In the Dancing With The Stars semi-finals, RuPaul’s Drag Race alum Shangela – along with dance partner Gleb Savchenko – dazzled the judges with an epic paso doble performance to Lady Gaga’s The Edge of Glory, which resulted in the pair moving on to the finals.
Shangela, who acted alongside Gaga in A Star is Born, made history this season as both the first drag performer to ever compete on the series, and also as half of the show’s first-ever male same-sex couple (when not performing in drag, Shangela identifies as a cis gay man, Darius Jeremy Pierce).
“The fact that we are able to perform to a Lady Gaga song is so special because she has always been supportive, kind and so generous with her love for me and I am so grateful for it. This is a full-on honor!” Shangela told GLAAD prior to the performance.
After the performance, Gaga herself posted the video to her Instagram story and urged viewers to vote for the duo.
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“My friend Shangela just did an amazing dance to ‘The Edge of Glory’ on the Dancing with the Stars semifinals,” she wrote. “Send her your love and vote now.”
Much love to lady Gaga who posted to vote for SHANGELA tonight!!!!!!! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 iconic behavior pic.twitter.com/CZRTHtEBMu
— Ali (@aleebabee) November 15, 2022
In addition to the Gaga performance, the pair also did a Viennese waltz to I Have Nothing by Whitney Houston. Despite being in the bottom three, they advanced to the finals, and Shangela could not stop celebrating.
“We made the FINALE!!!!” she wrote on Instagram. “Our first dance of the night was the paso doble … honestly, I got my Whole Life! I mean, it was intense to learn but performing it was SO FUN!! And to #EdgeOfGlory by one of my biggest inspirations @ladygaga … this was another night for the books, baby! I literally am in tears over how far I feel I’ve grown through this journey. And what it means to be here, not just for me, but for so many watching. 🥰 thank y’all for believing in me…”
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FINALE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!💃🏽💃🏽💃🏽💋💋😊❤️💃🏽💃🏽💃🏽🥳🥳🥳😝😝😆😆😄😄 @officialdwts @Gleb_Savchenko omg y’all. This is our moment!!!! I luv u
— Shangela (@itsSHANGELA) November 15, 2022
In October, Shangela received a perfect score for her Halloween performance to a version of Taylor Swift’s Look What You Made Me Do. Their spooky performance featured Shangela and Savchenko dressed as haunted dolls come to life.
After news broke of Shangela’s history-making participation in the show, she wrote on Instagram , “I feel so honored to be the first drag entertainer to compete on the show. It’s about darn time!!! So all y’all who’ve been in my corner all these years, tell a friend! We’ve got Another One! Let’s go win this Crown…”