Sasha Velour's Big Reveal: Peeling Back the Layers of Drag

I was introduced to Sasha Velour in 2017, when she screamed her way onto the set of RuPaul’s Drag Race. Yes, she literally screamed as she stepped into the competition. Even louder than her voice: her bizarre makeup and style. I was enthralled by the entire package from the moment I saw it.

But Drag Race was only the beginning for Velour. You don’t have to know anything about (or have seen a single episode of) the show to appreciate her for who she truly is: one of the most innovative queer artists of our generation.

The world is her stage

Velour has toured the world several times, most notably with self-produced spectacles including the one-queen show, Nightgowns. In 2019, I came to our very own Algonquin Commons Theatre to see Nightgowns. Little did I know, I’d be attending the college four years later.

After witnessing Velour win season nine of RuPaul’s Drag Race for one of the best performances I had ever seen in my life, I went down a rabbit hole of her other performances on YouTube. It was one after another—I couldn’t stop—and each blew my mind even more. I was witnessing my ideas of drag be torn apart and pieced back together in an entire new form.

Long before her TV debut, Velour knew how to captivate a crowd. A typical drag performance requires lip-syncing to a song, which Velour does, but she also incorporates visual elements that are hard to come by at most drag shows. She often uses a projector to display images on the stage, and even sometimes onto herself. Sometimes the projected image even weaves itself into her outfit. It is a beautiful reminder that drag is true visual art.

Once I saw these performances online, I knew I had to see them in person. And thankfully for Velour’s mission to make her art accessible across the world, I didn’t have to wait long before she came to Ottawa.

Not only did I see the show—which was even more spectacular than I’d expected—I got the chance to meet her. They say you should never meet your idols, but I wasn’t disappointed by this one. She was lovely. I handed her a sharpie and asked if she could write one of her a piece of cardstock (which I also supplied). She gleefully complied as I told her I would be getting it tattooed.

“Stranger than fiction, better than art!” MY Tattoo of the famous velour quote.

Three years later, I went to her next tour, The Big Reveal. This show was different. It was partially a book tour, promoting her autobiography—or as she calls it, “an illustrated drag manifesto”. But mostly, it was a drag production just as fierce and fantastical as any of her others. This time, it wasn’t a one-queen show, but she still had multiple mind-blowing solo performances (she came out disguised as a chair! And no one noticed until a crew member pulled a blanket off it! Then she smashed glass on her bald head!).

Velour also lent the stage to a local Ottawa queen by the name of Kiki Coe. For The Big Reveal Tour, she featured queens in every city she went to, showcasing each cities’ local drag scene. Other touring drag artists should take notes.

A Great Foundation

Of course, I couldn’t leave The Big Reveal Tour without the book it’s named after! I brought home a copy and cracked into it immediately, uncovering the layers beneath Velour’s drag.

The book is appropriate named, as it reveals a lot about Velour and her art. She takes us readers all the way back to her roots, where the seeds for her drag sprouted.

Velour was lucky to be surrounded by family members that watered those queer little seeds of creativity. Her grandmother, Dina, was the first person to put Sasha in drag. Dina, as well as Sasha’s other family members, would often take Velour to various theatre productions and multicultural events that often featured the art of drag. Once they noticed Velour taking a liking to such things, rather than trying to make her suppress it, they let her flourish

Not only is Sasha Velour an innovative and captivating performer, but she is also a prime example of how a loving and supportive family can breed some of the world’s best influences and brightest minds. 

Jade McConkey is an eclectic creative, a cat mom, and a Professional Writing student at Algonquin College. More than anything, she is passionate. Jade considers herself an enthusiast of many things, such as crafting, songwriting, drag, and lesbianism. When she is not playing with clay or writing songs that will never see the light of day, you can find Jade watching old seasons of RuPaul’s Drag Race or Glee—the shows that gave her comfort in her queerness. Jade is also the self-published author of “This Journal Will Be Your Future Book,” a guided journal for writers, available on Amazon.