Written by Axel Massin.
Besides a few creative geniuses, most of us average human beings learn by reproducing from the earliest age. Nature gifted us with mirror neurons, that basically act the same way during a task whether you are the person accomplishing the task or you are watching somebody else do that task. In simpler words, while watching somebody performing an action, you brain is practicing that action. If this is how we learn to walk, speak, smile and behave in society, it is no different for Longboard Dancing. Watching other people ride is one of the most efficient way to progress. And since I gave up my career in psychology for longboarding, I will not use this article to research the neuro-physiological activity underlying the process of learning how to cross step, but I will try to give some food to your mirror neurons, especially if you are new to Longboard Dancing.
Photo by Axel Massin
If you asked our community who is their favorite rider, I think Abou might be the name coming up the most. It is rare to see riders who have such a high technical level both in dancing and freestyle mixed together with such a beautiful and creative style. And when you sprinkle on top of that class, swagger, humility and a candid smile, you basically get the whole package. After growing up in Senegal, Abou moved to France to study, and now lives around Paris where he works as a geotechnical engineer. He grew as a rider at DockSession and quickly accumulated a lot of titles, including a world championship. Easily the most energetic person you will meet, he also recently became very passionate about surfing and iceskating, and his insane progress in both might make a few people jealous (myself included). In other words, even haters love Abou.
For more Parisians extraordinary riders, you might wanna look at @blaackdancer & @jeff_corsi.
Photo by Timur Totoev
Another full package rider that Longboard Dancing owes a lot to is Kate. Solid freestyle, technical and aesthetic dancing, very curated content, Kate is not only a world champion who pushed the level of women in longboarding, she is also a major pillar of the Russian community. If you are Russian speaking and want to learn longboarding, her husband Timur and her created the school @flipnflow that already accompanied over 6000 students. For the anecdote, Kate and Timur were the instructors at the very first longboard camp!
Photo by Axel Massin
It is hard to speak about Longboard Dancing without speaking about Lotfi, who has been shedding light on our discipline in countless ways. He left his homeland Morocco in his twenties to study in Paris, where he discovered longboarding and became part of the first wave of riders in the world, inventing many tricks and steps. This visionnaire quickly made it to the top and after winning one of the first world titles, Lotfi created DockSession, an international longboard community and spent most of his energy in growing the community. Through his many media appearances and quick success on social media, he brought a lot of attention to the sport. His riding is feline like, mixing dancing and freestyle in a never interrupting flow, to the point that even his fails are turned into tricks or steps. His almost unmatched creativity also flourished in the diversity content he has been creating, from delicious short instagram clips, to legendary video parts, major commercials, vlogs and tutorials. Still at the peak of his riding at 41 years old, could become the Kelly Slater of longboard dancing?
Photo by Vic Harster
Giu is another rider that brought tremendously to longboard dancing. Coming from an ice skating background, they are known for bringing dance into longboard dancing, that until then might as well have been called longboard stepping. If longboard dancing was mostly footwork, Giu took on the challenge to execute the steps with the entire body, and, over the years, added musicality to it. They as well accomplished a lot competitively, including a world title, but now focus more on connecting longboarding and dancing, as well as fighting for the rights of the LGBTQIA+ within and outside the community.
Photo by unknown
Locus is the only rider in this list that I never had the chance to meet and see ride in front of my eyes, but his instagram posts made me drop my phones many times. Although Chinese riders are not very present on western social media, it seems that China is a goldmine of mind-blowing riders across gender, and Jian is the one that caught my attention the most. His very smooth dancing is punctuated by the highest level of freestyle I have seen so far, and his creativity is super refreshing, whether it is for creating jaw dropping combos or introducing ancient asian customs into his style. The fact that he can do all the hardest tricks with an extra flip or spin, and also gives me goosebumps with a very subtle way of moving his feet in between two tricks, makes him one of the most exciting riders at the moment.
For extra Chinese pizzazz, check @rebirth_zikang & @jiaju_cdc
Photo by Vic Harster
Antonine is for many one of the best female riders of the community, and her two world titles might dissuade anybody to disagree with that statement. Her technical level is absolutely insane, both in dancing and freestyle, and her combination of both in meticulous combos will make you replay her videos many times to try and understand what is happening. And anyone who has seen her ride at her home spot knows that Antonine did not get there by chance. She works incredibly hard and her stubbornness when it comes to learning a new trick is inspiring. Former gymnast and passionate surfer, Antonine is an absolute charger that embodies pushing your limits.
If you are still hungry for French women pushing the limits, don’t you worry because there are plenty : @cassandrelmn, @morgane_grvs, @ornellux_, @pascamny, @marinacorreiar, @noemi.miljevic.
Photo by Axel Massin
Antoine is one of the brightest talents of the new generation. With two world titles and a second place, he is the most titled rider in the male category. Fast dancing, countless banger tricks, combos that make you jump out of your chair, mixed with style, effortlessness and hardly matched consistency, Antoine is as solid as it gets. Don’t let his funky style and sarcastic videos fool you because he can do with the eyes closed tricks that you barely even dream of landing. Together with his also incredibly talented best friend @marcosloim_ - who happens to be one of the main instructors at the camp - they are working daily on finding new ways to create content and grow the community.
Photo by unknown
Probably the most underrated (or at least underfollowed), Gustav is one of the most touching riders of the new generation. With a clear influence from Giu, Gustav has been one of the very few in our community to take the dancing part of Longoard Dancing as literally as it gets. The way he interprets all the basic steps with his entire body is just as beautiful as it is precise and technical. His choreographies are often sprinkled with some freestyle, that add some spices and dynamism to his graceful flow. Make sure to give him a follow because I still struggle to believe how under the radar Gustav still is.
Photo by Ryosuke Naito
The most talented Japanese longboard dancer is a 14-year-old girl, and I would not last very long against her in a game of S.K.A.T.E. And that statement would have still proven true years ago, when she was just a little girl. But if seeing a 10-year-old freestyle powerhouse was what caught my attention back then, her incredibly technical, creative and flowy dancing is what made me stay. Although a lot of young riders often focus more on technique than style, there has always been a lot of maturity in her body language, and every line is executed with steez (style & ease). In other words, she is pretty badass.
Photo by Axel Massin
Known for his unique wild style, Brenno was one of the very first riders to incorporate elements of dance to his steps. His capoeira moves and hiphop steps, coupled with endless pirouettes and old school tricks, not only made him famous outside of his homeland Brazil, but led him to a world title in 2016 - competition that he won after arriving in Europe with 50 cents in his pockets. Indeed his longboarding journey hasn’t always been straight forward. He had to give away his mother’s refrigerator to get his first board and broke his wrist within a week. As soon as he got back on the board, he traded sleeping for night sessions, that would allow him to skate as much as he wanted while still attending school. His style kept evolving throughout the years, integrating more contemporary and experimental. Make sure to check different videos because his style varies a lot from one to the other.
Obviously you could add many more people to the list, such as the founder of this camp, but I assumed that anybody landing on this page already knows Val. Longboard Dancing is made of many different styles, which can satisfy a wide array of personal preferences, just as well as make it hard to define it. As you could see here, what touches me the most are riders who usually mix dancing and freestyle and who pay a lot of attention to aesthetics and flow. I hope there was at least one person in this list that you didn’t know or who inspired you.
May the flow be with you,
Axel
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