Flagging Weekend
Learn to flag dance and create your own silk flags at Colorado’s first weekend of flagging events.
Perhaps you’ve seen them dancing on boxes at the clubs, or you might have spotted them whirling their way through a pride parade. They’re the athletic types artfully flying those beautiful, colorful flags with a powerful, dance-’til-you-drop intensity. These are the “flaggers” – performing one of the only exclusively gay art forms in existence – and if you’ve ever toyed with the idea of giving the flags a twirl, now is your chance.
Christopher Fish, a resident of Denver who performs regularly at local clubs, and Phillip Bryan of Dallas have organized Denver’s first flagging workshop, and they are eager to help others along in the discovery of the art.
Phillip got his start performing in Denver, and now performs at major events around the world. He recently led flaggers to perform in the nationally televised Thanksgiving Day halftime show for the Dallas Cowboys/Denver Broncos football game in Texas Stadium. Phillip returns to Denver to teach the flag-making tie-dye workshop on May 13.
So what exactly is flag dancing or “flagging?”
“It’s a high-energy dance form where colorful flags are spun in patterns with the body as extensions of the music,” says Bryan. Flaggers create eye-popping, almost dreamlike effects by artistically mixing liquid-like movements, technical skill, and amazing athletic intensity. Throw in the strobes and black lights of a nightclub, set the whole thing to a good dance beat, and the results can be fantastically surreal. Flag dancing draws its inspiration from Japanese fan dancing and Polynesian poi dancing (think Hawaiian fire twirlers), and this dazzling style of dance has begun to gain widespread popularity – from Boston to Brazil, from Texas to Thailand.
The workshop is designed for flaggers of all skill and experience levels. Participants will learn, step by step, how to make their own eye-catching sets, and after completing the course will have their own finished set to keep.
The workshop will be held at 3500 Walnut Street on Saturday, May 13th, beginning at 11:00 am.
Saturday evening, the flaggers will try out their new sets at Tracks night club, performing several times throughout the evening.
Sunday afternoon, the flaggers will meet at Cheesman park at 1:00 pm for “Flagging in the Park” (weather permitting).
Flaggers of all skill levels are welcome. Nonflaggers who wish to learn this exciting art form are invited to join us.
For more information on the weekend’s flagging events, please visit www.flaggercentral.com/denver
