Stream It or Skip It: ‘Dancing Queen’ on Netflix Marries Drag and Dance

Is there a reality TV genre that Netflix hasn’t tried in just 2018 alone? Once known predominantly for its prestige scripted fare, the streaming giant has checked off boxes for makeover shows, cooking shows, home reno shows, and more. Now here comes Dancing Queen, a cable-style reality docu-series in the vein of Dance Moms with one tongue-popping twist: it stars Drag Race fan-favorite Alyssa Edwards. 

DANCING QUEEN: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: A flag perched on the edge of the roof of a nondescript building on the edge of a nowhere road under a cloudless sky. The flag’s red, white, and blue, but it’s not an American flag: it’s a BBQ flag. As more southern-fried images of traditional Texas roll through (a gun-shaped sign for the BBQ joint, cows grazing in a yellow-green pasture), we hear something unusual: a voice calling out a rat-a-tat dance count.

The Gist: The place: Mesquite, Texas. The name: Alyssa Edwards. The legacy: RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 5 and All-Stars Season 2. The gig: dance instructor extraordinaire of Beyond Belief Dance Company.

Dancing Queen goes where no drag show (and few Netflix shows, TBH) has gone before, giving viewers a behind-the-makeup look at the 9-to-5 and 24/7 of one of the most beloved queens to ever sashay onto TV screens. This isn’t a competition show and it’s not a talk show, even though Alyssa Edwards’ knack for turning looks and phrases lets her thrive in those formats. This is a reality/docu-series through and through, a show that lets drag devotees get to know the Justin Dwayne Lee Johnson side of Alyssa like never before.

Our Take: Through the well-earned success of Drag Race, it’s evolution from a blurry reality show underdog to this year’s reality competition Emmy winner, the art of drag has reached the mainstream and launched a hundred queens into an upper level of stardom. And this success story isn’t one of selling out, either; drag was previously pushed to the margins because of persecution and the need for survival. Its mainstreaming not only means that queer people are finally getting the uncompromising spotlight they’ve always deserved, it also means that all those kids outside of the major cities now have beacons of hope beaming directly into their TV set.

So, that’s a lofty AF intro for a review about a Netflix dance-based reality show, but hear me out. Dancing Queen, a show without mini-challenges or skits, is proof that drag can really do it all. It’s a show that proves that drag queens don’t have to lip-sync to be captivating or even be in drag to be fierce. And while we do get those moments of compelling, unfiltered reality on Drag Race and its sister show Untucked, Dancing Queen is exclusively made up of those moments.

The premise is a straightforward one: its Dance Moms with one of Drag Race’s preeminent drag moms as its shining, tongue-popping star. That’s what the trailers sell you and honey, that’s what you get when you hit play on Dancing Queen. But while the structure of the show isn’t all that original (the first episode focuses on Beyond Belief’s intense try-outs for two elite dance teams… and also Alyssa Edwards officiates the wedding of two local fashion designers in a ceremony that makes Mamma Mia! look like The Revenant). What is original is that we’re seeing Alyssa Edwards in this format, a format usually reserved for catty housewives, southern moms, and the disinterested bros that orbit them. Alyssa can be catty and boy howdy are there southern moms on this show, but this tried and true format feels a little bit more alive with Alyssa as the focal point.

What’s truly welcome about the pilot episode is the way it depicts Mesquite, Texas–specifically the southern city’s queer side. Alyssa lives in a Texas that’s simultaneously denim and spurs and rhinestones and glitter. It’s a Texas populated exclusively by “Can I Speak To The Manager?” moms and the gayest of gay men–and that’s fantastic.

Because of that, I imagine this show being a lifeline to exactly the kinds of families–specifically tweens and teens–that have Netflix accounts all across the country. May they find Dancing Queen and strive to make their corner of the country as fab as Alyssa’s Mesquite.

Sex and Skin: Absolutely none, although some of the outfits at the gay wedding are confidently and flamboyantly revealing. .

Parting Shot: After spending almost 45 minutes getting to know a dozen different dancers, ages ranging from 7 to 17, the episode ends with Alyssa posting the lists of who made the cut. Honestly, dance shows aren’t my usual jam but this ending left me in suspense.

Sleeper Star: It is hard to steal attention from Alyssa Edwards, that is true, and the first episode has a lot of moms and kids with more personality than you could fit in a pick-up truck. But of all of them, the sleeper star is totally Athena. The 7-year-old dancer attacks her audition like a feral cat, throwing herself around the stage as if she was part of a Sia video. To quote a mostly speechless Alyssa: “Athena don’t possess any kind of technical quality, but what she has is a gift of being a performer.”

Most Pilot-y Line: Alyssa doesn’t mince words when it comes to Dancing Queen’s battle plan: “My plan for my dance school is to conquer this country one competition at a time. My high heels have done touched almost every inch of this world. Now I need my dance shoes to go ahead and saddle up.”

Our Call: Stream it. Drag Race superfans will leap, flip, and twist at the chance to get more time with Alyssa Edwards, and this totally accessible format might even turn some Netflix subscribers from drag curious into drag obsessed.

Stream Dancing Queen on Netflix