Roller skating is taking over the world spending spring indoors has left many itching for the chance to be active outside this nostalgic hobby peaked on google trends back in may and has maintained steady popularity throughout the summer in the past year we’ve experienced a really giant resurgence in sales and
Our sales have increased by tenfold this year michelle stilen owns popular california skate brand moxie skates and unlike so many small businesses during this time the skate business is booming in the beginning of the pandemic we were able to deliver within one to two weeks but now people are waiting eight to ten
Weeks we hired 30 independent contractors to help us keep up with customer service and processing the orders the resurgence has propelled social media users like berlin skater umi janta to viral stardom i think people needed something refreshing for a couple weeks you couldn’t even meet your friends and stuff so i guess
After the restrictions being a little bit lower down people were like okay i’m gonna start doing sport so i think lots of people have found all this new time on their hands and also the need to feel really good again and get connected to their bodies and get moving after being trapped it’s
Like a high it is a high and it’s completely self-generated and self-motivated and like is so magical roller skating was invented in the 1800s its popularity ebbing and flowing across generations of leisure seekers roller derbies were hugely popular in the 70s roller derby is big league but its most glamorous
Moment of the modern era came during that same time when the legendary bill butler invented the now ubiquitous technique called jamming jamming is dancing on skates all over the place all over the rink the concept is learning and understanding how to utilize space Known as the godfather of roller disco bill butler’s moves have become iconic consulting for nearly every roller skating film including roll bounce i took the concept of walking and made all the adjustments that were necessary to deal with the stride so you get a melting pot of style only do you
Realize that when you go to a city where these multiple skating styles are all in the same building for the black community skating never died out roller rings remained a place to bond and have fun it had a lot to do with young black americans finding a release finding a place to go
And play and be themselves and create and and be safe at the same time but as rinks close down due to the pandemic skaters are returning to the parks this is my second day back because it’s like in stage four so i figured okay i can come back
We lost a couple of our skaters this year we still come out here because we don’t want to stay inside we enjoy the atmosphere we enjoy being outdoors but we’re still trying to keep that six feet distance from one another because we know that this corona thing is very serious
I feel like i’m flying through here i feel like i’m on a cloud and i’m just going through the streets because with these wheels you’ll go anywhere anyway whether you’re a newcomer Or a seasoned skater everything’s a little better when you’re on wheels
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