swing on the asphalt

The skateboard is like a dance floor, their long skateboards spin with lightness and skill, performing acrobatics and choreography. They have a great style and attitude. Men and women, these bitumen riders practice long dance, a clever mix of surfing, skateboarding and dancing. A discipline where sliding sport rhymes with grace. This fun and artistic approach to skating is booming these days. She adheres perfectly to social networks, because the benefit is also a self-portrait to share her exploits. Practitioners around the world are doing well on Instagram or TikTok. Their “videos” (videos) have millions of views and hundreds of thousands of subscribers on their accounts.

Thanks to the Internet, this sport comes out of secrecy. “Without social networks, we would not have had so much notoriety, recognizes Cassandre Lemoine, 24, vice-champion of France in long dance. The airy side and the attractive aesthetic. Cassandre started to surf. Drunk with the sensations that this provides, she tries to find her on a corner of asphalt because she lives in Paris, far from the sea. She buys her first skateboard, trains first at downhill speed, then hears about it. . Pavement Sessions, 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, turn and jump, always between balance and imbalance. From the most novice to the most experienced, they observe and try each other on this platform, learning, innovating and sharing their techniques. A French pioneer regularly distinguishes himself there. Lotfi Lamali, 38, is a talented, world-renowned professional runner who has been helping to develop the discipline for over a decade by imagining the characters used by riders around the world. In 2010, another pioneer, Amziane Braheti, came up with the idea of ​​dockside sessions and joined Lotfi. In two years, the concept was deployed in France and internationally.

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

And every week, several thousand enthusiasts meet in similar places in Japan, Brazil, Morocco, Singapore, South Korea and of course the United States. Because the long dance appeared in Los Angeles on the mythical spot of Venice Beach. Surfers invented surfboards in the 1970s to “have fun” on days when waves are scarce. In 2005, one of them, Adam Colton, was having fun swinging a surfboard 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 movements, with the front and rear raised and with better grip to perform aerial tricks. Here we are! You don’t need a lot of techniques or equipment to have fun; The cost of the panels is around one hundred euros. Protections, helmets, knee pads, elbow pads, between 30 and 40 euros. “It is accessible to as many people as possible,” explains Cassandre Lemoine. For the equipment, but also for the physical condition. You just need to be in good shape and have a sense of balance. Learning two or three steps will help you move quickly on the board, have fun, and develop your technique. “She knows what she’s talking about: since the start of the school year, Cassandre has been leading the first longboard dance class in France as part of the school. Until now, the discipline on asphalt was learned by 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,” says Cassander.

Nisoaz crowned world champion

The seed of the hero and future star of social networks? Some already dream of elevating long dance to the rank of Olympic major, in Los Angeles in 2028… why not. For the moment it depends on the French Federation of Roller Coaster and Skateboards, but it does not interfere with the organization of competitions. The event “So… Can you dance the longboard?” ” Was launched. which was launched in the Netherlands in 2013. It’s kind of a world championship. Many French people have distinguished themselves, Lotfi Lamali in 2013, but also Abu Bakri Seck in 2018 and 2019. The competition will not be able to take place in 2020 because of the Covid.

Read also.Skaters on their way to the Olympic tour

The organizers held the sessions on… social networks. Candidates were required to post their performance on the event website. The referees watched videos from all continents. Thanks to a one-minute film on the Promenade des Anglais, the 23-year-old Nicoise Marina Correa was crowned world champion. In a few hours, he got 14 million views and 640,000 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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