annual Drag Races and fared well in trying to out-run the assembled drag queens. Of course, Gary had a distinct advantage in not having to sport high-heeled stilettos and a skin-tight dress.
“Footwear-wise, drag kings are definitely much more comfortable than drag queens. But we have other discomforts, like strapping down our breasts, which can be painful, depending on how well-endowed one is.
“It’s a bit of give and take in the drag world. You have to suffer to be hot.”
King Size performs Parlour tonight at 10 p.m. at La Sala Rossa, 4848 St. Laurent Blvd. Admission: $10; $7 for students and the low-incomed. For more information, visit www.kingsize.ca
bbrownst@thegazette.canwest.com
© The Gazette (Montreal) 2007
The drag kings of King Size welcome you into their Parlour! The Parlour is the newest show by Montreal’s newest drag king troupe. Enjoy a smoking hot evening in the company of these seductive lads who will tease and charm you with their sexy moves and dashing looks. On the agenda: brand new performances, an after-show dance and the chance to have a one-on-one dance with the drag king of your choice!
Featuring hot young comedian DeAnne Smith as MC, Mz Sunday Luv as funky after-show DJ and a guest performance by the fabulous Dead Doll Dancers. Also joining us for this special event are Kai from the Kingz of Berlin and Tony the King from Atlanta.
Not to be missed!
Friday, June 29 @ 10:00 PM (doors open at 9:00 PM)
Sala Rossa, 4848 St-Laurent
$10 regular / $7 students and low income
Les drag kings de King Size vous invitent dans leur salon: Le Parlour! Le Parlour est le nouveau spectacle offert par la nouvelle troupe de drag kings à Montréal! Passez une soirée chaude en compagnie de ces mecs séduisants qui vous charmeront avec leur regards chauds et leur mouvements aguichants. À l’agenda: des nouvelles performances, de la danse après-show et l’occasion de danser en tête-à-tête avec le drag king de votre choix!
En prime: la jeune comédienne DeAnne Smith comme Maître de cérémonie, Mz Sunday Luv comme DJ après-show ainsi qu’une performance spéciale des Dead Doll Dancers! Nous avons aussi le privilège de partager la scène avec le beau Kai des Kingz of Berlin et le King américain, Tony the King! À ne pas manquer!
Vendredi, le 29 juin à 22h00 (Les portes ouvrent à 21h:00)
À la Sala Rossa, 4848 St-Laurent
$10 régulier / $7 étudiant(e)s et faible revenu
Two of King Size’s own drag kings will be present at this year’s Fringe Festival. Firstly, the fabulous and sexy Mitch Mitcham will be performing with Big Moves, a plus size dance troupe from the U.S.!!!! We’re so proud of him! King Size is all for encouraging people of *all* sizes to be proud of who they are and what they can do. Make sure to catch Mitch and Big Moves. . . more than once if you can’t get enough! Check out n*g’s blog for more info.
location: Théâtre LaChapelle
3700 St-Dominique (one block south of Ave des Pins)
Metro Mont-Royal or Metro Sherbrooke
show times:
Friday, June 8 at 6 p.m.
Saturday, June 9 at 1 p.m.
Monday, June 11 at 9:30 p.m.
Friday, June 15 at 10:30 p.m.
Saturday, June 16 at 8:15 p.m.
Sunday, June 17 at 3:15 p.m.
rating: Parental Guidance
admission: $9
Secondly, King Size rocker Gary Dickinson will be participating in this year’s Drag Races with Mado‘s team. Let’s hope he can keep up with these viscious queens!
Location: Corner of St-Laurent and Rachel
When: Saturday, June 16 @ 4:00PM
Free!
The drag kings of King Size welcome you into their Parlour! The Parlour is the newest show by Montreal’s newest drag king troupe. Enjoy a smoking hot evening in the company of these seductive lads who will tease and charm you with their sexy moves and dashing looks. On the agenda: brand new performances, an after-show dance and the chance to have a one-on-one dance with the drag king of your choice!
Featuring hot young comedian DeAnne Smith as MC, Mz Sunday Luv as funky after-show DJ and a guest performance by the fabulous Dead Doll Dancers. Also joining us for this special event are Kai from the Kingz of Berlin and Tony the King from Atlanta.
Not to be missed!
Friday, June 29 @ 10:00 PM (doors open at 9:00 PM)
Sala Rossa, 4848 St-Laurent
$10 regular / $7 students and low income
Les drag kings de King Size vous invitent dans leur salon: Le Parlour! Le Parlour est le nouveau spectacle offert par la nouvelle troupe de drag kings à Montréal! Passez une soirée chaude en compagnie de ces mecs séduisants qui vous charmeront avec leur regards chauds et leur mouvements aguichants. À l’agenda: des nouvelles performances, de la danse après-show et l’occasion de danser en tête-à-tête avec le drag king de votre choix!
En prime: la jeune comédienne DeAnne Smith comme Maître de cérémonie, Mz Sunday Luv comme DJ après-show ainsi qu’une performance spéciale des Dead Doll Dancers! Nous avons aussi le privilège de partager la scène avec le beau Kai des Kingz of Berlin et le King américain, Tony the King! À ne pas manquer!
Vendredi, le 29 juin à 22h00 (Les portes ouvrent à 21h:00)
À la Sala Rossa, 4848 St-Laurent
$10 régulier / $7 étudiant(e)s et faible revenu