Geronimo Frias: Straight From Dancer to Ninja

I have to admit that Geronimo Frias goes down in my chronicles as one of the funniest, adventurous and tantalizing interviews that I have had the great pleasure to do thus far! He was not only a blast, smart and charming, but he represented everything good rolled into one.

A popular figure in the nightlife scene, known by most, loved by all, Geronimo is an actor, a dancer, owns an entertainment company, went to school for computers and owns a gym that offers parkour, a training discipline based on obstacle courses with students running, jumping, swinging, vaulting, climbing and everything else imaginable.

What exactly is it that you do? I can tell by your appearance that you go to the gym.
I own a gym, actually. It’s called Brooklyn Zoo.

You actually own a gym?
It’s a parkour, ninja warrior gym.

Where is it?
230 Bogart Street, Brooklyn, New York 11206. Open 7 days a week, check website for current schedule at brooklynzoony.com

Do you like the Ninja Turtles?
I used to watch them. We have a lot of themed Ninja Turtles birthday parties now.

So how are you involved with gay nightlife?
I was a go-go dancer for five years, entered competitions and I have my own action figure.

Are you straight or gay?
I am straight.

But your best friend Alex, who I am speaking with soon, is gay.
Yes. A lot of my friends are gay.

Me too. So how did you get involved in the nightlife of New York?
I was trying to raise money for a friend of mine who passed away. My friend told me to come to a bar that he danced at, which is called The Cock in the East Village. I showed up there, and they said if you have a six-pack you can dance there. It was a good time. I didn’t realize it was so much fun, or that you could make that much money, so I started there. The dancers there suggested that I should try this spot and that spot, and before you know it, I was dancing nine spots a week.

So you were hooked?
Yea. It was a change of lifestyle. Starting off at The Cock was easy, because everywhere else that I danced at seemed like a breeze. The Cock was so dark and dingy, and you can’t really dance on that bar. When I showed up at the other spots, it was like OMG, a breath of fresh air.

That’s a very interesting place for a straight boy to begin a dancing career.
Exactly. It was the best place to start. It was awesome. It was kind of like a cave.

I’m familiar with it.
So I won some cool dance competitions. Was in some cool magazines. I performed with Cazwell, I did some of his videos, we got to tour, I got my action figure. I got to make my own underwear, my own go-go dancing shorts, tank top and a lot of merchandise. I did all of that, and the guys that I worked with became a nice little tight family: Alex, Chase Hollister and so many other guys that became part of that group. We all danced together, and we were just family.

Do you still dance?
No.

I’m curious: Before you discovered this lifestyle, what is it that you did?
What didn’t I do? I’ve always done some acting work, so any acting work that I could pick up I did. I also was a lifeguard for years. I was swimming since high school, so I was a lifeguard for about 15 years I would say. I also worked as a doorman, worked with computers, because that’s what I went to school for…

You had the best jobs!
Yep, pretty much. I also did a Spanish soap opera. So now I just run the gym. I have an entertainment company that hires DJs, dancers and all types of acts.

So tell me, what is your real name?
Geronimo Frias (“free ass”). I made a lot of money saying that. I showed them my license, and they are like, “Holy shit, it is.”

Where are you originally from?
I’m Dominican but was born and raised in New York.

Do you have a social life, I mean like a girlfriend?
What was that? Hello? What was the question?

OK, I get it.
I’m practicing to have kids…a lot.

You just keep practicing till you get it right. So you’re a new color in a box of 64 Crayola crayons. What color are you?
Wow! Good question. If I could be a pen that writes all of those different colors.

So then rainbow?
Rainbow would be fun, but who knows what color would come out? I would say blue.

Blue is already a color, but you just proved to me that you’re straight.
Wait, that depends. I’m only gay on Thursdays. Oh fuck, today’s Thursday!

Tell me a secret about Alex.
You know what they say about secrets. You gotta take them to the grave. Alex is straight on Mondays!

Out of everything that you’ve done or that you do, what is or was your favorite?
Everything is a favorite; that’s why I do everything. Everything is fun. I’ve been through a lot of jobs, so as I go through them, if they aren’t fun, I leave them. I thought dancing was so much fun, but then it got to the point where it wasn’t fun, and that’s when I said, “I’m done.” Dancing is not the same. I grabbed my stick and my little white handkerchief at the end, and I took off.

What was the scariest or funniest or most embarrassing thing that ever happened to you dancing?
There are so many stories. Most embarrassing is hard, because I don’t get embarrassed. If I wound up naked, I was like, “Oh well, it is what it is.” I have a good one—this is a funny story. I also emcee on the weekends at bar mitzvahs. So one day I am at the club, and I’m looking at this guy, and he looks so familiar. So I was looking and looking at him, and 20 minutes later he comes over to tip me. I looked at him and said, “Holy shit.” I said to him, “I just realized where I know you from.” He asked me where. It was from the bar mitzvah two weeks ago.  He was devastated. He went though all types of emotion. He had family, and I assumed he was not out of the closet.

Any last words?
Let me tell you something else, because everyone always asks me what the best part of go-go dancing was. A lot of people wonder if it was the money or the environment. Obviously it wasn’t the environment, because a straight guy dancing in a gay bar… But the best thing about it was the music. Gay DJs are the best DJs. They love to party. It’s not like they just go into a bar for a drink. They show up, and they just dance. The great part about it is that I’m kind of jealous of gay clubs. If you’re gay man you have options all over the place, because it’s all gay men at the bar. As a straight guy, you go to a bar, and you turn around, you probably bump into another guy. If you think about it, in a straight club you probably have about 40% women, and most of them have a boyfriend. It’s kind of hard, especially if the girls are going as a group. It’s hard to talk to them. If you go to a gay club, all them are single, and they are there to party. Oh my God, you guys have that, you know.

Another cool thing about it is all gay men have straight women that they bring with them. That’s another thing that I love. So the music is amazing, and everybody’s always so happy. One thing I didn’t want to do is lie to anybody. I told him I was straight. I said, “If you want to be friends, we can be friends.” I told them that was all that I could offer them. Usually it’s not like I’m a prude; you can touch. I always knew how to make people have the best times. People would come over to tip us, and I’d say, “No, no, no, wait…,” and I’d send them over to tip someone else. I’d take pictures and tell them that their dollar isn’t going to change my life, so go give it to someone who isn’t getting tipped too much. I would work out with the go-go dancers to keep in shape. We cover each other’s dance moves. I would dance like Chase or like Alex, so everyone would just kind of mock each other while we were dancing. It was great, because everybody picked up each other’s vibes and aura. But little by little, the awesome dancing clubs are closing down. Once they started closing down, it was like, you guys are just taking a part of my heart. So that’s why I stopped dancing.

Aww. Anything else that you want to add?
Yes, I want to say a big thank you to Cazwell, a big thanks to Frankie C, big thanks to Mike and to you.

Thank you back!
I also wanna thank all of the clubs that I danced in, and all of the guys that I’ve danced with.