The first key to spinning flags is Awareness. Flags increase our physical sphere of influence about 10 feet. Most people are fairly conscious of their own personal space, but spinning flags increases it dramatically, so it’s important to increase our awareness of people and objects in your vicinity. The hidden weights can impact yourself and others. If you are in a crowded area, it is wise to find a less crowded place to spin, or to save the flags for later.
Flagging can be engrossing and rewarding regardless of your level of proficiency, and there is no end state one must achieve. Here are some musings I would like to share that might help you accelerate your learning. Some of these I arrived at myself, but most come via of Xavier, Phillip, Dan or others.
As far as I am concerned, having a set of specified patterns that a fan/flag player is expected to execute — like the “compulsories” in Olympic figure-skating — is potentially stifling to individual creativity, and thus antithetical to the real journey: that of discovering the dance that is uniquely yours.
If you study someone’s video or DVD you will only learn how they flag, not how you can find your own groove with it.
Instead of trying to imitate particular moves from a book or video, work on unlocking how your own body wants to move…
A few years ago I rediscovered my essence as a flagger. It was a deeply emotional experience, and I sent a letter to a friend trying to put the feelings into words. The letter does a decent job of putting this nonverbal awareness into words.
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