noizemagazine - Index

noizemagazine - Spring 2008 Issue # 55 - Index

Or, how mild-mannered Mark
Martinez morphs into pure
diva fierceness
by Steve Kleine
It is 3 a.m.; the party is off the hook.
The dance floor is packed and the
energy of the crowd is through the
roof. You hear the DJ transition to
the next song. Suddenly, a spotlight
hits the stage. Will the performer be
a dance diva or drag queen?
The answer is both. Brilliant, glitter-filled
makeup leaves no question
as to her fierceness. Mascara
flares from her eyes like wings. Her
“cleavage” consists of well-rounded
pecs pouring out of her skintight
outfit. No wig, just a headpiece
around her shaved head.
She (yes, “she,” dammit!) and her
backup dancers take over the stage
with athletic gyrations that would
make Bob Fosse weep with pride.
Her lips move in perfect synch to
the latest diva anthem. The crowd
always responds with cheers and
continues to groove to the music.
She leaves as quickly as she came,
with the DJ mixing into the next
track. There is no loss of energy; in
fact, the level is higher than before.
You ask yourself, “What the hell was
that?”
“That” was Flava.
Flava is the creation of Mark
Martinez, an in-demand choreographer
who has worked with the
likes of Janet Jackson, Prince, and
Michael Jackson. NoiZe recently sat
down with Mark to find the true
essence of Flava.
noiZe: Tell us about the birth of
Flava.
FLAVA: I am a choreographer and
was doing a show in Amsterdam. I was
also a go-go boy at a club called It. The
group I was dancing with started saying,
“Let’s add lashes and pumps. I liked the
direction we were going because it was
so avant-garde. But I didn’t want to be a
drag queen. Someone who had seen me
said, “Oh my God, you bring so much
flavor to the clubs! What’s your name?”
noiZe: When did you bring it Stateside
to the Circuit?
FLAVA: I started working at a straight
club for two years on the Sunset Strip
called Billboards ten years ago. I was
afraid I was not going to make it in the
gay clubs because I did not have the
boobs and the hair. But one night Manny
Lehman came to the show and asked if I
would do a performance at one of his
gigs. I did, and the crowd was blown
away. So he invited me to perform during
his set at White Party Palm Springs.
It just exploded after that.
noiZe: What was your fiercest moment
onstage evah?
FLAVA: I ripped my groin a few days
before this year’s Palm Springs White
Party and could barely walk. I ride horses
and when I realized I had to come up
15