Bold, inclusive Low Pone party makes mark in Indianapolis’ LGBTQ community

The monthly Low Pone dance party may be an explosion of expression for avant-garde drag performed by both queens and kings, but the night wasn’t designed to be a spectacle.

At least not a spectacle for people outside the LGBTQ community.

“When we thought about Low Pone, it wasn’t a place for straight people to come and say, ‘Oh, this is so crazy, this is so much fun,’ ” event founder Carrie Keel said a few days before the event's second-anniversary celebration. “This is not about that. This is actually for men, women, trans people, queer people, bi people, wherever you are.”

Keel wanted Low Pone (rhymes with "cone" and inspired by ponytails worn at the nape of the neck) to be an inclusive haven without necessarily catering to bachelorette parties.

Low Pone's hosts, Mary Fagdalane and Stevie Dicks, incorporate horror elements into their drag, providing a contrast to the sparkly, glamorous performances associated with “RuPaul’s Drag Race.”

This is more of a punk-rock party.

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“It’s crusty,” Keel said. “It’s made by the people who go there. This isn’t a business. This is for the people.”

It's an ethos that has carried Low Pone from being a pop-up event organized in response to a dwindling number of gay clubs and bars in Indianapolis to becoming a cultural movement.

The second-anniversary edition of Low Pone is scheduled 10 p.m. Feb. 2 at Pioneer, 1110 Shelby St.

One night earlier, author Taylor Rose and photographer Casey No will open a Low Pone-focused multimedia exhibit at Tube Factory Artspace, 1125 Cruft St.

The exhibit is titled "Crashing Through the Front Door," also the title of a new book by Rose and No. Instead of a down-the-road retrospective, "Crashing Through the Front Door" captures an event as it grows in popularity from 100 to 500 attendees in a matter of months.

While interviewing dozens of attendees and performers and making thousands of photographs, Rose and No believed they were in the right place at the right time.

"We had this epiphany that this is not something that’s ‘past tense,’ " No said. "This is a present thing that’s unfolding before us right now. The more we attended, we started to realize the event was changing the face of the queer community in Indianapolis."

Rose, formerly arts editor for Nuvo, sees it differently, saying Low Pone didn't reinvent the wheel but filled a need.

"I don’t think it’s changing the face of the queer community," Rose said. "Carrie is creating a show that's creating a home for everyone within the queer community — parts of the queer community that haven't been allowed to be seen, let alone celebrated."

According to Keel, most Low Pone attendees range in age from 21 to 35. The balance of male and female attendees is fairly even, and Keel estimates more than 10 percent of attendees consider themselves outside of or in between binary gender classifications.

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Beyond the 21-and-older Low Pone events, Keel founded an all-ages gathering known as Minor Sweat. An LGBTQ music festival titled Buzz Cut is in the works for Fountain Square in September, and the words of images of Rose and No will be entered in the LGBTQ archives of the Indiana Historical Society.

Arsenal Tech alum Keel devised the idea for Low Pone after catching drag performances by Mary Fagdalane and Auntie Christ during an open-stage night at Zonie's Closet, 1446 E. Washington St.

"They were not like anybody else," said Keel, who invited the duo to be the original Low Pone hosts.

The 2018 death of Auntie Christ became a prominent part of the Low Pone narrative in "Crashing Through the Front Door."

As Rose writes in the book's opening passage, "This is a story about how that one night becomes a sanctuary, paying homage to the idea of home, to a chosen family. ... This story is about finding triumph in the face of tragedy and refusing to be defined by it."

The structure of a Low Pone party includes sets by DJ Little Town, drag performances and live performances by guest rappers and bands. (Photographer No is vocalist-guitarist in the band Spandrels, which will perform at the Feb. 2 edition of Low Pone.)

Keel dictates one rule for drag performers: "The only thing I said, 'No Top 40.' "

Songs by Bikini Kill, FKA Twigs and Marilyn Manson have supplied a soundtrack for Low Pone drag.

No's images convey the energy of the party, which can be valuable for someone who's never attended Low Pone. The photographer, however, emphasizes the people in the room.

"I'm more concerned with making those people feel beautiful and feel seen than trying to show an outsider something they haven't seen," No said.

‘Crashing Through the Front Door’ exhibit

>> WHEN: Feb. 1-16.

>> WHERE: Tube Factory Artspace, 1125 Cruft St.

>> ADMISSION: Free.

>> INFO: Visit bigcar.org.

Low Pone 2-year anniversary party

>> WHEN: 10 p.m. Feb. 2.

>> WHERE: Pioneer, 1110 Shelby St.

>> ADMISSION: $5.

>> INFO: Visit pioneerindy.com.

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Call IndyStar reporter David Lindquist at 317-444-6404. Follow him on Twitter: @317Lindquist.

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