SkateDance
Where? Albert Memorial, Hyde Park
When? Saturday 31st July Brighton SkateDance Day
How much? £10
SkateDance is the latest craze….it’s fun, keeps you fit and helps all aspects of your skating. Learning SkateDance will give your skating the coolness factor. 
Expand your skating repertoire to include moves which fit to any music and have the ‘wow’ factor when done alone or in a group of more then 1 (rather than your repertoire being limited to just skating fast across town)? Would you like your transitions from forwards to backwards and vice versa to become smooth and effortless? Skatefresh’s new SkateDance classes will deliver just that (and more).
SkateDance is the new ‘thing’ in skating all over the world and these classes aim to teach you a series of progressively more difficult steps which can be linked into short routines easily (by the end of every class). Learning SkateDance helps your coordination and also strengthens your weak side (as you can’t dance on one leg all the time!). As dance steps evolve it becomes impossible to avoid backwards manoeuvres but the low speeds make this ideal for improving your backwards, transitions and crossovers. Over the series of classes you will be guided through static walks, sideway steps, dynamic walks, moonwalks, pivots, spirals, crossing moves, spins, jumps and more.
The timetable below shows normal Skate Dance classes (in Blue), Sunday Stroll dance moves (in green) and free social Skate Dance events (in red).
Skate Dance Class – These dance classes each stand alone, but previous class’s moves are used as warm up and revision. New steps are taught each class and linked into a short sequence. New Skate Dancers as well as those with more experience can skate together as each step has easy and difficult variations, so everyone chooses their option according to their ability level.
Sunday Stroll Dance – These new classes will show you how to make your Skate Dance steps applicable in a rolling environment. This means that any setting can become dance practice, and the music of the Sunday Stroll Street skate helps you to skate and step in time to music and increase the agility of your footwork. The class begins 30mins before the Sunday Stroll Street skate where new moves will be demoed and explained in full. Then when the Stroll begins you will skate as a class group and practice each step in turn, often in synchro and Asha will provide help and corrections. This will continue for 1 hour of the Sunday Stroll when the class will end and you are free to continue on the Stroll. The class costs £10 for 1.5hrs of tuition.
FREE Social Dance Events - This summer the timetable also includes several social dance events giving you the opportunity to practice and use your Skate Dance in a fun and informal environment. These sessions are FREE and Asha hopes you come along and use your new found skills, whatever your level and have a boogie.
2010 SkateDance Timetable
Sunday 18th July Eastbourne Skate Festival
Saturday 24th July 4.30 – 5.30pm Class (Albert Memorial)
Saturday 31st July Brighton SkateDance Day
Sunday 8th August 12.30 – 1.30pm Class (Serp Rd Boat House)
Saturday 14th August 1-2pm Class (Albert Memorial)
Saturday 28th August 3-4pm Class (Albert Memorial)
Sunday 29th August Notting Hill Carnival skate 10am
Saturday 4th September 1.30 – 2.30pm Class (Serp Rd Boat House)
Sunday 26th September 1.30pm – 3.00 Sunday Stroll Dance
Eastbourne Extreme Event
17th and 18th July 2010. Eastbourne
Watch the experts in a fusion of dynamic skating demonstrations and join in the skating with informal competitions and freestyle, street skates, in-line disco, tug of war, roller basketball and much more. Includes general skating workshops suitable for all levels, dance demos, dance workshops, roller sumo, jamming session, roller derby and 24 minute Le Manns – 5 man team race. The Saturday evening roller disco is in a beach side fortress, not to be missed. The skating frms just one aspect of this huge Extreme Sports Event. A packed weekend by the sea! Full info here:
http://www.eastbourneextreme.co.uk/land/
Brighton SkateDance Day
What began as last year’s 10th anniversary celebrations for Skatefresh is now an annual ‘seaside jollie’ to visit Asha in her new patch by the sea inBrighton. The West Pier skate area becomes a base for a day of skating with lots of dancing and some informal SkateDance lessons and roller disco atmosphere. A slow street skate along the seafront is also included. 12pm start, goes all day.
Notting Hill Carnaval Skate
Traditionally Asha’s solo carnival skate (when she lived in Notting Hill for 7 years) has turned into a fun, informal skate before carnival gets going and the streets are empty. This year’s theme is ‘Carnavalesque’. Get your sequins and feathers out for a spectacle of rolling colour and glamour. Exact start time and place to be arranged but about 10amon Sunday 29th. It’s worth getting up for….think of the entire length of Ladbroke Grove, smooth, downhill and….empty. Music on the skate too!
To have a taste of what’s being taught click here to have look at Asha’s BBC skate tip on how to do the New York shuffle.
To book, email your name and number to Bookings@skatefresh.com stating which class you want to join.
Read all about Asha’s SkateDance experience in Rio (click here) and her first time teaching SkateDance in Spain (click here) on her blog.
