— In SpinTribe@yahoogroups.com, Nicholas Lecaut <casperguist2@y…>
wrote:
> straight guys flag better because most fags
> just are too nelly and girly and straight men
> are more stiff and their moves are more mechanical.
Wow, was this statement just brilliant ironic humor, or are you serious?
If you’re serious, I really don’t know what part of the statement to
take issue with first:
– your perception that most gay flaggers are girly and nelly
(my experience is exactly the opposite – the flaggers I know are by
and large also the most naturally masculine men I know! Of course, I
pretty much only know San Francisco flaggers… );
– your implication that there is something wrong or inferior with
being girly or nelly
(I am disturbed by this commonly-shared prejudice, but since we all
more or less buy into it I’ll leave this one alone);
– your idea that there is an easily-indentifiable style difference
that separates straight flaggers from gay flaggers
(I firmly belive that there is something like a gay-specific aesthetic
or spirt or something, but so far I can’t claim I could identify it
from the dance floor in watching a stranger’s flagging style. Even if
I could, applying sterotypes to behaviors is very tricky business -
hell, I’m a Kinsey freakin’ 6 and I still dance like a total straight
boy);
– finally, your opinion that stiff, mechanical flagging is superior
to flowing, free-form flagging.
(This is a matter of aesthetic choice, of course, and if the
mechanical form is the one that gives you pleasure, so be it. Speaking
only for myself: I’ve never been interested in participating in
strictly "choreographed" flagging, nor do I have much interest in
learning the compusory "school figures." I’ve already been through
boot camp, and if I ever feel the need to add militarism to my
spinning I’ll join a drill team. Personally, I think there is already
quite enough limiting structure in the world – I think in fact that
authoritarian structure is one of the defining problems of the world -
and my freeform relationship to flagging is based precisely on the
fact that it allows me to transend structure. This does NOT mean my
goal is to descend into anarchy or chaos – rather, my "goal" is to
ascend to a higher order… to create a timeless moment… a perfect
balance and a total integration between me, the silk, the blacklights,
and the music. I only get close enough to this goal to even glimpse
it’s promise from time to time, never when I’m actually trying, and
rarely do I achieve even the glimpse for more than a half a song or so
here or there. One thing I do know: for me at least, I would never
even come that close using "stiff, mechanical flagging." Your results,
of course may vary.)
Anyway, my two cents – you caught me reading SpinTribe at the end of a
big cup of coffee, in a boisterous mood, and and with a little time on
my hands. Thanks for inspring me to write, and take my comments as you
will.
Happy spinning,
R
