Interview: The Texas Flyboys of Houston Bring the Art of Flagging to the World

The Texas Flyboys of Houston are flaggers. They perform dance routines and complicated choreography to popular songs while maniupalte a series of flags to increase the visual stimulation of the audience. Sounds weird? Then you've never gotten sto see a true flagger perform. Staples of raves, dance and circuit parties and parades, the Texas Flyboys are becoming more popular, and bringing their spellbinding stage presence to many unique events. When the Flyboys' came to perform in sleepy little New Hope, PA; I sat down with them to discus their craft, and got some interesting stories as well.

Matthew Ray: Is little old New Hope really ready for the Flyboys?
FLYBOYS: We're thrilled to venture so far from home for this performance, so we will be bringing it to New Hope. I'll state the obvious: expect a lot of flag waving. We've taken the gay sub-cultural phenomena of flag dancing, and choreographed for multiple flaggers moving in unison. Harder than it sounds, as each flagger has to move pieces of fabric in synchronicity with his fellow flaggers. Think swinging yo-yos in a choreographed manner, but with flags attached. Our daytime, outdoor shows are all about the flags. Our nighttime shows add lights, fluorescent colors, and other effects into the mix. Very high energy.

Some dance events are NOT flagger friendly. Do people suffer from a"flagger-phobia "?
I've heard of that. I don't fully understand it myself. I've heard that some people have negative views of flaggers, but no one has ever explained it to me. I think some people who don't like the circuit parties associate flaggers with them, and others have simply been whacked by an unruly flagger. Those weighted flags can hurt.

Favorite song(s) to perform to?
One my favorites is "Time of Our Lives " by Paul Van Dyke. Other favorites of the flaggers is "Pray " by Tina Cousins, and "Spanish Guitar " by Toni Braxton.

Least favorite?
Since we choose our own music, or at least approve a selection before we will do it, there's no song we hated. I will say that there's certain songs we would do only over my dead body-but I won't say which because people don't like it when you knock songs they like.

How come you never see any female flaggers?
That's an interesting question, and I don't have a good answer. There are some female flaggers, but very few. The only thing I can think of is that long-term flagging requires upper arm and shoulder stamina-try keeping your arms up and in motion for longer than five minutes. Men may have a natural advantage, but I don't think that's it.

When was the first time you flagged?
I started in 1999. But, I'd been thinking about it for years before that. I taught my friends when we formed the troupe in 2002. Since then, almost all Flyboys have come to the troupe having never flagged. It takes about three months to get a new guy to where he can do a very simple routine.

How many hours a week do you as a troupe practice? Who is in charge of choreography? Costumes? Artistic Direction? Manscaping?
We usually practice once a week for little over an hour, with separate practices for new guys. When a show is coming up, we gradually increase the frequency until it is almost daily, and may also get longer. I am in charge of the choreography and artistic direction. My friend Edward "Elester " Stewart, who is also one of the senior flaggers and fellow founder of the group, has done most of the costume design and work.

How often are you flagging around?
Our performances are not that regular. We may not do anything for three months, and then have two or three different engagements back to back. Easter in Houston is always hard because we traditionally do two separate shows within 24 hours for two different events. On another occasion we had three engagements in one week. But, we need the off-stage time because it takes about two months to design and learn a new routine for one single song.

Oddest place you've performed?
A small town called Marshall, Texas, deep in the East Texas piney woods. The town paper did run a nice story on us.

Are there flagger groupies?
We do get the occasional fan emails. But so far, it's actually been mostly girls coming up to us after a show where there are straight people. Women have asked some our flaggers for "private shows. " After our Marshall, Texas show, which was mostly straight, the young women there surrounded the flaggers after the show. At our last appearance at a private party for a high society straight crowd, I had a pretty, young girl ask me to do things to her that I can't repeat. It doesn't make any sense. This isn't working out quite the way we had planned.

Houstonflyboys.com.