A Ph. D candidate at Australian National University reportedly won a “Science” magazine competition with a drag queen dance video.
Behavior ecologist Weliton Menário Costa was awarded top prize at the “Dance Your Ph. D” competition sponsored by “Science” magazine and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, LGBTQ Nation reported. Costa’s submission for the contest featured drag queen dancers and kangaroos.
“Differences lead to diversity,” Costas said at the end of the video. “It exists within any given species; it is just natural.”
The four-minute music video titled “Kangaroo Time” showed several different people dancing in a field interspersed with footage of kangaroos in the wild. Lines of text placed above the footage state facts about kangaroos as a diverse group, including drag queens wearing rainbow attire, jump around.
Costa, who is described as a “queer immigrant,” attempted to convey his findings on the social dynamics of kangaroos through his video entry, according to the outlet. His thesis, titled “Personality, Social Environment and Maternal-Level Effects: Insights from a Wild Kangaroo Population” was meant to demonstrate the varied personalities of the marsupials. (RELATED: Drag Queen Principal Resigns From Oklahoma School Following Backlash: REPORT)
The “Dance Your Ph. D” competition began when microbiologist John Bohannon hosted a dance party for scientists where all attendees refused to dance, the outlet reported. Bohannon told NPR’s Barry Gordemer in 2021 that scientist parties are “not on the dancey side,” explaining that he decided to create the competition with a prize incentive as a result. The contest is popular, garnering dozens of entries each year, LGBTQ Nation reported.
“One thing you can count on with scientists is they’re competitive and they have a sense of humor about their work so I thought, let’s just put it all together,” Bohannon told NPR.
Costa took home a cash prize of $2,750 for his drag queen dance video, according to LGTBQ Nation. The second place winner reportedly entered a video about the invasive browntail moth.