TV & Movies

Watch Drag Race Queen Denali Ice Skate (And Do A Back Flip) In Full Drag

Oh and her wig? Fully secured.

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Denali on 'Drag Race' Season 13 via VH1 press site
VH1

Following Season 6 queen Milk, Denali is the second Drag Race contestant who's also a professional figure skater — and she's taking full advantage of that talent on the main stage. In the Jan. 15 episode, she and her fellow Pork Chop queens ban together after their losing lip-sync losses to absolutely slay their group performance of RuPaul's "Phenomenon." And Denali, who choreographed most of the number, proved that she didn't belong in the loser's circle to begin with.

When Denali told her sisters that she was a professional choreographer, she wasn't bluffing. According to the LinkedIn page of Cordero Zuckerman (that's Denali's name out of drag), he's choreographed routines for Olympic-level figure skaters Joonsoo Kim, Ashley Cain-Gribble, and Timothy LeDuc. He's also worked for various performance companies including Royal Caribbean Productions, SeaWorld, and Cirque Du Soleil, and is a a two-time U.S. Figure Skating gold medalist in Moves and Freestyle.

We've seen Denali in skates on Drag Race (poor thing had to lip-sync in them), but we haven't seen her on the ice. And though RuPaul could probably make that happen later on in the season, there is already a video of her skating in full drag. Not only does she move across the rink like a whimsical fairy, she does a full-on backflip, all the while keeping her wig fully secure. Now that's worthy of the title of America's Next Drag Superstar.

If you want to see more, Cordero has a massive portfolio of routines on YouTube and Instagram — including performances to RuPaul's "Call Me Mother," Billie Eilish's "Bury A Friend," and Beyoncé's "Otherside." Hopefully we'll get to see more of Denali on the ice in the future, but for now, watching her dance down RuPaul's runway will have to suffice.

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