A few wily notes of a snake charmer’s flute twirl through the air as drag queen Xuren (由序人) shimmies in time with the music. Dressed in a glittery, green snake-skin bodysuit, a flowing silk robe and black six-inch, lace-up stilettos, Xuren abruptly stops dancing as the music halts.
American pop music soon begins blaring, Xuren drops into the splits and the audience at Cafe Dalida erupts in screams.
Founded by Alvin Chang (張原韶), the venue is one of Taiwan’s hottest drag bars and is a hub for both veteran and up-and-coming queens, as well as dedicated locals and wide-eyed tourists. It has also become a safe space for the queer community.
Photo: Anouk Yeh
Chang first encountered queer nightlife while traveling in Europe with the China Youth Corps (救國團). In 1996, he returned to Taipei, which only had one gay bar at the time, and began DJing at Source — “an unofficial gay bar” — and organizing “gay nights” and drag shows there.
“At that time, you couldn’t even buy rainbow flags in Taiwan,” Chang said. “I had to buy scrap fabric and make the rainbow decorations myself.”
Five years later, Chang went on to open his first gay bar, Fresh, with a friend. In 2001, he opened Cafe Dalida.
Photo: Anouk Yeh
Tucked in Ximen’s Red House plaza, the outdoor bar is strung with dozens of fairy lights and lush green foliage. The Cafe hosts bi-weekly drag performances, from artist-themed shows (Beyonce or Lady Gaga) to international drag queen features.
Dalida is where many popular queens in the Taipei drag scene got their start.
THE MAKING OF THE QUEENS
The first time Xuren performed drag was in 2018 at Dalida, during a recurring queer dance and drag party Chang co-hosts called the CUM (Create Ur Magic) Party.
Xuren performs at different venues almost weekly. They design their own costumes, makeup and performance concepts.
Another Taipei drag queen who got her start at Dalida is Amily Givenchy. Originally from South Africa, Amily, whose real name is Angus Botha, first encountered drag after moving to Taiwan in 2014. After she became a regular at Dalida, she was invited to perform at CUM Party.
Amily said that her drag inspiration comes from her “incredibly strong” mother, grandmother and sister.
“[Drag] is my love letter to them and my way of saying thank you,” Amily said.
Botha says there’s a strong sense of community among the queens in Taipei. She points to other queens such as Bouncy Babs and Magnolia as foremothers of the Taipei drag scene.
“There’s a lot of love and respect for one another. It’s a close-knit community because we all have to work together to keep [drag] existing,” Amily said.
A STRONG LOCAL COMMUNITY
The supportive nature of the drag community extends beyond the performers.
Hsu Bo-chao (許博超) started attending drag shows after being introduced to Cafe Dalida in June last year. Since then, he has gone out to watch drag shows every week.
Hsu said that watching drag helped him discover that he was bisexual.
“Because of the drag shows, I was opened to a new world,” he said.
Hsu said that aside from helping him discover his sexuality, drag has also “transformed” him into a more confident and outgoing person. When he’d arrive at Dalida wearing more traditionally feminine outfits, the queens and patrons would always compliment him.
“People here don’t degrade you, they just praise you,” Hsu said.
Hsu said he used to always be a people pleaser.
“Now, when I make friends, I use a mantra of, if I like myself, other people will like me,” he said.
AN INTERNATIONAL AUDIENCE
In addition to a supportive local community, Dalida also boasts a large foreign audience. During Dalida’s June 24 Dragon Boat Festival performance, the audience consisted of people hailing from France, Germany and the US.
Also in the audience that night were Lizi Olson and Pamela Nakanelua, a pair of sisters in their late fifties traveling from Hawaii.
During the show, Olson and Nakanelua — who was wearing a shirt bearing the image of US drag icon Sasha Colby — sat front and center, animatedly interacting with the queens and Go Go dancers. At one point, a male Go Go dancer approached their table.
“I was so excited, I fell off my chair!” Olson said.
While the drag scene in Taipei hasn’t been easy to keep alive, the queens have high hopes for the future of drag in the city. Amily said that performing drag has given her “so much respect for what women go through.”
“I think everybody should get in drag at least once and spend a minute walking in someone else’s shoes,” she said.
Last week the government announced that by year’s end Taiwan will have the highest density of anti-ship missiles in the world. Its inventory could exceed 1,400, or enough for the opening two hours of an invasion from the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Snark aside, it sounds impressive. But an important piece is missing. Lost in all the “dialogues” and “debates” and “discussions” whose sole purpose is simply to dawdle and delay is what the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) alternative special defense budget proposal means for the defense of Taiwan. It is a betrayal of both Taiwan and the US. IT’S
Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another” was crowned best picture at the 98th Academy Awards, handing Hollywood’s top honor to a comic, multi-generational American saga of political resistance. The ceremony Sunday, which also saw Michael B. Jordan win best actor and “Sinners” cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw make Oscar history as the first female director of photography to win the award, was a long-in-coming coronation for Anderson, a San Fernando Valley native who made his first short at age 18 and has been one of America’s most lionized filmmakers for decades. Before Sunday, Anderson had never won an Oscar. But “One Battle
In Kaohsiung’s Indigenous People’s Park (原住民主題公園), the dance group Push Hands is training. All its members are from Taiwan’s indigenous community, but their vibe is closer to that of a modern, urban hip-hop posse. MIXING CULTURES “The name Push Hands comes from the idea of pushing away tradition to expand our culture,” says Ljakuon (洪濬嚴), the 44-year-old founder and main teacher of the dance group. This is what makes Push Hands unique: while retaining their Aboriginal roots, and even reconnecting with them, they are adamant about doing something modern. Ljakuon started the group 20 years ago, initially with the sole intention of doing hip-hop dancing.
You would never believe Yancheng District (鹽埕) used to be a salt field. Today, it is a bustling, artsy, Kowloon-ish “old town” of Kaohsiung — full of neon lights, small shops, scooters and street food. Two hundred years ago, before Japanese occupiers developed a shipping powerhouse around it, Yancheng was a flat triangle where seawater was captured and dried to collect salt. This is what local art galleries are revealing during the first edition of the Yancheng Arts Festival. Shen Yu-rung (沈裕融), the main curator, says: “We chose the connection with salt as a theme. The ocean is still very near, just a
RSS