Welcome to my site for Dance Fans, Flags and other associated toys.
I have created this site mainly as a place to display the photos that I take of the Flag & Flag Dancers in Palm Springs, California.
Tribe, Flaggots, Fannermen,
Send me your links…
Additionally, I want to cross-link to as many other Flagger- Fanner- Poi- Glowstick- Toys-, Sites as possible. As the web goes; "The better our connections, the greater our exposure." And the greater our exposure, the more likely that that lonely flagger out in the middle of nowhere will find us.
A View From The Floating VIP Lounge.
I've organized this site by the kind of brush:
• Fans
• Flags
• Poi/Other Toys
• Tribe (group shots)
• Archive (older shots, not sorted by brush)
• Links (to other related sites)
• Other aka Jazz (my other medias)
• Home (some of my very favorite shots)
Click on a thumbnail in the column to the left and the full image will open in a new window.
On all of the pages you will be subjected to my rambling dialogue on things that pop into my head while putting these pages together. I apologize.
Let the Rambling Begin.
I have been playing flags and fans since 1990 when Chris Smith, a complete stranger and my mentor to be, saw me twirling my T-shirt on a dance floor in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Without so much as a hello, he snatched my shirt away and put a set of fans in my hands. The rest is, as they say, history.
For those of you who don't know what flag or fan dancing is, I will try to explain.
First of all, the dance flag is known by many names: Flags (westcoast), scarves (eastcoast), rags, silks, wings, and many more I'm sure.
The act of dancing with any of the above also has many names: Flagging, spinning, twirling, throwing the rags, swinging, tossing.
Fans, on the other hand, are fans. I've never heard another name for them, but if anyone has another name I'd love to hear it! Fanning or fan dancing is the term for playing the fans.
As to what flag dancing is:
The dancer swings weighted fabric about their body is a smooth, rhythmic manner. Most often preformed in dance clubs to music; it is also presented in outdoor settings, with or without a boom-box. The outdoor experience often takes on the feel of gorilla theater, spontaneous and unexpected by the "audience." Flaggers have become a standard fixture in Pride Parades, at Burning Man, and at Circuit Parties. It has similarities to Poi (or fire balls) from the South Pacific, Gymnastic Ribbon Dancing, Rope Twirling by the cowboys of the classic American west, Baton Twirling for marching bands, and many others.
Blithering about photography
Something that you might not be aware of is that the color of your Flags has a huge effect on the photos. I prefer to take photos of the Fans & Flags under blacklight with out the flash;"Black-lit."
Most Purples and True Reds are very dark, even under black-lights. The human eye can pick them up but they pose a problem for my digital camera. Tye-dye artists Andy and his partner Sean had the first blends of Purples and True Reds that my camera could see without having to crank up the aperture and pull back the speed.
If I really want to see the Flags in "Black-lit" photos the colors you want are Bright Greens, Yellows, and Bright Oranges. As you shift to the other side of the color wheel, in either through the Blues or True Reds, towards Purple, the hue becomes darker.
Some will ask, "But Jazz, I have Red Flags that are very bright. Why do you say that Red is darker?"
To which I will respond, "I'll bet that you are talking about Pink. Or Orange." There IS a hue that is called Florescent Red, but to me that hue looks Pink not "True Red." At the other end of the red scale we get a deep orange. So that's my story, and I'm stickin' to it!
And while we're on the subject of Color and its effect on my camera… The blue created by black-lit whitewashed and un-dyed silk plays havoc with my settings. They either overexpose or disappear, go figure.
