For Rosee, Saturday night marked the end of an era.
Dressed in a shiny, light-purple dress, black gloves and black high heels, the veteran drag queen and soon-to-be graduate lip-synched to Bette Middler's "Wind Beneath My Wings" -- one of her final performances for Spectrum's semi-annual drag show.
Members of the audience screamed, whistled and waved their hands from side to side throughout the song, with several going up to the stage to stuff money into her dress.
Rosee, along with 10 other performers, dressed in drag to conclude Spectrum's week of events, the theme of which was "We Are Family." Saturday's drag show, titled "Full House: Queens Over Kings," featured 15 musical acts by seven drag queens and one drag king.
Rosee, who makes all of her own outfits, said she has been performing in the show since it began in Fall 2000 and featured only three student performers. She said when the show's popularity grew, it was moved to the Student Center Ballroom for three semesters before it was moved again to the Ball Gym.
More than 400 students attended the show Saturday night.
"Word of mouth has made it one of the hottest events on campus," Rosee said.
Jaclyn Payne, another of Saturday night's veteran drag queens, served as the show's emcee. As she strolled slowly across the stage in her long black dress, she sang Aretha Franklin's "Natural Woman," receiving whistles and claps from the audience when she hit the high notes.
She said being able to perform in front of so many students was exciting.
"It makes me really happy," Payne said. "It really does."
Other acts Saturday included a group dance routine to Moulin Rouge's "Lady Marmalade" by drag queens Danii, Cookie, Manzilla and Britney Queers.
Queers danced solo later in the show to Britney Spears's "Crazy." Dressed in blue wide-leg jeans, tall blue boots and a dark blue blouse, she jumped off the stage to dance with several members in the audience, using her mouth to grab tips from her fans' mouths and receiving a round of cheers and applause during a standing ovation at the end of the song.
"I just love to perform," Queers said. "I can express myself naturally, but when I become Britney, I can express so much more. My energy level just goes through the roof."
Fans laughed and cheered as several drag queens also performed splits during their routines and even gave kisses and lap dances to audience members. The show concluded when all of its performers came together to dance to their theme song, "We Are Family."
Anita Brown, Spectrum's president, said she was pleased with the drag show's turnout Saturday and said the quality of the each performance is what draws students to the show every year.
"We just have great performers," Brown said. "They put everything they have into what they do."
Rosee said about $180 was collected from Saturday's show and will be donated to the Gesundheit Institute, which provides free, friendly health care to communities throughout the world.
"The show has taken on a whole new life," Rosee said. "People are really benefiting from it."
Queers said she has enjoyed participating in the drag show for the past two semesters and is looking forward to what the future holds. She hopes students have taken away something important from the event and hopes they will continue to support it, she said.
"The event just goes to show you how good gay guys look in heels and skirts," Queers laughed. "But even more importantly, it gives people a better appreciation for the GLBT community. It just gets us out there, and the support we've had has been amazing."
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