A supermarket car park in Tottenham, north London, isn’t an obvious place to look for wild, creative displays of grace and joy. But at midnight on a cold September evening, that’s what I find. The shop, which sprawls over multiple storeys, is long since closed, and here on the covered ground floor, the space is empty but for a few scattered cars. Fluorescent lights cast their flat glare, and everywhere I look, there are roller skaters: gliding, spinning, and shooting around the space with the fast backwards ‘chopping’ style that’s a hallmark of London’s scene. →
by Jessica Holland
→ This isn’t the kind of crowd that goes to the odd roller disco as a novelty outing. There are some tentative beginners learning the ropes, but for the most part the skaters here are dedicated to pushing what’s possible on eight wheels, whether it’s getting lost in speed and motion or dancing with intricate footwork. Their moves keep pace with the shifting sounds of soca, hip hop, R&B, funk, grime and bashment, coming from a mini-fridge-sized Bluetooth speaker and bouncing off the bare concrete walls. I’m a confident roller skater on the streets and in skate parks, but here, all I want to do is sit on the floor and watch.
Amir Bacchus-Marquis, the 24-year-old skater who runs the night, is thoughtful about the role he plays here. He messages directions to attendees, brings down crates of water bottles to keep people hydrated, and makes sure he’s the last to leave – sometimes at dawn – to pick up any rubbish that’s been left behind. “It’s about making people happy,” he tells me. “A place where people can feel safe and express themselves.”
Earlier that day, we’d met up for the first time in nearby Seven Sisters, Amir instantly recognisable in his black ‘Skate Tingz’ hoodie – the name of his Instagram account and of the Friday night meetup. We were there to discuss this year’s worldwide craze for the type of old-school quad roller skating (wheels in a square, not in a line) that we’re both obsessed with.
Amir and I come from different roller skating traditions. He’s part of a vibrant, decades-old scene which involves overlapping dance styles known as ‘jam’ or ‘rhythm’ skating. I started out as a roller derby player before switching to skate parks (aka ‘aggressive’ or ‘ramp’ skating). What we have in common is that we both fell in love with the discipline a while ago – around 13 years ago for me, 17 for him – and neither of us have seen it go mainstream in
