swinging on the asphalt

Skateboarding is like a dance floor, where their long skateboards rotate gently and skillfully, perform acrobatics and choreography. They have a great style and attitude. Bitumen riders, both men and women, practice long dance, a clever combination of surfing, skateboarding, and dancing. Discipline is where the sport of gliding goes hand in hand with grace. This fun and artistic style of skating is booming these days. It fully adheres to social networks, as the feature is also a selfie to share its exploits. Practitioners all over the world are doing well on Instagram or TikTok. Their “videos” (videos) total millions of views and hundreds of thousands of subscribers to their accounts.

Thanks to the Internet, this sport is getting out of secret. “Without social networks, we would not have had much fame,” admits Cassandre Lemoine, 24, France’s vice-champion in long dance. An airy side and a seductive aesthetic. Cassander started surfing. Drunk by the sensations it gives, she tries to find her on a corner of the asphalt because she lives in Paris, far from the sea. She buys her first skateboard, practices downhill speed first, and then hears about it. Sidewalk sessions, the weekly gatherings of these dancers on wheels.

In Paris, riders meet every Sunday on the banks of the Seine, at the foot of the Musée d’Orsay. In the chosen music they perform “lines” in which the characters improvise, shift and always jump between balance and imbalance. From beginners to more experienced, they observe and try themselves on this platform, learn, innovate and share their techniques. There is a French pioneer who distinguishes himself regularly. Lutfi Lamale, 38, is a talented world-renowned professional racer who has been involved in developing the discipline for over a decade by imagining the characters used by practitioners around the world. In 2010, another pioneer, Amziane Brahiti, came up with the idea of ​​Sidewalk Sessions and joined Lotfi. Within two years, the concept was rolled out in France and internationally.

You don’t need a lot of technology or equipment to enjoy

Thousands of enthusiasts meet each week at similar locations in Japan, Brazil, Morocco, Singapore, South Korea and, of course, the United States. Because the Long Dance appeared in Los Angeles at the legendary Venice Beach spot. Surfers invented surfboards in the 1970s to “have fun” on the days when waves were scarce. In 2005, one of them, Adam Colton, enjoyed swinging a surfboard just like surfers do on a longboard. This is how free dance was invented. In 2006, he designed the first discipline board: a platform long and wide enough to perform the movements, with the front and rear raised and equipped with a better grip for performing the aerobic movements. we are here! You don’t need a lot of techniques or equipment to have fun; The cost of the panels is about a hundred euros. Protection – helmets – knee and elbow pads – between 30 and 40 euros. “It’s available to as many people as possible,” Cassander Lemoine explains. For equipment, but also for physical condition. You just need to be in shape and have a sense of balance. Learning two or three steps will help you move around the board quickly, have fun, and develop your style. “She knows what she’s talking about: since the beginning of the school year, Cassander has been leading the first longboard dance class in France as part of the school. So far, the asphalt system has been learned through the exchange of techniques between the participants. The Levallois Sports Club has opened a section dedicated to urban sports. Classes take place on weekends Some can be taken with the family “My youngest student is 3 years old,” says Cassander.

Nisoaz crowned world champion

The seed of the hero and the future star of social networks? Some are already dreaming of elevating the Long Dance to the rank of Olympian in Los Angeles in 2028…why not. At the moment, it depends on the French Federation of Skateboards and Skateboards, but this does not hinder the organization of competitions. The “So… You Can Longboard Dance?” event It was launched. which was launched in Holland in 2013. It is a world championship. Many of the French distinguished themselves, Lotfi Lamali in 2013, but also Aboubakry Sik in 2018 and 2019. The competition cannot take place in 2020 due to Covid.

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The organizers held the sessions on … social networks. Candidates were asked to post their performance on the event website. Referees watched videos from all continents. Thanks to a one-minute film on the Promenade des Anglais, 23-year-old Marina Correa from Nice was crowned world champion. In just a few hours, he got 14 million views and 640 thousand likes. The 2021 World Championships will be held on November 13 and 14 in Eindhoven or … online on the event website. 

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