On the dance floor at Dallas’ The Round-Up Saloon and Dance Hall, Daphne Rio lip-synced and strutted to Selena Gomez’s “Hands to Myself.” Rio wore auburn pigtails, bold red lipstick, glittery makeup and clear high heels for the show.
Wednesday is The Round-Up’s weekly game-show night. Colorful lights and the glow of a spinning disco ball illuminate the performer while the music blasts and the audience sips drinks.
Rio is passionate about drag as an art form that combines costume, makeup, drama and comedy. This is also Rio’s profession.
Lawmakers in the Texas Legislature recently proposed bills regulating drag shows. Rep. Nate Schatzline, R-Fort Worth, proposed House Bill 1266, which would require any business that hosts drag shows to pay additional taxes and face licensing restrictions because it would be classified as a “sex oriented business.”
Schatzline did not respond to an interview request. However, in February she spoke out after a video surfaced on social media of her wearing the dress for a school project when she was a teenager. Schatzline Tweet “That’s not an overtly sexual drag show.” He also posted a video response on his Twitter account in March, saying his legislation aims to “ban blatant drag shows and preserve the innocence of the next generation in Texas.”
Opponents of HB 1266 and similar legislation believe it could lead businesses to cut shows and threaten how drag performers make a living. The bill is now in the hands of the House State Affairs Committee.
“For most of us, it’s our job,” Rio said. “That’s one of the … ways it’s going to hit us in the pocketbook, for sure.”
North Texas businesses that host drag shows may also be affected. Waylon Tate, a spokesman for the North Texas LGBT Chamber of Commerce, said the organization has found more than 30 businesses in Dallas that offer drag shows. Tate is a publicist for several businesses and is the owner of Drag Star Diva, an event and production company in Dallas.
“These areas will absolutely suffer as well as the queens,” Tate said. “Because if you think about what the main principle of anything related to hospitality is, it’s bringing people together to celebrate. Through that, they buy food and drink and in this case they participate in an entertainment event .”
While some drag performers are amateurs with day jobs, others make a living from the art form. For them, the legislation is especially relevant.
Raquel Blake’s only income was made in drag at venues like The Rose Room and The Round-Up. Blake, who uses plural pronouns, also co-owns the event company A Side of Drag.
“I’m really scared to know that I’m going to lose everything if they pass these bills,” Blake said. “My career, everything. My income, you know. Some people don’t think it’s a real job, but it is. I built my life around it.“
Rio, who also uses plural pronouns, is also worried about how the bills could threaten their ability to make ends meet.
“I have a certain number of bookings that I need to do every month to make money to pay my bills,” Rio said.
Drag shows in Rio cover monthly expenses such as rent and insurance, which total $1,500 to $2,000. As a side hustle, Rio also makes about $300 to $500 a month sewing costumes for other performers.
Rio is worried about how the law will affect the extra money they make from sewing costumes, which they use to supplement their income.
“Obviously when the money’s there, people spend recklessly,” Rio said. “So it definitely affects anything on the side — sewing, hair. I have friends who do hair, people who do makeup.
In addition to working artists, drag performers are part of the gig economy, people who mostly earn money through contracts rather than full-time, salaried positions.
Rio does at least 10 gigs a month, including game-show nights on Wednesdays at Round-Up and drag brunches at BuzzBrews Kitchen. Rio’s booking fee per show is about $150 to $250 and the performer can make anywhere from $50 to $100 in tips per show.
Blake said they earn $150 to $200 per show and tips can range from $75 to $300 per show.
“I always say I work nine days a week, but I’m like an eight-day work week now,” Blake said. “With those, I might have two to three shows a day, especially on weekends when we have brunch and other pop-up events or private gigs, and whatever we’re doing in our regular shows too.“
The Art of Drag
Unlike other gig economy workers like Uber drivers or teachers, Rio and Blake find drag beyond their work.
“We’re literally our own canvas and we’re painting a picture of ourselves,” Blake said. “I think it’s a beautiful art form in all the spectrums of what drag is.”
Blake, who specializes in comedy, enjoys making the audience laugh and lip syncing to songs like Taylor Dayne’s ’90s hit “Can’t Get Enough of Your Love.”
“I like to make people laugh. I like to talk,” they said. “My shows are all lip sync, a combination of comedy and top 40 class.”
Like many art forms, Rio said, drag is an “expensive craft.” Just preparing for a show can cost a performer hundreds of dollars.
Rio estimates that the costs of a show can cost about $75 to $100 in makeup, with wigs costing up to $300. Not including the cost of costumes, undergarments, nails and jewelry.
“If it’s like an event I’m preparing for and I try to be clean and make sure everything is fine, I can definitely easily spend over a thousand,” Rio said.
So for many drag performers, a large amount of money they earn goes back into their work.
“I did my taxes today, and it always scares me. I see how much it costs me, but this is what I love to do,” Blake said.
Looking ahead
As drag performers across Texas nervously track bills through the Legislature, some may ask: Why not leave the state and find work in drag-friendly places?
“It will only cost one month’s rent, maybe to start moving,” said Rio. “But that’s not it either. You know, I’ve been here all my life.”
Rio says joining other industries presents unique challenges for drag performers.
“There is always a fear behind what will happen to the boss. If someone is not OK with my drag and then how will they spin it? … That is always in the back of the head,” said Rio.
Rio said many of their friends worry about not being accepted by the public, which can be an added mental stress.
“That’s why they can easily go on stage for five minutes and then sit back in the dressing room for the rest of the time,” said Rio. “It’s not easy for them to work in retail because of their social anxiety.”
Blake says they don’t want to leave Dallas. The performer considered going back to doing makeup when they couldn’t support themselves in drag alone.
“I have an option [move away], but only my heart is here. So I’m going to stay and fight and just soak it up and figure out what to do and make people beautiful.
They rely on their drag family for support and community. Blake talks to their drag sisters and brothers about the proposed bills and what they can do in the future.
“I think we all want to give ourselves a game plan or where we’re at mentally with the whole thing, too, because some of us can’t handle it as well as others,” Blake said. . “So it kind of does like a mental health check-in, too. Where are we? What do we want to do? Like, what’s our game plan?“
For Rio, it was disappointing.
“I’ve been doing this for almost 20 years now, and it’s amazing to think that we’ve come to a place where a job, a literal job for someone, can be banned because some people are uncomfortable with it,” they said. .
Arts Access is an arts journalism collaboration run by The Dallas Morning News and KERA.
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