THE ROLLER DANCERS

At first glance Potternewton Park in Leeds looks like an ordinary city park. Footpaths roll over gentle grassy slopes. Grand trees watch over wrought-iron railings. But it doesn’t sound like an ordinary park. Soulful R&B tracks spill out from a portable speaker, plastic wheels clack against concrete, laughter pulls passers-by to watch. We’re with Potternewton Park Rollers, a group of roller skaters who dance on skates, spreading joy with each heel flick and toe spin.

From left to right: (back row) Jojo, Shaughna, Maggie, Julie, Maria, Zack; (front row) Mel, Sam, Carly, Cassie.

How did the group come about?

Cassie: Potternewton Park Rollers started as just a group of basically strangers. During lockdown, I’d bought my son and myself some skates and I bumped into Jojo, Maria and Julie roller skating in the park. At the time, I thought that skating was something that just kids did, so I was a little bit embarrassed. I was thinking ‘oh people are going to judge me thinking, what's this grown woman doing on skates?’ And then I went down and I saw them skating and it was just a vibe.

Julie: I've known Jojo for a long time because he used to live on the same street as my grandma. And I used to always say how I wanted to be like him when I grow up on skates.

Maria: Julie and I had skated as kids. We’re sisters. And we hadn’t skated for maybe 40 years but I twisted her arm and we got back into it.

Cassie: We started a Whatsapp group as people saw us in the park and wanted to join in. There’s now nearly 200 people in the group. We do events, festivals, pop-up performances, roller dance classes.

And what appeals to you about skating?

Mel: For me, it’s a relief. And a release. I’ve got a stressful job but when I put my skates on and I'm like ‘oof’. It takes the worries away. It's a way to just escape from your reality. Skating found us all at the right time.

Sam: Definitely. I didn’t start skating until I was 48. My son was about 12 at the time and I found something for me. You get this buzz. It’s like a bug.

Maggie: It gives you this sense of freedom. And it makes you feel connected with your inner child. Connects you with that feeling of being so unbothered by all of life’s stresses. I don't think there's ever been a time that I've gone skating and felt worse afterwards. Mentally, I will always feel stronger, happier and freer.

Shaughna: The benefits of skating for mental health are profound, incredibly profound. And it's community, it’s moving your body. There's progressing and excelling in a skill that feels impossible at the beginning, but you're constantly overcoming challenges.

What has skating taught you?

Cassie: It’s definitely taught me resilience. It’s a metaphor for life.

Julie: You fall down, you get back up. Determination just to keep on going. That you can conquer something if you stick to it.

Sam: And when you look at the things we can do now that we never thought we'd ever do, it's absolutely unbelievable. It shows you that anything is possible.

Maggie: It’s taught me how to love my body, for how strong it is and how much it can learn.

Mel: Because a lot of us started this as something new as an adult, which is such a hard thing to do.

Sam: I'm telling you, it's the joy you can find as an adult. Because how much is there that you can do as an adult where you can really find joy? It seems to be limited and society doesn't seem to say you can have that kind of joy. Yet we've got it.

Mel: Yeah. Because, you know, I’m wearing a suit in my 9 to 5 job. But when I go roller skating, I wear space buns and bright clothes. So it’s literally a form of me expressing my true self, which is something you don’t feel you can do in the normal day-to-day.

Zack: Skating’s brought me out of myself in a way that I never thought before. In the skate community, you are totally accepted how you are. You can be anyone you want to be as long as you’ve got those skates on.

Can you talk a bit about your community?

Carly: Potternewton Park Roller’s tagline is we bring the vibes. And it’s true. Every time.

Mel: We’re all at different stages of our lives. But we’ve managed to find each other through skating where in reality, we might not have met each other otherwise, which is really interesting. You can have different backgrounds, different jobs, speak different languages. But when you’re all skating together, you’re speaking the same language.

Maria: It doesn’t matter where you are in the world. If you’ve got a pair of skates on and you meet somebody else with skates on, by the end of the day, you’ll probably be jamming together.

Shaughna: ‘You learn one, you teach one.’ That’s the phrase in skating. So it’s a lot of sharing of knowledge.

And finally, a lot of you started as dancers.

If you could roller dance on stage with any celebrity, who would it be?

Carly: Janet Jackson. Or Usher!

Mel: Yeah! He’s the one person every skater knows. He’s shown our community on a global scale. Like at the Super Bowl and things.

Cassie: I’ve even skated with him!

Julie: Usher would be one. But anybody, really. Anyone in any kind of music genre. Because we're Potternewton Park Rollers. And we vibe to anything.

To find out more about Potternewton Park Rollers, follow them on Instagram and to vibe along with them, head to our social channels.