Stuck between roller skating and dancing? Why not choose both? Artistic roller skating is a sport that blends both elements into a competitive sport or a casual hobby.
Skating since the sixth grade, Allison Brumbaugh (9) has been participating in the sport for three years. Initially drawn to it by watching others, she soon landed a spot on the artistic skating team, Memphis Figure Roller Skating Club, after attending a few Saturday lessons at East End Skating Center.
“For me, [dancing] is very relaxing,” Brumbaugh said. “[For] a lot of people, it can be stressful because they can’t skate. For me, it’s just like a way of getting out anger [and emotions in general] because you can just go as fast as you want, and then it just releases everything.”
Although some may be more familiar with the equipment used in figure skating, the gear used for artistic roller skating is unique to its sport. Compared to figure skates, roller skates are heavier due to the additional weight of elements like their wheels, bearings and toe stops. These differences in skating equipment can impact the skating experience.
“Ice skaters have [a] blade [on their skates], and they … just kinda glide over the ice, but we have to roll around in a circle [when we spin],” Brumbaugh said.
Competitively, Brumbaugh focuses on the dancing aspect of artistic roller skating, where she follows specific dance patterns and steps for her routine. However, there are multiple disciplines within artistic roller skating such as freestyle, figure and loops.
“Freestyle is the most famous [discipline]; it’s where you do all of the jumps and spins,” Brumbaugh said. “Dance is … a set of patterns that you follow. Figures, there’s [these] three big circles, and you’re supposed to go around them, and the more accurate you are … the better your score is … Loops [are] like [figures] … [Limaçon] is the exact thing we go on … so you can go backwards or you can go forwards on them.”
Although part of a team, Brumbaugh is judged individually in competitions. One of her favorite memories is when she competed against a friend during a regional event.
“It was just us two in the event, so it wasn’t stressful,” Brumbaugh said. “We both knew that we were going to do well, and it didn’t feel like I just had to hate my competition; I had fun while we were waiting to go back on [stage, and] we would just talk.”
Outside of roller skating, Brumbaugh sings at the School of Rock Memphis and in the White Station High School choir and likes to crochet. According to Brumbaugh, she stays motivated by the feeling of winning awards because she thinks all of the hard work and practice she put in was worth it. Her advice to aspiring artistic roller skaters is this:
“Be consistent and don’t give up because success is more of a staircase than exponential,” Brumbaugh said.
