Olivia Dalfino embraces art, identity in return to Pride Union Drag Show
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When Olivia Dalfino entered the Pride Union Drag Show, she didn’t anticipate her popularity with the audience would lead to her being added as a finalist.
Dalfino performed as her drag king persona, Sir Gabriel Googlygoo, at the 21st annual Pride Union Drag show on March 23 in the Underground in Schine Student Center. The event was hosted by RuPaul’s Drag Race star The Vixen, and welcomed all student drag performers of varying experience.
While the finalists were determined by audience reaction, when it came time for the finalists to be announced — and Dalfino’s name was notably missing — the audience cheered her name anyway.
“I made it out in a technicality, because the people loved me,” Dalfino said.
Dalfino has been performing on stage in some capacity for as long as she can remember. She did theater and dance as a child, but as a young queer woman who used to be in more conservative spaces, she wanted a performance outlet that still made her feel accepted within all her identities.
“I just really wanted somewhere to really express myself without any judgment, and I feel like drag is the perfect place for that,” Dalfino said.
She already loved RuPaul’s Drag Race when she realized drag held more than just a great source of entertainment for her, so Dalfino decided to throw her hat in the performance ring. While she had experimented with drag queen personas when she first got into drag, she wanted to use the Pride Union show as a chance to shake things up and try her hand at a drag king persona.
Dalfino first heard about the drag show through a friend who sent the flier in their group chat. The initial idea was to attend with her friends, but Dalfino knew she had to perform in it. While her friends, like senior Gretchen Pfluger, were initially surprised by her desire to perform, the more they thought about Dalfino’s love for performing, it made more and more sense.
Pfluger and Dalfino bonded over their love of Drag Race, and Pfluger said she has loved getting to watch her friend on stage. Knowing that Dalfino has a strong background in performance, more specifically dance, Pfluger said they would often be in awe of Dalfino’s dancing at parties and the way she would so confidently dance to her heart’s content.
“I love the way she dances and I love (that) her personality comes out through the way she performs,” Pfluger said. “I love that it was something that other people could actually experience as well, and not just me and her and our other friends at a party.”
Dalfino said at the end of the day she is an artist at her core. Growing up in a creative but conservative household, Dalfino sought ways to rebel and explore different “taboo” paths in performance.
As a film major, she enjoys exploring music videos and art video creation. Dalfino said she’s never had stage fright, as her love of performing is so deeply tied to being able to express herself fully.
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Still, she doesn’t take herself and her art too seriously. Dalfino likes to think of herself as a silly person, and Sir Gabriel Googlygoo was a good depiction of silliness with a side of sexiness. She even went as far as to put on a strap-on underneath her pants to add that level of sexiness.
“Sexy silliness, that’s just how I am in general. Nothing is taboo for me at all,” Dalfino said.
Dalfino had choreography help from her childhood friend McKayla Cole. The two have been friends since they were 10 years old after their mothers met in a Zumba class. Cole described Dalfino as a firecracker and wanted her choreography to illustrate that.
“I loved seeing Olivia do my dance up on the stage! She turned my vision to life and it was a very cool moment,” Cole said. “She certainly knows how to woo a crowd.”
Cole will be choreographing her routine for the final, and promised that the performance would be an even bigger step up from before. Beyond her love of performing and drag, Dalfino really appreciated having a space to happily express herself and watch others express themselves without worry of judgment.
She said that getting a space like this after all of the homophobic vandalism and issues occurring on campus events like these allow the LGBTQ community the opportunity to express themselves and share in communal joy.
“We need something (that will) allow ourselves to be open and love everyone and just get rid of all the hate,” Dalfino said.
While organizations like Pride Union are very important for queer people, Pfluger and Dalfino said, it’s still hard for people to know that the organization exists, let alone that they host an annual drag show. Being from New York City Pfluger is used to a bigger, more visible queer community, and in coming to Syracuse, she was happy to find Pride Union and the drag show.
“There’s a lot of sh*t that happens in Syracuse for some reason, especially for the queer community,” Dalfino said. “I think just getting rid of that and being able to express within our community the love we have for each other and the love we have for creative expression … is really good for Syracuse.”
