If you haven’t tuned in for the new Netflix original Dancing Queen, leave your expectations at the door. This is not copy of Dance Moms. Netflix recruited Justin Johnson, also known as Alyssa Edwards, to pick up the torch of true life dance studio series and elevate the conversation. Much in the same vein of their reboot Queer Eye, Dancing Queen addresses hot button cultural issues, everything from drug addiction and how it affects a family’s dynamics to LGBTQ issues head-on.
Of course there’s all the drama you would expect from a docu-series about a competitive dance studio. Yes, there are moms who gets overly involved in every minute detail, although they’re more fleshed out than those depicted in Dance Moms. You can even count on a couple screaming matches, though more mature resolutions come at the end of them. But what shines about the show is how open Justin and Alyssa are about their life, the triumphs and the struggles alike — and how eager this Southern community is to embrace Justin as himself and as Alyssa and learn from his talents.
So who is Justin Johnson, and what do you need to know about him and his drag persona, Alyssa Edwards?
Alyssa Edwards has been on RuPaul’s Drag Race twice
You might remember Alyssa Edwards from the fifth season of RuPaul’s Drag Race. Alyssa garnered plenty of fans, but the one-time Miss Gay America ended up in fifth place. Thankfully for fans, she made a reappearance on RuPaul’s Drag Race: All Stars in 2016. Once again, Edwards ended up in fifth place.
You can watch some of Alyssa and Justin’s most beloved moments from the show in the montage video below. Turn the volume up so you don’t miss her signature tongue pop:
Justin Johnson used his allowance to take his first dance classes
Justin opens up about this story in one of the episodes of Dancing Queen as well as an interview with Esquire. Justin’s dad signed him up for little league football and gave him some advice to avoid getting tackled. Despite his dad’s words of wisdom, a tackle landed him on the sidelines with a broken arm. From the benches, he would watch the dancers and cheerleaders during the halftime shows, and his love of dance and performance grew from there.
Justin pulled in allowance from helping his grandmother and he used it to pay for his own dance classes. He called his uncle, whom he affectionately refers to as his “fairy godmother,” and asked him to take him to his first jazz dance class. Luckily for all of his fans and his dance students at his Mesquite, Texas studio, his uncle said yes. A gay actor at a local theater, his uncle had already spotted talent in his nephew.
Justin saw his first drag show at 19
Alyssa Edwards recalled the experience to Esquire, saying it was like a whole other world for Justin, who only really knew the small town of Mesquite. It was his first time at a gay bar and his first time seeing a drag show. She said she was very intrigued by the show, which was “very camp-y,” but Justin left determined to take part one day. It wasn’t long after that show that he saw a poster for an amatuer drag show and lept at the chance to jump in.
Justin invented the name Alyssa Edwards for his persona on the spot
At that show that he saw advertised, Alyssa Edwards was born. Moments before she was set to walk on stage, the emcee asked for her name. Justin drew inspiration from Alyssa Milano. When the emcee questioned the name “Alyssa,” she stood by her choice with a good dose of confidence.
“You know, it’s like Alyssa Milano, she’s beautiful and she’s funny and she’s charismatic,” she recalls telling the woman, who retorted with: “You can be any name in the world, and you want to be an Alyssa?” She did. “Well, an Alyssa is memorable, and I’m going to make that name memorable. And you’ll one day see that name in lights,” was her response before heading out on stage.
Alyssa took a break from drag to focus on her studio
Viewers of Dancing Queen already know that neither the studio nor drag gets less attention in this star’s life. Justin shares more about his family in the back half of the season released on Netflix, especially since you see the approach of family-centric holidays like Thanksgiving. Despite mending rifts in his biological family throughout the season, you’ll hear Justin repeat many times that he built his own family from the drag community. (Then you see them show up for each other just like family does. His friends even make a big road trip with him to support him while he visits his mother’s grave.)
But just as Justin and his feelings are central to Alyssa’s life, so too does Alyssa Edwards appear in everyday aspects of Justin’s. Justin’s dance students know and love Alyssa. Even though you see him in his studio, ruling (from a throne, naturally) — with a bare face, rocking a t-shirt — Alyssa’s still a common topic and very present. She’s used as inspiration and recruits young dancers for some of her drag performances from Justin’s ranks of students. The parents know and love Alyssa, too. But that wasn’t always the case. In fact, before the families found out about Alyssa in 2013, Justin took a year off of drag in 2011 to focus on the studio.
Alyssa was embraced by the families at Beyond Belief
They didn’t know about her until the promos for RuPaul’s Drag Race season 5 were released in 2013, though. Justin told Vanity Fair that he wasn’t sure how that would go over with the families at his studio but that he was overwhelmingly embraced. “I got an e-mail from one of the dads that said, ‘You know, Justin, I’m very thankful and grateful that my daughters are studying underneath someone that is so talented and so creative and innovative,’” he said about the experience. “Everybody was really gracious, and they were kind and they were open.”
She explained to Vanity Fair that some of the youngest students, the “Minis” you’ll see on the show, still don’t really get it. But Justin still tries to be an active part of their lives, even having dinner with their families. But when they’re old enough to understand, there’s no doubt they’ll join the ranks of Alyssa’s vast fan following. “I’m a very real person that has overcome a lot, so I think I’m relatable,” she told Esquire. “I’ve always been true to myself. And I feel that if people like it, they celebrate it.”
