Today we’d like to introduce you to Queen Danicure
Hi Queen, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I started drag in 2014 after seeing an acquittance get on RuPaul’s Drag Race. I had seen drag for years prior in San Francisco but never put together that you could be so glamourous while still being cis-male presenting outside of drag. It opened up my eyes to something I didn’t know was possible, and I wanted in!
For years I languished in not feeing like I understood what I needed to do to be a drag queen. In addition, my self confidence was in the gutter and it lead to my not trying hard and feeling like I wasn’t good enough to do drag. That all changed in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the world.
As the pandemic shutdowns where in their peak, my partner and I moved to Cincinnati from California. What was initially supposed to be a temporary stop in Ohio turned into a 4 month period of living with my partners parents, and living without drag. After living with their parents for that time, my partner and I then decided to stay in Cincinnati. We then found our own place to live and I got access to my drag again, and with enthusiasm I threw myself into it!
Since that period, drag has become the focus of my life. I have found my niche in the Cincinnati scene, and have flourished with the help of local queens such as Brooklyn Steele-Tate, Kora Sline, and The Lady Phaedra. On top of becoming a better performer, I’ve been able to hone my makeup, sewing, and hair styling skills during my time in Cincinnati.
Over the last to years, I have put my focus into using my drag to raise money for charity with a local organization, the Imperial Sovereign Queen City Court of the Buckeye Empire (ISQCCBE). This August, I was elected to be the next fundraising chair/Empress of that organization. I will be kicking off my year in that position in Nov 2024, and I’m very excited to continue to use my drag to help raise money for the Cincinnati community.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It was not a smooth road at all! I have struggled hard for many years with lack of self confidence. Even now, I have to actively work to remind myself that I am good enough! To help combat self confidence issues, I tend to act at a level of delusional confidence; you can’t tell me anything, I’m gorgeous and talented and I know it!
Besides self confidence issues, I’ve struggled hard with gaining the actual skills needed to do drag. This includes makeup, wig styling, sewing, and performance skills. It took me nearly 5 year of doing drag to fully understand how to do my makeup in a way to that looked good. It was a crap-shoot if the makeup I was going to do for a gig was going to look presentable. In addition, wig styling escaped me until about the last 2 years; I could not understand how to make big hair that didn’t look a mess! After many year of trial & error, I finally gained that skill, but it was such a hinderance not having it for the majority of my drag career.
Lastly, something I still struggle with along the way is performing. I have no dance background, so moving in a “compelling” way has always been something I find difficult to near-impossible. While my stage presence has grown over the years, you’ll never catch me bucking & twirling like the drag queens on RuPaul’s Drag Race.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
As a drag queen, there are so many skills you must specialize in to be successful. For myself, my primarily skills used in drag are makeup, wig styling, and sewing. They are the things that drive me to want to do drag, and skills I constantly want to improve upon. I truly believe that by being able to do these things myself, I am set apart from a large number of drag queens out there.
My makeup skills are exceptional (if I do say so myself); I go with bright colors and sharp angles to reshape my face to look more feminine while maintaining some form of “drag clown” aesthetic.
Sewing is my #1 favorite thing about drag nowadays. Taking fabric and making something incredible and elegant will never not give me joy. Being able to physically make something with my hands fulfills parts of me I didn’t know needed to be fulfilled!
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
I do see drag continuing to grow, but also shrink (what a dichotomy).
I say it will continue to grow because every year you see dozen upon dozens of new queens enter the scene, causing a splash and furthering the art form.
I also see it shrinking due to an oversaturation of queens & the political climate we are experiencing these days. The oversaturation has caused there to be more shows in our mid-sized city, with no growth in the audience. This is splintering the small audience we have so that most show are seeing less attendance as the audience must pick between one of many shows on a given day. The political climate of right-wing hate for drag is also limiting where we can perform and in some cases making it dangerous for drag artists.
So while we will continue to have an influx of new queens, the opportunities for new queens is not what it used to be and could potentially see the scene shrink more.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/queen.danicure
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/queen.danicure
- Twitter: https://x.com/queendanicure
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@queendanicure671
