April 14, 2009
At Crazy Legs club,
Tuesday, April 14th 2009, 4:00 AM
He for News Amy Rea and Rick Casalino dance at the Crazy Legs Skate Club in the Brooklyn borough of New York.
It's Brooklyn’s secret-skater society.
Every Wednesday night, dozens of die-hard roller skate fanatics take over the gym in a Bedford-Stuyvesant Salvation Army community center, turning it into a makeshift roller rink, the Brooklyn News has learned.
“You get people from next to homeless to people that are bank presidents, doctors, lawyers; they are all skaters,” said Lezly Ziering, 76, who got the idea to form Crazy Legs skate club after watching Brooklyn’s Empire Roller Rink, the Bronx’s Skate Key and Manhattan’s Roxy go under in the past two years.
“We’ve lost all our rinks in New York City,” said Ziering. “We don’t have a place that’s close to New York City that’s viable to get to easily and cheaply.”
Then, about six months ago, Ziering saw the wooden floors of the Kosciuszko St. building’s gym. It was love at first sight.
“The first time I saw the floor I said, ‘This is fabulous.’ It was smooth, with no digs or holes in it. They mopped the floor, and gave it a light sand and put a coating on it. Now, we have this beautiful wooden floor perfect for skating.”
With a little help from Salvation Army Major and fellow roller fanatic Wilfred Samuel, Crazy Legs was a go and the space was rented.
All it took was a few strings of Christmas lights and a deejay, and word of the new digs spread skater-fast through the quirky, tight-knit community.
“As true skaters, we will skate anywhere; we skate outside, we skate indoors, we’ll skate in someone’s apartment,” said life-long skater Gwen White of East New York. “We all skate in our kitchens. This is what you call a true skater.”
Although the club - which charges $10 admission - already has 90 members, there's still room for another 100, Ziering said. But Crazy Legs doesn't provide skate rentals - and for good reason.
"The only time we have violence is when we have skate rentals and when people come in that aren't skaters," Ziering said. "Because skaters love each other and they get along with each other. We never have fights."
Classics and other beats like Michael Jackson's "Beat It" and Beyoncé's "Crazy in Love" blare on as wheel-bound members from all walks of life and boroughs lace up and take the floor.
During song breaks, the skaters munch on 50-cent red velvet cake and $2 chicken or fish.
"There is almost like a childish aspect to it," said Manhattan real estate executive Ken Ableson, 56. "They say skaters grow younger because we skate counterclockwise."
For Jack Haber, a corporate executive from the upper East Side, suiting for a skater-stroll reminds him of beating cancer.
"Eight years ago, I had cancer and they thought I was gonna die," he said. "The fact I can walk again; I can skate - is amazing. Every time I skate, I remember I can do this! I'm having a ball! It's an affirmation of my life every time I do it."
Whatever their reason for coming, the club's members are here to stay, said Ziering. "We have a home. We have to have a place to skate [and] no one's getting rich from this."
Visit www.CrazyLegsSkateClub.com for more information.
August 20, 2008
Roller Skaters Revel in a
Roller Skaters Revel in a New Rink in the City
Coney Island Journal
Lola Staar's Dreamland is in the landmark Childs Restaurant building in Coney Island.
The skies over Coney Island put on a spectacular show on Saturday evening, with the sunset casting violet hues and a fat yellow moon disappearing and reappearing through clouds.
Roller skaters at Dreamland's"Purple Rain" theme party. Skaters were bereft when the Roxy and Empire rinks closed in 2007.
But for a row of spectators lined up along a lonely section of the Boardwalk, the real entertainment was happening opposite the beach, inside an ornate yet decrepit building. There, under disco lights and mirror balls, and displaying varying degrees of agility, roller skaters were circling, circling around a makeshift rink that offered a taste of the glory years of indoor roller-skating in New York City.
"Skaters have been so horribly sad, being orphans," said Beth Emerson, who was one of the original roller-skate dancers at the Roxy, the beloved nightclub in Manhattan and one of two popular roller rinks to close in the city in 2007. "Now, we're not going to be orphans anymore." The site of Saturday night's roller-skating was Lola Staar's Dreamland, the brainchild of Dianna Carlin, an entrepreneur who runs a tiny and bustling souvenir shop on Coney Island's Boardwalk. Lola Staar is Ms. Carlin's alter ego, and this year Ms. Carlin's dream came true when she won a contest sponsored by Glamour magazine and the designer Tommy Hilfiger that helped her open a roller rink in Coney Island. Ms. Carlin is also the founder of the Save Coney Island organization, formed to stave off overdevelopment, and she wants to help breathe new life into a blighted area of the Boardwalk. Roller-skating, she believed, would be the ideal fix.
The rink opened in March in the Childs Restaurant building, an 80-plus-year-old terra-cotta landmark that has spent much of the past half-century closed to the public. A floor of interlocking plastic tiles was laid and about 200 pairs of roller skates were donated, Ms. Carlin says, by "a family whose grandfather was active in the roller-skating world" The plan, at first, was to open the rink for just one night, but the response from the public, and the city's legions of bereft roller skaters, was so overwhelming that Ms. Carlin resolved to reopen the place on a semi-permanent basis.
"It was amazing" Ms. Carlin said of the rink's inaugural night, which drew luminaries like the singer Ashanti and the actress Marisa Tomei. "Over 1,000 people RSVP'd for the party, but we could only allow 300 people in. It showed how passionate people are for roller-skating."
It took nearly four months for Ms. Carlin to navigate a thicket of building permits and insurance needs to reopen the rink, but finally, in July, she did. The rink is scheduled to open every weekend until October, at least.
Longtime roller skaters who showed up at Dreamland on Saturday night said they had yet to find a new home since the Roxy and the Empire roller-skating rink in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, closed within a month of each other last year (a third rink, Skate Key in the Bronx, closed in 2006). Some make their way to rinks in New Jersey and on Long Island and Staten Island. Some skate on the weekends in Central Park, though several said they avoided outdoor skating because they did not like rolling on asphalt.
Yet no rink, the skaters said, has filled the void left by the Roxy and Empire.
"Empire was the love of our life," said Yvonne Blugh, who showed up at Dreamland shortly past sunset on Saturday with her husband, Ian -- the two met and fell in love at Empire. The night's theme at Dreamland was "Purple Rain," the 1984 movie starring Prince, and the Blughs dressed accordingly: she in a shiny black leather minidress and fishnet stockings, and he in a purple velour pantsuit with leopard-print flares.
Alex Kirby, a 63-year-old who wears 38-year-old custom-made roller skates, drives on most weekends to rinks in New Jersey. But Mr. Kirby, who polished his roller-dancing technique over decades at the Roxy and other rinks in the city, finds the New Jersey skaters too fast.
Irving Rollins, 52, who lives in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, said he had not been able to find a rink that equaled the Roxy's all-inclusive vibe. "People from all over the world, upper-end people, lower-end people, there was no place like Roxy's," he said.
And Angela Pinder, who showed up at Dreamland with her friend Lecia Williams, finds the New Jersey rinks too far away, the Long Island skaters standoffish and the Staten Island rink too hard to find.
"We need something in New York," said Ms. Pinder, who used to skate at Empire. "Urban children have nowhere to skate." It remains to be seen whether Lola Staar's Dreamland will fill the void. Attendance has been erratic, possibly because people are unaware that the rink is there. Ms. Carlin is hoping to build enough momentum to open a permanent rink in Coney Island after Taconic Investment Properties, which holds the lease on the Childs Restaurant space, reoccupies the building. She also envisions finding a sponsor and laying a wooden floor in the rink.
The place might see some competition from a new rink being planned by Lezly Ziering, a 75-year-old roller-skating teacher who plans to start a skating night called "Crazy Legs" in September at an old gym in Bedford-Stuyvesant. But Mr. Ziering, who showed up at Dreamland on Saturday, said his skating nights would be on Wednesdays, and Ms. Carlin's rink is open only on weekends.
Indeed, Julio Estien, who was the D.J. at the Roxy, was spinning at Dreamland on Saturday night, and suggested that there was enough demand to fill both venues.
"They're still broken-hearted," Mr. Estien said of the city's skaters. "But now they have Lola Staar's Dreamland."
April 30, 2008
GET OUT: Roll bounces
GET OUT: Roll bounces back
by Jodi Lee Reifer
Saturday April 12, 2008, 5:00 AM
NYC's legendary roller discos flamed out in the era of video games, martini lounges & Wi-Fi -- but diehard skaters never recovered from boogie fever. What once looked like slow-dying fad has morphed into a thriving adult counter-culture deep in S.I.'s South Shore. Meet the rink refugees of RollerJam USA ...
The foxy brunette in a candy cane jumpsuit works the floor, hustling to the thick bassline of Vaughn Mason & Crew's "Bounce, Rock, Roll, Skate." Some dude in a tribal tunic strikes sinewy poses in the center as the crowd -- and shafts of light reflected off the mirrored ball -- circle him. Wobbly wallflowers hang on the fringes.
The blurry mass is history in motion, literally.
While the last of NYC's famed roller palaces died out last year, the scene-makers refuse to roll over and play dead. On Saturday nights, Manhattan's Roxy refugees and one-time rulers of Brooklyn's Empire sojourn to the southernmost edge of New York City -- Richmond Valley, Staten Island.
There, they find the 9-month-old RollerJam USA, the only indoor, year-round rink left in NYC. On the 125-by-80-foot glossy floor, dozens of old-schoolers skate circles around rink amateurs who are falling (literally, sometimes) for this retro-entertainment.
Together, they forge a surreal underground scene on S.I.
Heeding Michael Jackson's call -- circa 1979, the year roller discos peaked -- to "shake your body down to the ground," packs of adult skaters (and a growing number of gawkers) opt for racing neon lights and disco balls as an alternative to the local bar scene's ubiquitous cover bands and beer pong.
"Most of my friends are out drinking right now," says Vincent Romeo, 24, a carpenter from Dongan Hills, who hits the booze-free rink practically every Saturday night with his girlfriend. "This is a good getaway, and you can actually get fit, if you want."
As a kid, he played hockey in Rollerblades, but rolling on four wheels -- aka quads -- is entirely different than inline skating, says the straight-up jeans and T-shirt guy. Though his moves aren't as slick as the major movers and shakers, Romeo says "every time you come, you learn a little bit more."
Even veterans of the era when roller disco was a bona fide pop culture phenom huddle in corners to practice their 360-degree spins and neck-jarring turns.
"When they got it, they're just trying to perfect it. I guess it's like Derek Jeter constantly tweaking his batting stance," says Kelvin Parris, 43, of Elmont, L.I., who drives an hour to S.I.'s deep south almost every Saturday.
Lacing up since he was 14 years old, Parris circled all the storied -- and now shuttered -- rinks of NYC: The Skate Key in the Bronx, Empire Roller Skating Center in Crown Heights and Roxy NYC, the legendary "Studio 54 of roller rinks" that hosted skates every Wednesday night in Chelsea.
"When they close down a rink, it tears down the community a little bit," says Sara Martinez, a dance skater in purple pants, who makes her living as a Pilates and aerobic instructor. "They talk about childhood obesity, but they keep closing the rinks."
RollerJam's debut offered sanctuary for these rink renegades.
Growing up in the Bronx, Martinez rolled at the Skate Key. Now, the 30-something Westchester County woman road-trips two hours to mix it up with a corseted swan in blinking circus glasses, a stunt skater turning tricks in a squat and the Roxy's displaced DJ Julio.
| Roller Jam USA |
"This the only place left in NYC to go," says Martinez, matter-of-factly.
Lezly Ziering, a lean, mean 75-year-old (SkateGuru.com) who trained the cast of Andrew Lloyd Webber's '80s skate musical, "Starlight Express," is a RollerJam regular -- even after two hip replacements. And, at 63, the lanky Chester Fried, vice president of the National Museum of Roller Skating in Lincoln, Neb., rarely misses a Saturday night here, 45 minutes from his South River, N.J., home.
"We all know each other," says Parris, sizing up the kaleidoscope of characters. Pointing out a woman in pink woolly-mammoth-fur leg-warmers, he murmurs: "that's Roxy royalty."
It's no secret the roller boogie craze went from hella cool to high camp around the time Olivia Newton John poured herself into hot pants for 1980's "Xanadu." Let current pop culture dictate whether or not their hobby is in or out? Nah, these people don't roll like that.
So what does keep these die-hards charged about something that's fallen so far out of the mainstream?
"The same thing that makes people want to continue riding motorcycles or playing baseball past their prime," says Parris, a furniture restoration firm owner, who met his wife, Lourdes, on the rink at age 15. "It becomes part of you -- you can't stop."
On the first Thursday night of the month, the crew convoys to Newark's Branchbrook Park Roller Skating Center. Every third Friday they invade United Skates of America in Massapequa, L.I. But every Saturday belongs to RollerJam, which dedicates that night to adults (21 for women, 23 for men).
No doubt, the disco-esque RollerJam -- tricked out with "over $150,000 of lighting and DJ equipment," says co-owner Joe Costa -- is a satin-jacket and tube-sock flashback for Islanders who haven't circled a rink here in decades. One of the last in the borough was Skate Odyssey in South Beach, which closed in '83.
The Saturday jam -- complete with break-dancing daredevils -- can look intimidating, admits Costa, who says he built the rink when his 14-year-old daughter complained of being bored on weekends (FYI: Fridays nights are dedicated to 10- to 16-year-olds).
Still, most of the RollerJam regs are so skilled at swerving in a blink that they effortlessly maneuver around rookies. And if the vets do accidentally crash into neophytes, they usually help them up. The sense of free-wheeling goodwill is palpable.
While showboats loop the rink's rim to max out their strides, the more-informed newbies gravitate to the inner circle to avoid becoming rinkkill. As Saturday night turns into Sunday morning coming down, the perimeter is peppered with those trying to work up the nerve to roll for the first time since grammar school.
With crowds steadily swelling, and more and more off-Islanders discovering the South Shore, it appears that roller boogie fever -- and its practically subversive "I'll be damned if you tell me what's hip" attitude -- is just as infectious as it ever was.
"They're amazing," says Margaret Bosco, 33, of South Beach, marveling at the aerodynamic eye-candy from the sidelines. Bosco, a creative coordinator for Elizabeth Arden, returned to the rink last summer for the first time in umpteen years. Back again with her galpal posse, they talked up buying their own skates. "They make it look like so much fun. It makes me want to actually learn to do that."
TALK BACK: AWE senior writer Jodi Lee Reifer can be reached at reifer@siadvance.com.
RollerJam USA
Hours, audience and admission:
Wednesdays, 3-11 p.m., all ages, $6.50
Fridays, 5 p.m.-midnight, ages 10-16 only, $9.50
Saturdays, 1-8 p.m., all ages, $9.50
Saturdays, 9 p.m.-1 a.m., ages 21 and older for women and 23 and older for men, $11.50
Sundays, 1-10 p.m., all ages, $9.50
More information:rollerjamusa.com, 718-605-6600
Rentals are $4.50 for inline (Rollerblades) or quads (roller skates)
ROLLING BACK THE YEARS ...
The rise, fall and survival of the roller disco empire
1760 -- Belgian inventor Joseph Merlin wears the first roller skates to a party in London, where he crashes into an expensive mirror. The experience inspires other inventors to produce roller skate models, most with in-line wheels to imitate ice-skating blades.
1863 -- Massachusetts businessman James Plimpton invents a "rocking" skate that allows people to maneuver curves. Plimpton opens a skating club in New York where gentlemen enjoy showing off for the ladies by doing fancy figures, steps and turns.
1880s-1930s -- Skate dancing mimics ballroom dancing. Roller skaters skate waltzes and marches until the early 1930s, when the tango is introduced. In 1939, roller skating becomes a competitive sport, spawning dances created especially for skaters.
1941-1069 -- The Empire Roller Skating Center -- said to be the birthplace of roller disco in the '70s -- opens in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, circa 1941. Skating's popularity steadily grows as it becomes known as a family activity promoting fitness.
1970-78 -- Rink floors became easier to care for because of a plastic coating. Plastic, or polyurethane, wheels providing smoother skating become the standard. Inspired by the blockbuster movie "Saturday Night Fever," the music and lighting at skating centers goes disco in 1977.
1979 -- Vaughn Mason & crew's "Bounce, Rock, Skate, Roll" becomes the slow-groove anthem of roller discos nationwide. The corny "Roller Boogie" (starring "The Exorcist's" Linda Blair) and "Skatetown, U.S.A." (starring Scott "Chachi" Baio and Maureen "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia" McCormick) hit the big screen as obvious bids to cash in on the growing pop culture phenomenon. Critically panned upon its release, "Roller Boogie" later spawns a cult following via VHS tapes and late-night cable TV airings.
Feb. 1980 -- Manhattan's Roxy NYC opens. A mannequin with mirrors all over her body welcomed the masses. During its golden days, Mick Jagger, Cher or Andy Warhol could be spotted on the roll.
"The Roxy was a dream come true," says Amy Rea, of Midtown Manhattan, who now glides across RollerJam USA. "In the '80s, everybody wore tights, including the guys. We looked like we were sheathed in Spandex. No one talked to each other -- we knew each other from our bodies' movements."
1980 -- "Xanadu," the Olivia Newton-John musical, bombs on the big screen and tanks the "Grease" star's burgeoning movie career. As quickly as it exploded, the roller disco sensation begins its slow but steady decline. "I blame it on the 'disco sucks' backlash," says Roxy regular Monica Brown, 43, of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. "That 'Disco Duck' cheese ruined it for everyone."
1983 -- One of Staten Island's last rinks, Skate Odyssey in South Beach, closes. The Rolladium in New Dorp, the Ritz Super Rink in Port Richmond and the Rinky Dink in Tottenville are also among the industry's casualties.
1986 -- Manufacturers unveil the first in-line skates for fitness enthusiasts.
1987 -- "Starlight Express," the gimmicky rock 'n' roller-skating musical from the man who brought us "Cats" and "Phantom of the Opera," opens on Broadway. Critics hate it. Crowds keep it open for two years.
1990s -- Manufacturers market in-line skates to the masses, inspiring new interest by the mid-'90s, when in-line skates and in-line hockey become two of the most popular pastimes/sports in America.
2005 -- The '70s skate homage "Roll Bounce," starring rapper-turned-actor Bow Wow, arrives in (and quickly exits) movie theaters.
2006 -- The Bronx's Skate Key, a roller disco hub, is padlocked in March after years of crime in and around the rink. "The music was soulful. On Wednesday nights, teens would come in and it was crazy," says Sara Martinez, a 30-something who grew up skating in the Bronx and now circles RollerJam USA in S.I.
2007 -- The fabled Roxy, which since 1990 had made its name as a gay dance club on Saturday nights, closes in March. The Empire shuts down the next month after 66 years. In July, a campy redux of "Xanadu" opens on Broadway to much critical acclaim. Later that month, RollerJam USA arrives in Richmond Valley. Skate-world refugees, displaced after the closing of three roller-disco shrines in a little more than a year, discover S.I.
Anoma Whittaker, fashion director at Complex magazine, says the skate palace styles of the late '70s and early '80s now appeal to a younger crowd because it comes from a time that is perceived as exuding confidence and expression.
"It was a fun time. There was confidence of color and texture," Whittaker says. "There was nylon, metallics and a touch of sport."
Street brands Stussy, 10 Deep, Reason and Mighty Healthy clearly have been influenced by the era with their carefully calculated chaotic prints and patterns, she says. So have Madonna and Jessica Simpson, both of whom filmed roller-themed music videos.
March 2008 -- The temporary Lola Staar Dreamland Roller Rink (it was a prize/lifelong dream for a contest winner) opens in Coney Island. The portable rink is only 40-by-80 feet, about half the size of the S.I. rink.
Hipster-clothing label American Apparel -- and its notoriously sexual ad campaigns -- find inspiration in 1979's "Roller Boogie."
"We made a lot of pieces (leggings in seven different fabrics, unitards, bodysuits) that were inspired by it. It was a whim and obsession with that film -- and the items have sold," says Matthew Swenson, AA's fashion media director. "It's been modernized to a degree; we're not talking about oversized sweatshirts and side ponytails with the leggings. You're mixing them with high fashion."
SOURCE: The National Roller Skating Museum, Associated Press & AWE.
August 13, 2007
5 Questions With Tyrone Dixon:
5 Questions With Tyrone Dixon: Director of '8 Wheels'
5 Questions With Tyrone Dixon
Robert Johnson III
Tyrone Dixon, the director of '8 Wheels and Some Soul Brotha Music,' and Kishaya Dudley, choreographer of 'Roll Bounce.'
Back to Black Voices Entertainment
Rolling around again Part break
Rolling around again
Part break dancing, part wheel work, jam skating is creating a rink revival
Do you still associate the four-wheeled roller skates known as quads with Gloria Gaynor, ''Xanadu," and other pop culture stalwarts of the '70s and early '80s? Well, get ready to have your preconceptions changed. Quad roller skating is attempting to peel off its polyester shirt and disco affiliations to connect with all things hip and urban in the 21st century. At least that's the hope of locals who own roller skating rinks or simply love the sport.
The quad skating style helping a new generation of skaters take another glance at the sport is called jam skating. Think of it as an athletic form of roller skating with elements of break dancing, gymnastic-style flips, and other dance moves thrown in. You can find examples of it everywhere these days.
The latest Diet Coke commercial features a gaggle of ladies showing their smooth skating moves on a California boardwalk. An iPod ad shows roller skaters doing a series of spins and jumps to the new Gorillaz song ''Feel Good Inc." The video for R&B songbird Ciara's crossover hit ''1, 2 Step" shows glimpses of lanky men roller skating to the beat down Atlanta's streets.
And there's more to come. The film ''Roll Bounce," starring teen rapper Bow Wow, gets released Sept. 23. It could do for jam skating what last year's film ''You Got Served" did to repopularize break dancing. Then there's music and film producer Dallas Austin's new film, ''Jellybeans," which will tell the tale of a group of friends who hang out at an Atlanta roller skating rink; it starts shooting this month.
Georgians aren't the only ones embracing the sport. You can find jam skaters in Illinois, California, Ohio, Florida, New York, and North Carolina. In fact, jam skating has become so organized, its fourth annual national championships are about to take place, this month in Ohio. Practitioners can also display their skills in skate jams, basically dance battles on wheels.
It's the job of Marc Pyche, owner of Skateland, a rink in Bedford, and a regional representative of the World Skating Association, a national organization based in Florida, to make jam skating catch on in this area.
''New England is probably the weakest" region, says Pyche. Sure, you can find jam skaters strutting their stuff at Skateland, the Carousel Skating Center in Fairhaven, or Chez Vous in Dorchester. But the scene here, Pyche says, ''is not organized to the point where everybody has teams. They're not competitive as of yet."
Roller skating has been on the verge of a revival for years. In 2002, the '70s-drenched ''Austin Powers in Goldmember" featured a kitschy skating rink scene. That year, Skechers used Britney Spears to promote its new pair of quad skates and Puma released its ''Roller Kitty" skates, which looked like classic Puma sneakers perched on top of four wheels. None of these things helped skating gain any traction in pop culture. But as people continue taking up the sport, many think it's poised to roll into mainstream consciousness.
When director Malcolm Lee, 35, received the script for ''Roll Bounce" from the producers of the ''Barbershop" films about two years ago, even he thought, ''Who the hell is roller skating nowadays?" Then he discovered Tyrone Dixon, whose 2003 documentary, ''8 Wheels and Some Soul Brotha Music," examines the urban roller skating scene of the past and present. ''Much to my surprise," Lee says, ''it's a big, huge culture and having a serious revival."
Pyche thinks skating's popularity peaks every 20 years. ''It was enormous in the '50s," says Pyche, ''enormous in the '70s and the '80s."
Ask the owners of rinks in the New England area, such as Roller Kingdom in Tyngsborough or Roller Palace in Beverly, and they'll sadly tell you that business isn't what it used to be. Open skate nights still bring a handful of young fans and their parents, who awkwardly circle the rink arrhythmically. But by the time kids reach their teens, most prefer the mall to the rink.
Inline skating caused a mini-revival a few years ago, Pyche says, but it's the versatility of quad skates that drives jam skating's latest popularity. Since jam skaters wear quads that only reach the ankle, they can move their feet in the pretzel-like figures that give the sport its sizzle. Quads also easily move from side to side.
''Rollerblading," says Lee, ''doesn't offer the same kind of freedom to do spins and tricks and things like that."
On a recent Thursday, the smell of stale sweat permeates the air inside Skateland as a handful of skaters gather for the first practice of Team New England, a jam skating team Pyche is developing at his rink. As 50 Cent's hip-hop hit ''Just a Lil Bit" plays, Pyche gets three team members to show off a few jam skating moves.
There's the ''toe jam," which Haverhill resident Michael Thompson, 20, skates over to demonstrate by tracing smooth, S-shaped curves on the wooden floor with the two front wheels of his quads. Then 18-year-old Keith Webb, another Haverhill resident, executes multiple ''doubles" by placing his hands on the ground, pushing off with his feet, and lifting his legs into a V in the air in an explosion of quick, successive movements. Danny Pinette, 16, of Haverhill, does ''apple jacks" from the floor, kicking one leg and then the other in energetic bursts while clapping his hands in front of him.
Pinette started roller skating six years ago, but he and his Haverhill neighbor Webb only began jam skating a few months ago. For Webb, it's a way to add a slippery, eight-wheeled element to the break dancing skills he already possesses.
What's the allure for Pinette?
''You can do whatever you want to do," he says. ''It's a lot of fun."
And, no, jam skating isn't just for boys. Among the skaters in the rink on this day is Eryka Faulkingham, 17, who lives in Manchester, N.H. She's been roller skating since she could walk and got into jam skating in 2001, after Pyche brought Team Riedell, an elite, Florida-based jam skating team that has performed during the halftime games of the Orlando Magic, to Skateland for the first jam skating showcase in this state. Last year, Faulkingham became proficient enough to compete in her first national jam skating championship; she came in fourth out of five women.
''I think it's going to influence a lot of kids to try skating," Faulkingham says of the sport.
Although jam skating is presented as something new, its roots actually lie in the '70s, when dance and roller skating first crossed paths, says Pyche. It's no coincidence that the man who choreographed the jam skating moves in ''Roll Bounce" is Bill Butler, a roller skating stalwart of the '70s, whom Lee describes as ''the godfather of jam skating."
There's a bit of disagreement about the origins of modern jam skating.
''If you ask most of the people from Florida, they'll say it started in Florida," says Pyche. ''If you ask people from the Great Lakes, they'll say it started there."
Jam skaters in each region brought specific elements to the sport. Rolling around to the beat while staying in one place is a particularly Floridian move, says Pyche. Combining break dancing with roller skating broke out of the Great Lakes region. And the funky ''JB" style of skating -- named after the godfather of soul, James Brown -- came out of Chicago.
''Because of the competitions," says Pyche, ''all these styles are meeting up against each other, and they've been borrowing from each other. The three styles over the past three to five years all sort of meshed into one."
You can get a sense of how much jam skating's popularity is increasing by the number of people attending the national competitions. During the first one three years ago, Pyche says, ''we had 20 kids show up." He expects a crowd of 600 to 1,000 at this year's event. But it's not only roller skating's growing popularity and freshness that make advertisers turn to it. The Diet Coke spot, ''Rollergirl," which shows talent from New York and LA skating to Paul Oakenfold's 2002 hit ''Starry Eyed Surprise," also taps into a generation's feelings of nostalgia.
''Roller skating, especially to people who are in their 30s," says Sara Schmid, an advertising manager at the
Nostalgic types will find something to like in ''Roll Bounce," as well. The film takes place in 1978, and its soundtrack includes the music of Sister Sledge and Kool & the Gang. The story follows a group of kids from the South Side of Chicago who are forced to use a roller skating rink in another neighborhood after their local rink is shut down. A subsequent skate jam with the people at the new rink pits jam skating against a style of artistic skating that looks like figure skating on eight wheels.
Pyche is betting that jam skating's growing exposure will lure New Englanders back into the roller skating rink. He's already scheduled the first regional jam skating championship in New England at Skateland next year. In January, Pyche organized jam skating clinics led by Team Riedell for the Carousel rinks in Fairhaven and Whitman.
''I thought [jam skating] would take off," says Charleen Conway, who owns Carousel, ''but we still don't have enough people that do it."
Recently, Pyche started a New England chapter of Jam Quest, a World Skating Association program created to convince skating rink operators to embrace jam skating. Carousel and Silver City Skateland in Taunton are the only rinks in Massachusetts currently signed up.
''We're just trying," says Conway, ''to do anything that will help stimulate our business a little bit more."
Vanessa E. Jones can be reached at v_jones@globe.com. 
