Flagella are central for bacterial motility and are involved in diverse bacterial behaviours, including host colonization and the establishment of symbiosis. Kinosita et al. used total internal reflection microscopy and fluorescent staining of flagellar filaments to characterize flagellum motion in the bean bug symbiont Burkholderia sp. RPE64. They showed that the flagellum wraps around the cell body like “a ribbon streamer in rhythmic gymnastics” and that this lets the bacteria reverse in a screw-like fashion. Interestingly, the authors were able to show the same type of motility in the squid symbiont Aliivibrio fischerii, leading them to suggest that flagellar wrapping is a strategy used by symbionts to 'drill' into and enter mucus-filled, crypt-like niches in their hosts, which cannot be entered by bacteria that use other modes of flagellated motility.