The ASWSU Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSA) will hold a drag show and dance to kick off the spring semester. The event will take place 5-11 p.m. Friday in the CUB Senior Ballroom, said the GSA program chair.

The event will include a black light dance with a live DJ, a photo booth, and a WSU student-performed drag show at 7:30 p.m. followed by a dance. The target audience is people who have not seen a drag performance before, said Nathan Nakamoto, the program chair.

 “We want to show that a drag performance is not just for a specific group of people,” Nakamoto said. “It’s not something you can glance at and say, ‘That’s not who we are,’ because we are here.”

A drag show is performed by people who dress in the opposite sex, gender or different persona from their normal self and lip sync a song.

Performers of the event attended a Drag 101 course taught by a performance company in Moscow, Nakamoto said. Then they performed an original act for GSA judges. Friday’s performance will include three to four WSU students, he said.

“It’s a good experience to see it’s not perverse or creepy, it’s fun and done in favor of entertainment,” Nakamoto said.

The performance is family friendly and alcohol free, Nakamoto said. His aim is to create a safe zone to get to know people one wouldn’t normally interact with.

“Drag shows are known for their dirty humor. This one will be a little more politically correct,” said Zelrick Edwards, a junior psychology major. “This should be a safe space for people who probably aren’t comfortable in the more WSU style parties. When I think of a WSU party, I of think of people getting drunk and needing to call Women’s Transit.”

All of the proceeds will fund students going to the Power of One conference in Salt Lake City, Nakamoto said.

The Power of One conference is an academic leadership conference focused on lesbian, bi-sexual, gay, transgender, queer, intersex, and allies (LBGTQIA), said Charles James, the graduate assistant of the Gender Identity Expressions and Sexual Orientation Resource Center (GIESORC).

The conference includes seminars on bringing gender and sexual alliance to campuses, and especially in more conservative areas that are not as open as WSU, James said.

The goal is to send five students to the Power of One conference with the proceeds, Nakamoto said. He estimates the cost for each student to travel to Salt Lake City will be $800 to $1,000.

“We are looking for students who are interested in being leaders, and we want to help them achieve these goals,” Nakamoto said.

Tickets will be sold in the CUB Lair for $8 before the show and $9 at the door.