The Kid Should See This

How to Jam Skate in Venice Beach: Learn 4 roller skating dance moves

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Mixing hip hop, break dancing, acrobatics, and ice skating moves into roller skating, jam skating has been a part of Los Angeles, California since the 1980s. In this episode of KQED ArtsIf Cities Could Dance, LA-based pro roller skater Alicia Reason demonstrates how to practice classic jam skate moves like the crazy legs, moonwalk, electric slide, and spread eagle. Then she mixes them into a short routine.

alicia reason

In Los Angeles, jam 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.”

Alicia Reason at Venice Beach
Next: Roller dancing with friends at Tempelhofer Feld.

Then watch the classic roller skating scene from Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times.


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