I get to the 6th Avenue Skating Place a little after noon. The spot is already hopping with skaters and music, courtesy of my friend Alex and their very loud bluetooth speaker. A newer skater Cassidy is there and she wants to work on “the Smurf.” So we review that footwork and drill it together….
Category: Dancing / Music
Halloween 2023 as “Cake Week” from the Great British Bake Off!
This was in some ways one of my easiest costumes, but also my most performative: “Cake Week” on “The Great British Bake Off!” I was a little stymied about what I wanted to be this Halloween, until the week before. And then it came to me in a flash: I wanted to be a baker…
Being Your Fullest Self at Work: a Tuba, a Haiku and Roller Skates
This week I fulfilled a dream: skating for my colleagues at work. This was the culmination of a conversation I had with my co-worker Debbie about six months ago, where I asked her, “What would it take for us to host an open mic?” She replied, “Someone to organize it.” Six months later, I’m in…
Who’s Yehoodi? Seven Stories about Yehoodi’s Legacy and Impact
As I try to summarize 25 years of Yehoodi, I realize that Yehoodi has been a lot of things to a lot of people over the years. Yehoodi has been…. But that seems a little backwards. Yehoodi has always been its community, the many thousands of lindy hoppers who have connected through this site, in…
Fun Times with the Roller Rangers at Dreamforce 2023!
Super fun time being a “Roller Ranger” at the Dreamforce convention with a bunch of my skate peeps last night. We were basically roaming entertainers on the plaza of Chase Center, creating a fun ambiance for Dreamforce attendees, on their way to see the Foo Fighters play in the the arena. I got to do…
Skating at the Midway Club!
A couple of weeks ago, The Midway, an electronica focused club in San Francisco, hosted a roller disco in collaboration with the Church of 8 Wheels. It was a really dope night of skating to disco / EDM / house with a crowd of excited folks. Photographer Saylor Nedelman got some sweet pics of us…
Embracing My Inner Uhura
I was watching the latest musical episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, in which one of the principal characters, Nyota Uhura, considers what her role is on the starship Enterprise. It’s a banger of a number and the actress Celia Rose Gooding kills it. It hit me right in the feels, not only because…
My “3 Hats (+1)” Performance at the SF Skate Showcase 2023
Yesterday I had the opportunity to reprise my “3 Hats” piece that I performed last March at the 6th Avenue Skating Place. This time it was for the annual San Francisco Skate Showcase put on by the Church of 8 Wheels on Sunday July 30. I was pleased with how my piece turned out last…
Worship and Dancing as a Means for Both Community and Individuality
So it came to me yesterday at Quaker Meeting for Worship something that I’ve been spinning around in my head for awhile: the tension between our desire for community and for individuality. I realized the many places that manifests for me, particularly in my spiritual practice and my dancing. Pews vs Meditating Alone I was…
New Skate Setup: Custom Riedell ColorLab 336s!
My new skate setup is here! And just in time for my birthday! They are even better than I dreamed they would be. Thanks Kieran at Quad Republic for all the expert advice and help mounting my plates. So far they performed great on my little test skate today. I did a very careful test…