Alisson on Flickr (click for more)

Alisson Gothz”: Sashay, shantay!! Since last March, the city of Santos (located in the south coast of Sao Paulo and famous for its beaches), is being the set of a – let’s call it that way – “Charm School for Drag Queens”.

The course started as an idea from actor and dancer ZéCarlos Gomes a while ago, and provides several different classes for the budding disco queens: make-up, vocal techniques, dance, acting, etc.

The course functions as a vocational training, which means that, by the end of each semester, all students will be professional drag queens and fully prepared for the job market. But the most curious thing is that a lot of the students aren’t drag queens, or even gay: the success of the classes and the eternal search for glamour are attracting several married, heterosexual women and men to the school. Everybody wants to be fierce!

Alisson and Lady Bunny (New York)

Actually, most of this “unusual” crowd is attending the classes to learn how to deal with personal issues like extreme shyness and so on. But others go to the school because… oh well, they are curious about how drags really are behind all the glitz and feathers.

For those, make-up classes are a ball: learning some of the most best kept secret drag tricks (like applying red lipstick on your face before the foundation so you can hide the blue shade of your beard) is for them an amazing experience.

The whole idea about the course is to provide more information for the artists to better develop their talents and help them put out a great show. The drag culture is inherent in Brazilian history and pop culture, where men usually dress up for Carnival and other festivities without worrying about sexuality issues.

With the awful rampant taking over of conservative religious groups  inside Brazilian politics nowadays, efforts like that are totally worthy of applause.