All Eyes On: Madison Elise
Anne Rebar
Issue date: 11/5/09 Section: TruLife
Bright lights, music, dancing and a whole lot of sparkle might sound like the recipe for an elaborate show in Vegas, but every semester it can be found in Kirksville hosted by the one and only Miss Madison Elise.
Madison Elise has been coming to Kirksville for six years to participate in the drag show hosted by Prism, Truman's Gay/Straight Alliance. This year's Prism dance is 10 p.m., Nov. 14th at the NEMO fair grounds with the drag show beginning at midnight. When she isn't performing for audiences across the Midwest or winning pageants, Madison Elise is 27-year-old St. Louis resident Tyler Hill.
A full time cosmetology student at Paul Mitchell The School - St. Louis, as well as a bartender at Attitudes nightclub, Hill said he first began doing drag at the age of 20, when he dressed up as a woman for a themed Halloween party.
"A month after dressing up on Halloween, I performed in an amateur drag night at Faces on Fourth Street, a club in East St. Louis," Hill said. "After about nine months I actually became the co-host of the show and began performing about four nights a week."
Becoming Madison Elise takes Hill about an hour and a half and includes hair, make-up, nails and costume. However, he said it wasn't always so easy.
"I always have done my own make-up, and in the beginning I looked pretty awful," Hill said. "Learning the whole process takes a long time, and though I could have sat down with some of the more seasoned entertainers to learn the ropes, I chose to learn by myself, just picking up tips here and there as I did it, which in the end I think was best for me."
After a year of performing four nights a week, Hill became the show director at the SPOT Bar and Grill in St. Louis, which made him the youngest director in the state. Although the bar closed down, it provided him with a contact who suggested he start doing pageants.
"It happened completely by accident, actually," Hill said. "While I was working as the director at a bar I met the owner of Miss Gay Missouri-America who suggested I get into pageants."
Madison Elise has been coming to Kirksville for six years to participate in the drag show hosted by Prism, Truman's Gay/Straight Alliance. This year's Prism dance is 10 p.m., Nov. 14th at the NEMO fair grounds with the drag show beginning at midnight. When she isn't performing for audiences across the Midwest or winning pageants, Madison Elise is 27-year-old St. Louis resident Tyler Hill.
A full time cosmetology student at Paul Mitchell The School - St. Louis, as well as a bartender at Attitudes nightclub, Hill said he first began doing drag at the age of 20, when he dressed up as a woman for a themed Halloween party.
"A month after dressing up on Halloween, I performed in an amateur drag night at Faces on Fourth Street, a club in East St. Louis," Hill said. "After about nine months I actually became the co-host of the show and began performing about four nights a week."
Becoming Madison Elise takes Hill about an hour and a half and includes hair, make-up, nails and costume. However, he said it wasn't always so easy.
"I always have done my own make-up, and in the beginning I looked pretty awful," Hill said. "Learning the whole process takes a long time, and though I could have sat down with some of the more seasoned entertainers to learn the ropes, I chose to learn by myself, just picking up tips here and there as I did it, which in the end I think was best for me."
After a year of performing four nights a week, Hill became the show director at the SPOT Bar and Grill in St. Louis, which made him the youngest director in the state. Although the bar closed down, it provided him with a contact who suggested he start doing pageants.
"It happened completely by accident, actually," Hill said. "While I was working as the director at a bar I met the owner of Miss Gay Missouri-America who suggested I get into pageants."
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