All Rise for King Ken!
Written by: Jane Denny
Kendra Kuliga knew she didn't want to wear a dress at an early age and had her mother make three-piece suits instead. Now she's the hottest drag king in the US.
There is not certainly not much greyness about Kendra Kuliga - aka Washington DC's Drag King Ken Vegas.
This young gender pretender is vibrant and loves to sport a goatee and prance on stage to throngs of screaming lesbians.
Show producer for the DC Kings, an avant-garde performance-art troupe of more than 60+ members, she tours the world and parades an eclectic performance - "without the presence of gender boundaries because black and white, male and female do not exist".
The DC Kings, who perform three times a month, also claim to be the longest-reigning drag king show in the world after notching up five years of events at a Washington's Club Chaos.
They are at the forefront of the drag king movement - which has seen the emergence of groups of performers in states all over America.
The Butch-Femme phenomena sparked the humble origins of dragging but the first Washington, DC drag king contest - competition won by Ken in 1996 - was held at the Hung Jury as a fundraiser for the Lesbian Avengers.
Today hundreds pack the halls and theatre of America for the legendary performances of these gender-bending boi-dyke cross-dressers.
And according to Ken, Chicago is the unlikely capital of the drag king universe due to their amazing group numbers and professional advertising.
Ironically it was growing up with the hard fast Brazilian stereotypes of male and female that inspired Ken to blend her gender to shades of grey.
"In Brazil's gender oppressive society, where I spent my summers as a youngster, men and women's roles and appearance were well defined with no room for blurring the lines".
"I reject this attitude and broke out of the stereotype. I adhere strongly to the philosophy that people should make their own choice about how they want to represent their gender".
Ken, a former press photographer and current graphic/web designer, ,made her choices early on.
Not only was her seamstress mum willing to create tiny dapper three-piece suits for the six-year-old Kendra but eventually created an Evil Knieval outfit as a tread-off.
"I was upset about having to wear a dress to be a flower girl at this wedding that was held for friends of my mother's. Almost before the ceremony was over I swapped it for my specially-made Evil Knieval suit, ran out of the chapel into the parking lot and onto my big wheel".
"Now what I enjoy is being able to play with gender and inform people that there are no boundaries."
"The only limit is your imagination."
Dragging up, which Ken has been doing since 1996, is about female empowerment.
"I like to show that gender and male image is a learned thing and that it's out there for women as much as men."
" I can fool an audience into thinking that I am a man."
despite this Ken like to draw on her female side for the inspiration for a stage performance with the DC Kings.
"Why choose one gender when there is so much beauty in both?" enthuses the 31-year-old.
During the show Ken performs to the music of singer-songwritter Price - true it is Elvis the Drag Kings want to be - but she loves the pint-sized star's mix of male and female attributes.
"I love the fact he wears high heels but don't get me wrong; I am comfortable being a larger person who wears big boots. The point is to use Princes music a means of inspiring me to play with both genders."
"One of Prince's songs begins with the line "If I were your girlfriend..." It's sexually ambiguous but people will go on having sex and procreating no matter how they blur the boundaries of their gender."
Ken Vegas will perform at Club Wotever at Essence Bar, Carthusian Street, April 9 2005.
The show will follow the London Gay and Lesbian Film Festival's screening of the film Drag King on Tour on April 9 @ 6:20pm and April 13th, 4pm. Llgff.org.uk.
For more details log onto www.dckings.com
