Sasha Velour: ‘Drag is darkness turned into power’
Sasha Velour is the drag persona of Alexander Hedges Steinberg. Born in Berkeley, California, Steinberg studied modern literature at Vassar College, was a Fulbright scholar in Moscow, and in 2013 received an MFA in cartooning. This summer Velour was crowned winner of season nine of RuPaul’s Drag Race. Presented by drag queen, musician and entrepreneur RuPaul Charles, the Emmy award-winning reality TV show is a competition to find “America’s next drag superstar” in which drag queens compete in various challenges, including fashion design, acting, comedy, and lip sync performances. Available on Netflix in the UK, the show is broadcast on American cable television network VH1; the season nine premiere, with a guest appearance by Lady Gaga, attracted close to a million viewers. Sasha Velour was praised for her avant garde runway looks, highbrow humour, and in-depth knowledge of LGBT history.
Before you won, your style was described as too intellectual for drag. Is that a misunderstanding of you, of drag, or of intellectualism?
A little bit of all those things. Drag has always has been very intellectual: it observes the world and comments on it in really sharp ways, culturally, politically and philosophically. I was raised by intellectuals so I have that quality a little bit, but I’m a big believer in entertainment first – I want to do great drag that’s creative and clever and observational. I think sometimes, especially in America, education and learning have a bit of a bad reputation. People are put off by it, which is a problem, because information is the ultimate weapon that queer people need to arm ourselves with.
from The Guardian http://ift.tt/2zWtkP8
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