Skating Dance

Blades of Fun: Discover new ways to explore the LA streets every Friday night with Friday night skate

Natasha Garyali: Tell us about the formation of Friday Night skate?
Dan Benveniste: Friday Night  Skate has been in existence for 17 years and I have been with it for 16 years. The LA Friday Night Skate was created to emulate the San Francisco Friday Night Skate, which started in early 1990’s and had hundreds, nearly 800 people every time. The Venice skating dancing community had a connection with that group and they started Los Angeles group 16 or 17 years ago. I started it couple of years after and as time went on, it somehow became one of the leaders.

NG: How popular is Friday night skating in US in general and LA in particular?
DB: Friday night skate is almost held in every city, so the ones in Europe have thousands and thousands of people showing up. The ones in US until couple of years ago were getting hundreds of people every week. But over the period the number has dwindled down. 1990’s was our golden age and since then we have been a lot lower, we still get a crowd, but it’s not in the hundreds. It depends on the season, and we skate every single week, as long it’s not raining and sometimes even when it is raining. Some days I get a crowd and some days I don’t.

NG: Why the decline?
DB: There are many reasons. Skateboard kids have become very popular, biking and video games have become very popular. Also LA is not that densely packed city, it is very spread out unlike New York, Boston, San Francisco and all those other cities that pull in a greater crowd.

NG: Does California weather work in your advantage?
DB: That actually works against you. If you are living in an area which is cold and there is one good night to skate then everybody comes out. This is especially true for skaters from the east coast, they pull in big numbers when the weather is good. But when every night is good (like in Southern California), it’s like ah! no big deal.

NG: With the increasing buzz around skating, do you foresee a revival of the sport?
DB: Everything goes in phases and I think skating will come back. What I love about skating is that it gives you lot of options that other sports don’t. There is lot more flexibility than biking and skateboarding. You can go fast on any type of terrain, sidewalk, streets, backward and forward- it is more like dancing very fast. Biking is one movement, but skating gives you the flexibility, you could carve better, turn up hill, downhill much faster.

Also there is no better way to experience a city than on skates. You can really make up a lot of ground on skates and really experience the whole city. Usually when I travel I always travel with my skates. What I will do is check the local websites to find the skate group and I will join the group and immediately you will have hundreds of friends. This kind of close knit community exists in skating and so no matter where you are in the world you can always find friends. I just came back from Israel and I found a big skating group there and it was really fun.

NG: What is the age-group/profile of people that are attracted to Friday Night skate?
DB: We have a big mix of skaters that join us. We have speed skaters, trick skaters and dance skaters that join us along with a host of people with varied experience levels. So, it really depends on the night, week, month or the season. We do get lot of people that don’t have that confidence, but we are fortunate that we have the bike path. When you are comfortable then it is fairly easily and we never leave anybody behind, we always have someone to make sure that back of the group is not lost. We collect the skaters and we don’t lose people at least we try not to.

NG: How big is the learning curve for those who are new to skating?
DB: It depends on the person. It is not undoable though it is not spontaneous. For people who like to skate after two or three months of skating are fluent and if they practice with our group for longer they grow better.

NG: Is it safe for the beginners to participate in FNS?
DB: In many ways you should be confident about your skating because you will be skating on the streets, in the public bike lanes. You don’t have to be professional but that generally means controlling your stopping and turning. Santa Monica route is better for beginner skaters, for downtown and Hollywood we tend to recommend more experienced skaters. We had had accidents in the past with the drunk drivers. So, we tend to be careful about our routes and avoid areas that are more prone to accidents.

NG: Which of the FNS routes are most popular – downtown LA, Hollywood, and Santa Monica?
DB: It depends on the year. Overall I think Santa Monica is most popular one. But we have good numbers in others too.

NG: What are some of the best skate parks in LA?
DB: The best place to skate in Los Angles if you are into street skating is downtown LA. It is completely empty at night and the streets are completely smooth and there is lot of great scenery and terrain. When we take our group down there it is very surreal, a great area to skate.

So guys, dust off your skates and get ready to disco your way through the streets of LA with Friday Night Skate tomorrow. If you are new to skates don’t worry FNS holds  FREE skating clinics on first Sunday of every month at 11 a.m. in Venice. For more information on skating schdeule visit  FNS and for free skating lessons contact Dan Benveniste at dan@fridaynightskate.org.

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