Glittering, risqué, rebellious and just plain fun, the Carnival of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria unfolds like a dramatized fairytale for adults. The almost month-long carnival propels the viewer into a magical world of beautiful carnival queens, drag queens, costume parties and street parades.
“Get on with the show!” The comperes of the event were hamming it up for their TV audience. However, the teeming audience around us bristled with anticipation and impatience. Can the chatter and bring on the stars!
The music hit a high note and she strode out on the open-air stage in 18 inch (that’s not a typo) stilettoes. She was drop-dead gorgeous. Long, sensuous legs flashed to the rhythm of the music. Her ostrich-feathers-framed face filled the large TV screens on two sides of the stage. Sparkling blue eyes gazed out from under long, mascaraladen eyelashes and startling red lips pouted at the camera. The crowd cheered as she reached for her bejewelled top and ripped it off with a grand flourish. She was flat-chested.
No surprise! That was the Drag Queen event; the high point of the almost month long carnival that takes place each year in February/March in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Gran Canaria is the third largest of the Canary Islands, which lie to the north-west of Africa and Las Palmas is the capital. (The archipelago is an autonomous region of Spain.)
One by one, drag queen contestants high stepped onto the stage and strutted their stuff. Each one had a themed act like Marilyn Monroe in Hollywood. One queen even dared to invade the macho world of the Wild West. It was a parade of elaborate costumes, glitter, painted faces, ostrich feathers… Showmanship stirred with uninhibited fun. And the crowd, many dressed in drag, loved and cheered every move and moment.
This story is from the January 2017 edition of Hi!BLITZ.
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This story is from the January 2017 edition of Hi!BLITZ.
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