Roller Dreams is a feature length documentary about the rise and fall of the Venice Beach roller dance skating community. During the years when skateboards were developing and before the introduction of Rollerblades©, quad roller skates were the thing. And in the late 1970's the best dance skaters gathered in Venice Beach, California to dazzle onlookers with their unique grooves and moves on quads.
Thanks to their fancy footwork, line dances and routines done to the sound of old school and disco tunes roaring from a bigger-than-life boombox sound system, Venice Beach became a tourist hotspot. Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley even declared that Venice Beach was "the roller skating capital of the world" in 1978. Hollywood producers soon came calling. But, unfortunately most of the original beach area disco skaters did not reap any of the financial benefits generated by the roller skating style which they brought to life and made popular around the world.
In the 1990s, a combination of the drug culture and the Gangsta Rap lifestyle took over the Venice Beach area. Many of the original skaters now feel that their dream did not fade away. It was snatched away by the local police who invaded their childhood in South Central during the Watts Riots - and who were determined to shut down their much-loved skating community in Venice Beach years later.
Roller Dreams was designed to document the skaters who drew the original crowds as they attempt to reunite their crew for one final skate - and a chance to to revive their dreams, relive their stories and share their heartaches. The film reveals historic skating footage that has never been seen before as well as old and new interviews with the unforgettable skating characters that started the Venice Beach movement. The film hopes to make some viewers want to lace on some quad skates and roll along to the old school jams and sounds of disco once more.
About the Director
Kate Hickey, an Australian independent filmmaker based in Los Angeles, was obsessed with Olivia Newton John in Xanadu as a child. Now, as an adult, she has documented some of the roller skaters behind the disco craze that took over the world in the 1970s and 80s. Kate is a feature film editor and has produced other non-skating-related short films that have circulated at top festivals throughout the world, including the Berlin Film Festival and Palm Springs International Film Festivals.
Kate and her followers want to preserve the colorful tales of real people who started a movement. These skaters made Venice Beach, California what it is today and influenced roller sports for many years to come. The goal is to give everyone an opportunity to know the skaters behind this phenomenon that has been lost to most records of skating history.
Does the Dream Live Today?
Although the focus of Roller Dreams seems to be on a dream that has died for the skaters that conceived it, the ongoing influence of the Venice Beach roller dance skating community can be seen today in many of the current roller skating disciplines:
- Inline figure skaters and quad roller artistic skaters have adapted some of the innovative footwork for their freeskating programs.
- The use of cones for inline dance skating is now a worldwide freestyle slalom competitive activity.
- Jam skaters use the stunts, flips, splits and toe moves indoors at rink social and competitive events.
These skating styles and more can be seen in the movie trailer. So pieces of the dream have survived - they are just spread all over the sport and the world. Hopefully this film will get the Venice Beach roller dance skating community into a display the Roller Sports Museum archives, too.
More Roller Dreams Information
- Visit the Roller Dreams Official site.
- Join the Roller Dreams Facebook Group.
- Follow the Roller Dreams film on Twitter.
