Shaun Taylor-Corbett joins Thomas King Flagg for a conversation on performance, cultural storytelling, and what it takes to sustain excellence on major stages.

For performers and producers, the episode offers a practical model for combining commercial excellence with cultural integrity.

Taylor-Corbett is a stage and screen performer with Broadway credits and a background shaped by dance, theater, and choreography influences at home. He reflects on training across movement styles and the demands of high-level production environments.

A central theme is readiness under pressure. The episode details the technical demands of Broadway, including rapid role preparation and complex partner work. Taylor-Corbett emphasizes discipline, adaptability, and consistency as essential skills for sustaining a professional career.

The conversation also explores his commitment to integrating Indigenous powwow dance, singing, and drumming into theatrical work. He frames this not only as artistic innovation, but as cultural visibility and responsibility.

Rather than positioning tradition and contemporary theater as separate, the episode shows how they can strengthen each other. Taylor-Corbett explains that many Indigenous dance forms carry specific meanings and cultural functions, expanding the understanding of dance beyond entertainment into knowledge and memory.

The discussion also addresses representation on mainstream stages. Taylor-Corbett highlights the importance of pairing visibility with authenticity, ensuring that cultural work remains grounded and accountable to the communities it represents.

For performers, educators, and arts leaders, this episode offers clear insights:

• Representation requires depth and context
• Technique strengthens storytelling
• Tradition and innovation can coexist
• Readiness under pressure drives opportunity

Watch the full interview

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Featured Book: The Dressing Drink

What if the truth you were hiding was the very thing that could set you free?

The Dressing Drink is a deeply personal memoir from Thomas King Flagg, tracing a life shaped by performance, legacy, and long-buried truths. From old Hollywood to backstage dressing rooms, it reveals the forces that shaped both the artist and the man behind the work.

📘 The Dressing Drink — Available on Amazon, Kindle, Audible, & TheDressingDrink.net

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Alexandra Wells joins Thomas King Flagg for a conversation about ballet legacy, artistic resilience, and leadership across performance and direction.

The episode traces a career shaped by family influence, elite companies, and repeated reinvention. For dancers and arts leaders, it offers a practical perspective on longevity: train deeply, adapt quickly, and continue evolving your role.

Wells is a ballet artist and arts leader whose career spans high-level performance and directorial work across major institutions. She reflects on early influences from her mother’s dance background and the realities of committing to a life in ballet.

A central theme is the tension between passion and practicality. Wells describes navigating family expectations around stability while pursuing a demanding artistic path. That dynamic ultimately strengthened her discipline and long-term focus.

The episode also highlights key career turning points, including opportunities within elite company environments. Wells emphasizes how readiness, timing, and trust intersect at the highest levels, and what it takes to sustain artistic authority in competitive settings.

A major leadership thread is reinvention. Wells discusses the transition from performer to director, coach, and mentor, framing it as both a practical shift and an expansion of artistic responsibility. Career longevity, she suggests, depends on growing beyond performance while maintaining standards.

The conversation also underscores the importance of dance history and mentorship. Wells connects lineage, repertory, and training, emphasizing that preserving knowledge is essential to sustaining artistic quality across generations.

For dancers and arts leaders, this episode offers clear insights:

• Longevity requires continuous adaptation
• Preparation makes opportunity usable
• Mentorship sustains artistic standards
• Tradition and innovation can coexist

Watch the full interview

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Featured Book: The Dressing Drink

What if the truth you were hiding was the very thing that could set you free?

The Dressing Drink is a deeply personal memoir from Thomas King Flagg, tracing a life shaped by performance, legacy, and long-buried truths. From old Hollywood to backstage dressing rooms, it reveals the forces that shaped both the artist and the man behind the work.

📘 The Dressing Drink — Available on Amazon, Kindle, Audible, & TheDressingDrink.net

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Host Thomas King Flagg welcomes artist, educator, and activist Marcus Smith for a powerful and deeply personal conversation about the role of dance as both protest and prayer. Together, they explore the intersections of faith, movement, and identity, sharing stories about navigating white spaces, reclaiming Black narratives through performance, and honoring ancestry through art. This episode is a meditation on embodiment, survival, and speaking truth through motion.

📘 The Dressing Drink — Available on Amazon, Kindle, Audible, & TheDressingDrink.net
💃 FlaggDance — Programs, media, and more at FlaggDance.com
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🔗 All links & updates: FlaggDance.com/links

Host Thomas King Flagg is joined by renowned hip-hop artist and breaker Rafael Xavier for a compelling conversation about legacy, language, and leadership in the dance world. With sharp insight and lived experience, Rafael reflects on aging in a physical art form, honoring cultural lineage, and mentoring the next wave of artists. This episode explores what it means to pass the torch while staying true to your roots.

📘 The Dressing Drink — Available on Amazon, Kindle, Audible, & TheDressingDrink.net
💃 FlaggDance — Programs, media, and more at FlaggDance.com
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In this powerful debut, host Thomas King Flagg is joined by special guest Elka Samuels for a heartfelt conversation about the cultural legacy of dance, the deep language of rhythm, and how community and family shape our connection to movement. Together, they reflect on the fading presence of dance in schools and the passion it takes to keep it alive for future generations.
You can purchase The Dressing Drink, the unforgettable memoir by Tom Flagg, and his book is available everywhere books are sold.

📘 The Dressing Drink — Available on Amazon, Kindle, Audible, & TheDressingDrink.net
💃 FlaggDance — Programs, media, and more at FlaggDance.com
✨ Follow Us: LinkedIn | Instagram | YouTube | Facebook
🔗 All links & updates: FlaggDance.com/links

In this thoughtful and vulnerable conversation, host Thomas King Flagg reconnects with longtime friend and returning guest Jamal Story for a deep dive into rest, resistance, and legacy. From touring life to the emotional toll of saying yes too often, Jamal opens up about setting boundaries, finding joy beyond the grind, and what it means to “rest radically” as a Black artist. This episode is both a meditation and a call to reframe how we care for ourselves in the arts.

You can purchase The Dressing Drink, the unforgettable memoir by Thomas King Flagg, and his book is available everywhere books are sold.

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📘 The Dressing Drink — Available on Amazon, Kindle, Audible, & TheDressingDrink.net
💃 FlaggDance — Programs, media, and more at FlaggDance.com
✨ Follow Us: LinkedIn | Instagram | YouTube | Facebook
🔗 All links & updates: FlaggDance.com/links

Host Thomas King Flagg sits down with dancer, educator, and cultural historian Michelle Audet for a thought-provoking conversation on how society packages, polices, and profits from beauty. They explore the impact of mainstream aesthetics on Black and Brown dancers, the roles of assimilation and resistance in performance, and the urgent need to challenge who gets seen — and why. This episode is a critical reflection on the politics of appearance and the personal power of reclaiming one's image.

You can purchase The Dressing Drink, the unforgettable memoir by Thomas King Flagg, and his book is available everywhere books are sold.

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📘 The Dressing Drink — Available on Amazon, Kindle, Audible, & TheDressingDrink.net
💃 FlaggDance — Programs, media, and more at FlaggDance.com
✨ Follow Us: LinkedIn | Instagram | YouTube | Facebook
🔗 All links & updates: FlaggDance.com/links

In the premiere episode, host Tom Flagg sits down with acclaimed dancer and choreographer Peter Chu for a reflective conversation on identity, rhythm, and the power of silence in movement. From early influences to navigating emotion through performance, Peter shares his journey with humility and depth. Together, they explore how dance can both express and transform — not just for audiences, but for the artist within.

You can purchase The Dressing Drink, the unforgettable memoir by Tom Flagg, and his book is available everywhere books are sold.

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📘 The Dressing Drink — Available on Amazon, Kindle, Audible, & TheDressingDrink.net
💃 FlaggDance — Programs, media, and more at FlaggDance.com
✨ Follow Us: LinkedIn | Instagram | YouTube | Facebook
🔗 All links & updates: FlaggDance.com/links