This year’s drag ball at Central Connecticut State University, emceed by Drag Queen Ambrosia Black, filled Alumni Hall with excitement and pop music last week. 

Co-hosted by the Pride Club and Devil’s Den @ 10, the drag ball was meant to give students the opportunity to see and enjoy a drag performance and engage with the LGBTQ community on campus in an open and fun environment. 

Many students showed up to see the performances and cheer them on. So many people came that the Student Center workers staffing the event had to bring out additional chairs for everyone to sit in. Students had been encouraged to dress up in costume and several did, giving the event a Halloween party vibe. Food and drinks were also available so students could chow down as they watched the performances. 

As the host of the event, Black introduced all the performers before they took the stage, hyping up the audience and talking with various audience members about their costumes. The queens who performed were Clementine Cool-Aid, Bleach, Onyxx and Black herself. All of them were energetic and engaging as they danced to songs by Selena Gomez, Chappell Roan, Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus and more. 

A few students also performed in drag as Roxy Red, Azerine Miint, La Muse and Alley Bee J and were very well received by the people watching. The audience was encouraged to vote in a poll for their favorite student performer to win a prize of a $100 Amazon gift card. At the end of the night, the results were announced with Alley Bee J as the winner. All the students who performed got gift bags prepared by the Pride Club as a thanks for their participation. 

Central’s acapella group, the AcaBellas, also got to take the stage in an intermission, singing “Pink Pony Club” by Chappell Roan and “Boyfriend” by Dove Cameron. This served as a nice break for the queens before delivering their next performances. The final performance was a group number between Clementine, Bleach and Ambrosia to “Bang Bang” by Jessie J ft. Arianna Grande and Nicki Mianaj. Being the final performance of the night, the audience cheered them on the entire time and gave them a standing ovation at its completion. 

The performers had an infectious energy that the audience ate up at every turn. People were cheering and clapping to boost up the drag performers and let them know that they were doing great. People even gave the performers money at the recommendation of Ambrosia.  

Student Jenna Carfora said the drag ball was much more than she had expected it to be. She said she had never been to a drag performance before and all the performers did great, especially the student performers. 

“I had a lot of fun,” Carfora said. “This was phenomenal to watch.” 

Kaiah Talbot, another student, also said the ball was a great experience. She said the crowd interactions that Ambrosia did in between numbers were fun and created an entertaining environment at the event. 

“Everyone did amazing,” Talbot said. “It was a blast.” 

Pride Club president Cathal Leone said the event was fun and had a much higher turnout than last year. He said that both the professional and student performers did well in their performances the entire night. 

“They all were spectacular,” Leone said. “I’m so glad we chose them.”