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Dante DiFranco, real name Julie Pearce, is a charming and
smooth drag king performer. In 1999, he donned drag for the first time while just having fun with his friends. Later, he decided to try it out again, bound his breasts with an ace bandage, put on a pair of brown
corduroys, and a burgundy tank top. He chopped up some of his friends hair and used
Elmer's glue to apply it on his face, and finished the look with a snowboarding hat and a pair of 6 inch platform boots. Little did he know, but this was the beginning of who he would later become, Dante. He went to the local club that night where a drag show was being performed and found out that they were a performer short. He was
instantly recruited! He began his debut that night as Jitterbug (the name that all of his friends know him by) performing, off the only CD he had in his car, "Meet Virginia". It was that night that he fell in love. He fell in love with something he never expected to fall in love with...the stage.
Continuing to perform, he later changed his name to Wyatt. However, it just didn't seem to click quite right for him. After hours and hours of contemplation, the name Dante arose. This new name "came to life." Ever since that first night of Elmer's Glue and 6-inch platforms, Dante has continued to perform and has found his home on the stage. He lives in Duluth, MN and performs both locally and Internationally. |
He runs the largest drag king list-serve "dragkinging" on the Internet through yahoo. To date it has close to 400 members of the drag king community. He will be performing this summer in his tour, "Gender Distortion". He also is the author of the book, "The Art of Drag Kinging" which is in the process of being published. Dante DiFranco plays out the masculine side of Jitterbug. He is the drag king character that spawned after hours and hours of character development. The character he plays is a romantic Italian stallion. Most of the time he is getting himself into trouble or falling hopelessly in love. Along with being a merchant of fine textiles, he has been performing for the last few years as an actor who's dream is to take on a role in a James Bond movie. He has a sick sense of humor, but everyone loves him cause he speaks his mind.
Most of the time, you will see Dante dressed sharply and sophisticated. He usually does elaborate performance pieces where his style of dress may range from a priest costume to a pimp suit. You never know what he is going to pull out of his sleeve next. That's what makes him so magically delicious!
