Start your engines for MISS BELGIAN TRAVESTIE 2014

Wigs got styled, dresses got bought or made, Make-up put on, because it was time again for the largest election that Belgium has in the world of drags/showqueens; The Miss Belgian Travestie 2014. It all happened last Saturday the 22^nd of February and last year’s winner Sacha Ryan had only a few hours left before she has to pass on her crown.

Because of other obligations Pink In Our Lives could not attend, but I have found an upcoming showqueen to cover the event for me. “She” gave her honest opinion, like I want it. Showqueens/Dragqueens are there in different kinds, faces and artists. They are very popular in many countries by as well gay as straight people. A big example is the start of already the 6th season this week of RuPaul’s Drag race. (which is shown on TV all over the world) Miss Belgian Travestie has also won its place as an event, where every showqueen wants to be or perform. Lolita Light did for me the honors to cover the event and I am very proud to let you all in on the inside information of this night through “her” eyes and after translation into English for our readers by yours truly. ;o)

LOLITA LIGHT:

For me as a fresh newbie Showqueen I was very excited about this particular day. Miss Belgian Travestie is the place to be to get noticed and to present yourself who you are and what you stand for in this “world. Even the Showqueens that don’t participate in the election want to show their best, which shows in the costumes that many “girls” wore. It was a gala event and a lot of them wore amazing evening wear, but off course not all showqueens hit the right spot with their costumes.

Anyway it promised to be an exciting event, because the performance level of the candidates were very equal!! Nobody stood out immediately at the press conference or at all the presences that the candidates gave at many different gay bars. The 6 candidates were Miss Tisha, Miss Starina, Miss Deena Jones, Miss Danity Grace and Miss Big Kiss and Miss Mystique Royale.

The evening started in Salons Mantovani after that everbody dragged into their seats with the show of “SHOW YOURSELF CATWALK”. It is always difficult to start first, but Miss Tisha did it perfect on the runway!! The style and the high hopes of the evening was immediately shown and it was gonna be spectaculair. The misses came with costumes that were unbelievable and beautiful and that all on high heels. ;o)

In the meantime the organizor of the evening and host Miss Michele presented us the jury, while the girls change and prepare for their first Free Act. In the jury were well-known names like Miss Belgium 2007 Annelien Coorevits, Miss Belgian Beauty 2001 Eveline Hoste and Openly Out singer Koen Crucke. There were als 2 big designers of these stars in the jury: Marisa Allen (Showbizz Shop) and Dirk Vervoort and 2 showqueens who know the business very well: Dany Boa and Dille.

With their first Free Act the queens didn’t disappoint us and kept the high-quality from their first Catwalk Run, but Danity Grace stood out this time! The candidates got 30 seconds time to introduce themselves and that left me a bit hungry for more. Saying very short your name, telling your age and wishing the other queens good luck is not showing who you are or what you are standing for. Danity Grace was smart enough to show her differently and came riding on a bike and showed us where she came from, a place called Geraardsbergen. Geraardsbergen is known for his special pie and maybe also later, like she herself mentioned, remembered for the new Miss Belgian Travestie.

Like always the last reigning Queen also gives a performance on stage before she hands over her crown and you could definitely see why Miss Sacha Ryan and her dancers won last year the title with a steaming performance.

After the presentation the ladies had to do the famous Swimsuit Runway and I am sorry but I have one word for this: TERRIBLE!! This was the first year that I have seen only one bathing suit that I would use to sunbath. The only thing I saw was feathers, feathers and feathers! The one that was original was the one that looks like bag of fries and the fries looked delicious. A nice reference to the Belgian culture!!

Miss Michele gave the queens for the 2nd Act a theme called Circus. I have to admit not an easy task, but each candidate gave their own vision with this theme. Miss Tisha has astonished us! Miss Big Kiss dared to give a Dutch number with this theme and brought a lot of ambiance! Miss Danity Grace showed that she has guts to perform with this theme, Miss Deena Jones was the princess of tigers and Miss Starina brought a beautiful version of Cirque De Soleil!

While the stage got prepared during each Act Miss Michele asked the jury what they thought about this election and if they can compare it to other elections like Miss Belgian Beauty or Miss Belgium. When Dille got to answer “she” said that she didn’t see anything of the Circus-elements in the act before, which gave a loud negative screams from the audience. And the crowd was RIGHT, because every candidate had some of the Circus-elements in their performances. If Dille wanted to give negative criticism, she had better done it at the Swimsuit Runway!

Then came the 3^rd and final Act . With this all the candidates have to give everything they got. For the first time I got disappointed by miss Tisha. When you bring a Beyoncé-medley you’ve got balls (no pun intended (editor’s note ;p), but you better make sure that you can dance. I got ashamed in her place. The music was fun, but especially the dancing moves, didn’t do the act justice! Miss Mystique Royal, whose performances the whole evening were right on track brought a Cher-medley. Very well done, nice moves and with confidence. Especially as you know she only had a few supporters with her this night. The only thing wrong was her make-up. She adjusted her make-up for this act to look like Cher. Sorry to say this and maybe a bit harsh, but it looked that Cher was already 5 years under the ground with this look-a-like. The other candidates brought their acts with lots of passion!

Then there was a half hour break where the judges could deliberate and after that the crowning for the new Miss Belgian Travestie 2014, the runner-ups and Miss Congeniality.

Miss Congeniality: Danity Grace, 2^de Runner-up: Miss Tisha, 1^ste Runner-up: Miss Deena Jones and for Miss Travestie Belgium: Miss Danity Grace

My own top 3 looked a bit different, but Danity Grace deserved to be the new Miss. She was very strong and original, very daring too. Miss Tisha was the surprise of the evening and I loved that Miss Big Kiss gave us also the Dutch music and ambiance. Miss Starina swept us away with her wonderful costumes and Miss Deena Jones with her beautiful face. Miss Mystique Royal got my respect, because she stood there alone with a few people for support and gave it completely on stage. I wish Danity Grace a beautiful year as the new Miss Belgian Travestie

Like Cinderella, who had to go from the party at midnight, it was time for me to go home, take off the wig, remove the make-up and hang up my dress in the closet. Going to bed and dreaming to go for the crown of Miss Belgian Travestie myself.

Alexander Decrans/Lolita Light writing and reporting for Pink in our lives!!!

Thank you Alexander or Miss Lolita Light for writing this report and I hope you can get that crown in the future. Hopefully we will see more of you in the future as Lolita or as one of our guest reporters. ;o)

Here is a recap of the whole evening in a nutshell to see what we have missed:

Off course I want to give my congratulations to the winner Danity Grace and may she have a beautiful year with lots of great things to happen. If you want to follow into her footsteps next year, go to Miss Belgian Travestie and enter your submission. Good luck to you all.