One Odd Bird: Yvie Oddly Makes Them Live Stream for Their Life
If you ask Yvie Oddly what makes a drag queen stick around in people’s minds, she might go off on a loud, quick rant about how to be more than just a man in a dress, or she might quietly — uh, quieter — tell you that drag is about the transformation.
“If you’re not constantly evolving, pushing, and transforming both your style and performances, then you aren’t a queen,” Yvie says. “I could go out there and lipsync to someone else’s Top 40 song, or I can go out there and show them something they may have never seen before.”
Yvie, who recently turned 23, splashed onto the scene when she competed in Tracks’ Ultimate Queen in 2015. Her innovation, passion, and drive propelled her to snatch the crown, landing her a guaranteed six-month stint in the monthly Drag Nation.
However, she didn’t let honor of holding the crown seep its way through her wig and into her ego. Instead, she used it as a stepping stool. During her time both in the competition and the following months after, Yvie had one goal: Get involved with the community and build a fanbase.
It worked.
Yvie is now hosting a few different nights at Tracks alongside popping up in shows all over town. It’s been barely more than a year, and this self-proclaimed weirdo has climbed her way up to the Denver elite — but she’s doing it on her own terms.
Thus, The Odd Hour was born.
“I had this idea to do a show where the Denver queens could come and showcase skills they might not be able to at other venues,” Yvie explains while standing in the crowded dressing room at Tracks. “This city has some pretty gifted queens, and I don’t know if they aren’t being prompted by other venues, or if it is just easy to lipsync to a pop song, but I wanted a night where ladies like Mani Queen can come and paint rather than doing another traditional drag performance.”
That was the initial idea but the night, naturally, has grown. Now, one Thursday a month, Yvie Oddly delivers one of the freshest, most innovative themed nights in the city. The Odd Hour has blossomed into a fully immersive night complete with a range of queer performers and artists, not just drag performances.
The premise is simple: The artists and performers walk around the venue both before and after their performances to interact with the crowd. When the gong bangs signaling the Odd Hour, the next performer must stop what they are doing and perform on the spot while Keith Garcia — the mastermind behind Denver’s drag documentary The Heels Have Eyes — live streams the performance onto the main stage.
“The really hard part about Odd Hour is that is just sounds like a bunch of art kids fresh out of college gibberish, like, ‘I want to revolutionize an artistic movement in the queer community,’” Yvie says. “But when you’re there, you get to experience all these different elements coming together and just making sense.”
Near midnight at last month’s Odd Hour a crowd of people lined the stage, waiting on Yvie to perform. As the gong boomed its way through the club, and the start of Beyonce’s Freedom began to drown out the gathering crowd, Yvie is hoisted upright by three scantily clad go-go boys and a giant hand throwing up the ‘shocker’ symbol.
Her body is completely wrapped in gold, and while the instrumental intro to Freedom plays in the background, the go-gos and giant hand start unwrapping her, revealing a metallic, futuristic, cut-out dress. By no means does the dress wear Yvie as she stomps around the stage lipsyncing to the hard-hitting Bey track.
Halfway through the performance the song transitions into Major Lazer’s Be Together, and Yvie’s erratic movement halts as she approaches a hula hoop hanging from the sky. For the remainder of the performance, the queen’s heels do not touch the floor as she continually spins above the stage, shedding pieces of clothing.
“This bitch always brings it,” Cherry Poppins, fellow drag queen, Ultimate Queen 2016 runner up, and contestant on Ultimate Queen All Stars, says. “She is truly amazing.”
Cherry has been to all four Odd Hours, but has only performed once — on the same night Yvie took to the air. Cherry is not just a fan of Yvie’s performances, but also the outlet she is providing through the Odd Hour.
“I’m funny, I’m not a dancer,” Cherry says while dabbing white contour on her blue face. “It’s hard for someone like me to find an outlet where I can do what I want, [even] if that involves dressing like an alien and lipsyncing to an opera song.”
Lucky for Cherry, those are the performances she’s looking for.
The Odd Hour is not amateur hour. Performers who wish to be part of the immersive night have to come with a passion for the avant-garde in fashion as well as performance, an idea for a strong, conceptual piece, and the ability to execute it with showstopping skill, talent, and perspective that would pump up a crowd at a nightclub.
“The great thing about Yvie is that she pushes people,” Cherry says. “I mean, I’m completely blue right now thanks to her support. I’m branching out from my norm.”
Staring into the mirror, Yvie’s eyes slide toward Cherry as she contours her nose, and offers her makeup advice. The room had slowly filled with other performers, each greeted with an air kiss from the host of the night. Each greeted with warmth and help — and the occasional sass — as they prep for the night.
“Denver is filled with talented performers and queens,” Yvie says. “But those that are willing to change constantly and not remain stagnant are the ones who will make a lasting impression. They are also the ones that I’ll invite to perform at the Odd Hour.”
Check out Yvie’s phenomenal performance from last month’s Odd Hour, peep her Instagram, and get out to the next wicked night on Thursday, September 15.
