How Black Roller Skaters Are Carrying Forward LA's Iconic Scene | If Cities Could Dance

On Feb 22, 2023

In Los Angeles, roller skaters draw from a community and culture built over generations at Venice Beach and at rinks across the city. Over the past year, roller skating hit the mainstream as a safe and relatively accessible pandemic-era pastime, its international popularity bolstered by people recording their shaky progress on social media. Skates were sold out for months, and skaters have become major influencers on Instagram and TikTok. But longtime skaters are quick to remind everyone: This isn’t a fad.

Dating back to the ‘80s, OG jam skaters with boom boxes in hand, claimed the boardwalk as their outdoor roller rink, showing off acrobatic freestyle moves, flips and choreographed routines. Today many of them still skate, passing down the scene’s history and moves to younger skaters. While outdoor skating is a spectacle for anyone to watch, LA’s local rinks are known for their tight-knit community and high-paced action, with skaters zipping around the rink’s edge, doing tricks, flips, slides, and dips.

Paradoxically, skating’s newfound popularity comes against a backdrop of rink closures as skate communities struggle to exist. In Los Angeles County, popular rinks like Skate Depot and Flippers are shells of their former glory. In Nov. 2020, World on Wheels, the iconic rink that rapper Nipsey Hussle helped reopen in 2017 after its first closing, was closed for good.

In this episode of #IfCitiesCouldDance, meet some of LA’s Black skaters who are pushing the culture forward amidst a pandemic and economic downturn — from TikTok stars raising the profile of BIPOC skaters to a rink skaters using parking lots for skate boogies and opportunities to support Black businesses.

📌Editor’s note: This episode was filmed under strict guidelines due to the coronavirus pandemic. Safety parameters were followed to protect the health of the dancers and video production team.

📺WATCH this jam skating tutorial with pro skater Alicia Reason: http://bit.ly/HowToJamSkate

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Our history. Our culture. Our moves.
KQED Arts’ award-winning video series #IfCitiesCouldDance is back for a fourth season! In each episode, meet dancers from across the country representing their city’s signature moves. Watch a new episode from season four of the video series every other week.

📖 Read the full story here: http://bit.ly/ICCDxLosAngeles
🎶 Listen to our curated jam skate playlist: http://bit.ly/ICCDxLASpotify
⬇ Download English transcript here: https://bit.ly/ICCDxLAxTranscript

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👟Featured dancers:
Kamry Lorin, Founder of SISTA Skate
Alicia Reason
Raquel “Roxy” Young, Founder, ROXY’s Backyard Sk8Boogie
Liliana Ruiz
Frances “Abominatrix” McGee
Kelsey Guy
Wendy Peralta
Cierra Chérie,
Cree Thompson
James “BuckWild” Rich
Dee Upshaw
Ahmber Azali

🎨Featured murals:
Mural by J-Cup
“Never Stop Playing” by DjLu / Juegasiempre (2018)
“The Marathon Continues” by Danny Mateo, Carlos Gomez. Spray paint provided by Loop Colors.

#ifcitiescoulddance #rollerskating #losangeles

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