Dance to this Podcast

MEL THE SKATE SANCTUARY - Epic falls, taking up space and scratching a childhood itch!

• 22 Media • Season 2 • Episode 16

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0:00 | 57:02

We're back for Series 2!! Join us as we chat to Mel from The Skate Sanctuary who you will find at this year's Move It roller rink!!

The Skate Sanctuary insta: www.instagram.com/skatesanctuaryuk/?hl=en

The Skate Sanctuary Tiktok: www.tiktok.com/@skate.with.mel

www.theskatesanctuary.co.uk/

Thankyou for listening!

Find all the songs mentioned in our spotify playlists!

https://open.spotify.com/user/31t7e7ibcbntq6ziwbonzbra7ape?si=L0XQuZlnTYq8_ybkvlliaQ

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dancetothispodcast/?hl=en

Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@dancetothispod

SPEAKER_02

Hi everyone! Welcome back to a new series of Dance to This, the podcast with your hosts, me, Zoe Francesca, and me, Jessica Faye, the podcast where you can find great songs to dance to.

SPEAKER_01

Welcome back, everyone! It's been a hot minute. We've had a little winter break. Yeah. Mainly so we can get ahead and film a few episodes with some really, really exciting guests, you guys. We've been working hard. So make sure you're subscribed along. Ready for the ride with series two. Ready for the physical ride because we are starting to take the caravan around the world. No, not the world. On road. Yes, we're gonna be going up and down the country, filming with our amazing guests in the van. That's the whole point of the van to um go and catch all those amazing people around the country. So stay tuned because it's gonna be a fun one. A good one. Yeah, definitely. And we're going to vlog moving the van as well because that's gonna be hilarious in itself. So we have not yet tried it at this moment in time. Um anyway, welcome back. We're happy for you to be here. We've got lots of inspiration coming along and some new things for series two, some new sections. I feel like it's more of a structure. We've found our feet, some new lights, some new cameras. It's all going on. I'm really excited. And the first new feature is instead of Zoe and Jess dancing through life, dancing in the wild, it's January right now, February, whenever this is going out, we're not exactly sure right now, but we're not gonna be together quite as much. So we're switching up the sections and we're gonna start with foundation files. These are things that we cannot live without in our dancing lives, and we're gonna put together a foundation file of lots of essentials that we have found out through our careers. Doesn't have to be something physical, sometimes something physical, sometimes just something tips and advice, things like that that we think you need to know. It's not like we know everything, but this is just from our experiences. Um, but the first one is a physical item. Ta-da! If you're watching. It's giving show and tell. It is giving show and tell. I loved circle time show and tell at school, so this is perfect for me. Uh describe your object. Describe your object. For those listening, can you guess actually? Is that some good ASMR? Okay, I'll just talk about it. It is a hand fan. Guys, the days I forget these on gigs are the worst days ever, especially in the summer. If you're like me and you get really warm, then this is an essential, especially when you're in a car that has a child lock and you can't open the window. And everyone else in the window is cold and I seem to be boiling all the time. Um, this hand fan, no, seriously though, guys, it was six pounds from BM. I'm sure you can get them any other shops. A bargain. Other shops are available. The shops are available, and honestly, I can't even tell you how much this has changed everything. It's festival gigs, that's where I feel like I use it most. When you're outside and you're not like on theatres, I feel like when you come off the stage, oh, backstage is normally okay, or you might have a fan there. If you're in a field and it's boiling hot, there's no way of getting cool unless you splash yourself with water. But you're not gonna do that when you've got like makeup on. This hand fan is just amazing. Three different modes. I use it on the second mode mostly because it's nice but doesn't use all the battery. Top tip. Top tip. It's really good, you guys. And it just people say, oh, they just blow hot air around. This one, this one does not. This one blows cold air into my face, and it's really good. So I would not go on a gig without this. Sometimes I forget it and I'm nearly crying. But this is my top tip. This is the first thing going in the foundation files.

SPEAKER_02

Not even necessarily a dancer tip, that could be just anyone who gets hot. Very good point. A light tip. There we go.

SPEAKER_01

Carry up behind the dancer to the bigger. It's a new little bag, it's not like you don't need to plug it in, it's negligible. It's perfect. So there we go. Yeah, you don't need to be a dancer to the dance of this podcast. Yeah, really handy, and I would definitely, definitely recommend. So that's the first thing going into. Will you be taking it to move it? I will be taking it to move it because we're gonna be one because we're gonna be running around the arena doing some interviews. I'm a good link that on the video. That's a really good link. Well done. We are going to move it!

unknown

Woohoo!

SPEAKER_01

We're super excited. Yeah. Obviously, it's where all the dancers hang out. It's one of the main events of the whole year. Yeah. Uh, we are going to be at move it. Are you going to be at move it too? I tell you who else is going to be at move it. And what guest today? Mel, who's coming on, who um owns the skate sanctuary. They're going to be down at the roller rink. They have a boob right there. So that is gonna be so so much fun.

SPEAKER_02

Are we gonna have a go? Pardon? Are we gonna have a go? Yeah, we are gonna have a go.

SPEAKER_01

Are you gonna we are? I'm gonna make you have a go, yeah. I don't mind skating. Yeah, I can't I just can't do the dance moves. That's alright. We can just boog it. You can shimmy. Shimmy and skate. Yeah, we might learn something in today's episode. Yeah. Find out. Yeah, we're gonna bit move it. Um I've been a handful of times, once with Katie from DSL. She took us in the youth group. Um, and then a couple of times as well when I was at uni and things like that. You've been a couple of times too. Yeah, I've been a few times. Yeah, it's just such a good day of inspiration.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, lots going on. It's been so many years since I've been there, so I feel like it'll be quite interesting to see how it's changed. Because I think it's been about 10 years since I last was. Ooh, exciting!

SPEAKER_01

I went over just like years ago with Los and Ren just for fun. Just for fun. Um, it's just a day of inspiration. If you haven't gone, get to know, look it up, and you'll see the vibe. It's just so fun. There's just music everywhere, dances everywhere. There's like all these different little stages where everyone's just dancing everywhere, dance stalls, dance dance with merch, everything. Oh, it's just so good. It's just so good.

SPEAKER_02

So and we'll be there asking uh you about your favourite songs. Yes!

SPEAKER_01

We're gonna come around and ask everyone about their favourite songs to dance to. So there's gonna be a move it special episode um with another long playlist, a bit like the DSL show, with lots of good songs to dance to, so that's very important. I also want to find as many famous people as we can.

SPEAKER_03

Oh gosh, okay.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, when I went last time, I saw Chico and I got a video of him saying, It's Chico time. I don't know, but it was great. He was doing like fitness things.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, yes, I remember that. I think he was there when I was there like nine years ago, actually. So that was fun.

SPEAKER_01

These are just random. I don't know, they were just random subjects. Gareth Gates was there. Yeah, Gareth Gates was there, he was very orange.

SPEAKER_02

Got picture proof of it. I just don't know why he was there.

SPEAKER_01

No, I can't remember that one. That was ages ago. Um yeah, obviously, just for fun, shall we go? We've been booked a ticket, like who knows? I want to see Ricky Jinx, Corey O, Brian Freeman's there. Brian Freeman is at Move It. I wonder if he's ever been before. I feel like I don't know that. But that's amazing. That is amazing. So it's gonna be a good one. So yeah, we will see you at Move It if you're going, you guys. But let's jump into the episode with Mel from the skate sanctuary. Enjoy. Welcome, Wel. Welcome, Wel. Welcome, Mel, to the podcast. Yeah, you do look cozy. It's really cold in here, everyone.

SPEAKER_00

I mean, um I might just tuck myself in a bit of a little bit of cozy. It's gonna, yeah, and then I might just hug up pushing the tunnel.

SPEAKER_01

Thank you for rapidly. But you know what?

SPEAKER_00

Oh, in the winter, it's so nice to have that opportunity to reflect on your dance and just get inspired. Um, roller skating does happen outside, but I'm very excited to be here. Um inside on this frosty morning.

SPEAKER_01

Oh my gosh. Yeah, oh exciting! So tell everyone what you do now in the dance industry.

SPEAKER_00

We're crossing over into the skating side of everything. I'm so excited to be here. And honestly, when you messaged me about being a guest, I was like, oh, that's lovely. Um, I I founded a space in Leeds, a roller skate studio. There isn't currently a model for what I do, I believe. Um, normally when people think about roller skating and spaces for it, you might think of a roller rink, which is much bigger than the space that I offer. But what we wanted to do was create a totally different model that's focused around connecting people, building confidence, and that we happen to do it through roller skating. We also happen to be very much neighbours for the dance studio Leeds, which is how we met. And I'm so grateful for the space that Katie created and all the dancers that I've met as part of the Dance Studio Leads, and they were a massive, massive part of why we chose the location that we did.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, amazing! That's really cool. Oh, well, we'll get onto all of that, but let's go back. Take it from the top, all the way from the very beginning. We're gonna start with the song because it is possibly what you would expect from somebody who owns a Roller Studio. Starlight Express. What a tune! Starlight Express. Yes, oh my gosh. So you went to see this when you were younger?

SPEAKER_00

Uh yes, so Starlight Express now is in its new incarnation. Um, they've done a full re remake over and updated all the songs and tunes. I have been to see it in its new incarnation at Wembley Troubadour, and it's great. I think they've updated it really well. But the old one, I think I was eight when I went to see that. And I just remember being completely blown away. I don't remember a lot of it, apart from the roller skaters were moving around like within the audience, and that was mind-blowing, like literally mind-blowing. The costumes are incredible, the makeup was incredible, I was completely besotted with Pearl, who's like the heroine of the piece. And um, I think I drove my parents crazy by having the tunes on repeat, and it was absolutely I don't I think we had CDs by the time I went to see that. It wasn't just a cassette tape, yeah, from when I was already young. Yeah, I think we yeah, we were absolutely just playing the same song on repeat.

SPEAKER_02

Or have you seen it? I I don't know anything about Starlight. You don't know anything about it. I don't know, not like the story or the soundtrack. Like obviously I know it's roller scapes.

SPEAKER_00

The story is it's it's a coming to life of a child playing with a train set in their bedroom. So the the controller is a child's voice, and they're like playing with trains, and they've given the trains names, and some of them get on, and some of them there's like a little bit of competition, it's all very exciting. Um, and then there's lots of races, and then so you hear like a child's voiceover throughout quite a lot of the musical, and then the trains, as it were, come to life by the magic of starlight, um, and yeah, you get to see what would be in like the child's brain, as it were, like all these trains whizzing around. But yeah, it's great, such a great visualization.

SPEAKER_01

Fright, this is by Starlight Express. It's very it is very trainy, isn't it? Let's let's skip in a little bit.

SPEAKER_00

So you've got the coaches who are singing, and in the I was gonna say, in the old incarnation, the coaches were all played by female characters, and the engines were all male characters, whereas they've now changed that and made it much more diverse in the new incarnation. Rightly so. Yeah, so yeah, it was they all had like very cute kind of little skirts, and it was just yeah, very adorable. But all of the cast of Starlight Express are trained dancers, but they only learn to skate for the role. That is just crazy. It's something like 14 weeks of very intense skate school. It's so so fast. Wild. And when you see what they are able to do, how they can spin, how they like go up and down ramps, banked like parts of the track, um, there's risers on the stage. It's insane what they can what they can do. Absolutely wild.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. I have a friend called Dan. Shout out Dan who is in style like expression jumping right now and he couldn't skate. And I was watching all of his Instagram stories, and it was just like loads of videos of him spinning, falling, spinning, falling, spinning, falling. Then finally he was like, I'm getting there, and like just keeping up with the progression of him seeing like I was like, you actually could start from nowhere.

SPEAKER_00

And then that must be such a fast-paced, definitely it massively, but it helps that the coaches who are delivering that training are also trained dancers, so they've got a really good idea of the background that people have had. Um, also are ex-performers from Starlight Express. Um, we occasionally get one of them when we can to come and do a Starlight Express based workshop in Leeds on skates and just teach us the smallest amount of choreography. Yes, just a little bit, right? But it's really cool. It's definitely different supporting dancers to learn to roll a skate from people who have no dance background. I've definitely noticed a difference. Lots of different skills that go between them.

SPEAKER_02

Do you know whether there's ever been a situation where someone has got the part, gone and tried doing it, and then they've been like, it's just not happening.

SPEAKER_00

Why has that happened? I I don't know things like that because I don't know if they'd ever share that publicly.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, so did you do any dancing before you saw saw Starlight Express?

SPEAKER_00

Or was that your first wow? Well, do you know what? So listening to everyone else's stories on the pod, I was like, oh my goodness, these people started when they were two. Tap dancing when they were two. No, but I love the different stories. Um I had I went to a stage school when I was really little. It was like the classic Saturday morning, ballet tap, those kinds of classes. And I don't remember very much. I think I did tap dancing for maybe half a term or something like that, not a long time, but I don't remember doing a lot of it. I remember doing a little bit of maybe movement and musical theatre, I don't think it was called that at the time. And then we moved house and that was it. It was gone. Um yeah, so I think it was for a short period of time in Uppingham. But I can't remember where, like a community centre or something like that, maybe Stamford. Um I grew up mostly in the Midlands, so I don't, yeah, I don't remember very much. And then maybe in the local panto, there was like a very amateur panto every year, and like the local kids would kind of get involved with that. And then just probably in school, like in primary school, we were big on there was always a performance, like you know, Key Stage One, Key Stage Two, Year Five, Year Six. I can remember we did something that was like space themed one year. I didn't know.

SPEAKER_01

Aliens, but I wasn't an alien. I was we had like we had cool denim things on, and they were the aliens similar vibes, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

I can't like I don't remember a lot about it, but I always remember quite enjoying singing and a little bit of dancing, and then we were encouraged to do lots of arts and creative things. I think the curriculum had a very different focus when I was small because I am old. But um no, you are not okay. Um I have lived for longer perhaps than some of your podcast guests. I'm I'm like, it's okay, but it is um as someone I've been through primary also, uh as a different slant as a teacher. I've spent a lot of years teaching primary school children, I can see the difference, and I'm really keen to offer that experience of like a well-rounded curriculum and it like just life experience. I think if you don't have an academic slant, which you don't necessarily, the creative arts and having that expressive outlet is vital, but more than that, you can still do all of the core skills through that modality, it doesn't make you uh less able to add and subtract and read, it just gives you a different purpose for doing that, so it's really essential.

SPEAKER_01

Let's go on to the turning point. Was there a specific light bulb moment where you were like, I am going to open a studio?

SPEAKER_00

I think when I started roller skating, so I had I had an opportunity as a small child. I have a photo, I do not remember much because again I was really small. I had metal roller skates that you put your trainer in that were adjustable with like a little buckle on. So I would put the little buckle on, and in the house that I lived in, there was a little garden path that went down a slope, and I would sidestep up my dad's vegetable patch, it was right next to it, get to the top and basically bend my knees. I think imagine sort of a skiing kind of position, and just go down and fall on the grass at the bottom. I had no idea how to stop. I couldn't even push, I couldn't skate, but just that feeling of rolling was really fun. Then I grew out of them. They were replaced maybe a few years later with some rollerblades in the 90s, couldn't get on with them at all. Really? It was really different, and I could like I was like, I don't know what these are. There was they're quite restrictive in your ankle movement because the boot is different, and and anyway, I grew out of them, and I think people were like, Oh, that's really sad, what a waste of money. So I ended up having like using transport like bikes and stuff like that, and I didn't come back to skating until I was in my early 30s, at which point I was like, Oh, this is scratching a childhood itch, and this is really great. And I thought, well, let's just see how it goes. And the only opportunity that I had that I could get to, um, I had a young child at that time, was to go to a roller derby training practice. And roller derby is a full contact sport for those who do not know, and it is extremely different from what I now offer. So it's a competitive sport, but they would teach you to roller skate. Oh, yeah. And at the time in Leeds, there were two teams, and I looked at them and I was like, right, well, one, you have to sign up for this course, and I've missed the date, so I would have to wait another 10 weeks, or the other one I can go this week. So I messaged them and I said, I'm gonna come down, and I literally couldn't stand up. I think my first experience of roller skating was I turned up with this really false bravado, thinking that you need to know everything because like I'm a proper adult now, and I felt I was shaking on the inside. I think if I'd tried to speak out loud to a bigger room, my voice would have been shaking. Like I was a really very anxious person. So I went to this sports hall, didn't know a single person there, like signed up on my own, went in, and this lovely person kind of went, Oh, okay, welcome. Yes, we've got your skates. Here's your skates, here's your safety gear, pop it on, and I'll come back to you. And and I didn't know how to put the safety gear on. Oh, I didn't know how a wrist pad should go on, I just didn't know anything. And I was like furtively looking around the room, and I can really remember feeling like a really deep shame that I didn't know, and I like I should know. I'm an adult, I should know this. And then and now we constantly remove the shame. We're like, why would you know? You've never put a wrist pad in your life. Why would you know? Of course you wouldn't know. So it doesn't matter what age you are, you wouldn't know. Um, anyway, I could I couldn't get up for it, it was a two-hour session, and I think for like 40 minutes I literally couldn't get off the floor, and I was crouched trying to use a chair to help me stand up. The wheels were like sliding all over the place, but at the end of the two-hour session, I think I'd made it like round the full sports hall, maybe twice, and then they were like just sit down and take them off. Um I went to sit down, slipped, did the awful like fall onto your backside, it was miserable. Um but I went, I left feeling exhilarated, like absolutely, yeah, which was completely unexpected. And I left going, wow, why do I feel like this? And it's not until many years later when I kind of went back to reflect on it and went, it's because it gives you mental peace. You have to check out of your everyday life, and you are so focused on I must be able to stand up. I'm trying to put one foot in front of the other, but actually the movement isn't like that. I'm trying to listen to what you're doing, like there's no room in my head to do anything else. So I think that was really enlightening. And then after that, I've been, I think I was roller skating for maybe six months or so, and I thought, wow. This is this is great, and feeling more confident slowly but surely. And then after I'm gonna say maybe two years, I felt roller derby was not the space for me. It was taking up too much time in my life, and I was really struggling to like feel any kind of balance in my life, but I wanted to keep roller skating, and it turned out that I wasn't the only person that felt like that. It's like a sport that's mostly female focused, and so there are lots of women going through a stage where they have other responsibilities, and actually roller derby was not maybe their main priority. So we wanted to get together and skate, and then we founded another space, yeah, so that people could actually do that. And I went, Wow, wouldn't it be cool if one we had enough people and we could like one day open a space? So it was like the seed of an idea, yeah, like build the community first, and one day hopefully there will be enough sp people to sustain a full-time space.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, now you have one.

SPEAKER_00

And it's covered in disco balls and it's beautiful. It's incredible, it's so great. Yeah, opening the door every day is it is like a dream come true when you go and you're like, oh my goodness, I can't believe that we've made this happen, that somehow the community has stood behind what we're trying to achieve, see the vision, and are choosing to support it. Yeah, it's amazing. That is amazing.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, and you mentioned dance to do lead. You do hop upstairs a few times for some lessons. Absolutely do. Or do you think that dance has enhanced your skating? Or let's talk about like the cross skills of like you mentioned when you taught us dance.

SPEAKER_00

Yes, I think the crossover is in is is so valuable, and going back to it now, like I think I've always enjoyed movement in some way, and before I found roller skating, I did enjoy dance, and I used to go to a street dance session at Yorkshire Dance when I was in my early 20s, and it was an open level session, and I remember just being in this room with incredible dancers. There was me in my kind of mid-20s, feeling like the oldest one because 16 plus was there adult session, yeah, and I was like, Oh, I'm so old. And then there was someone else who was, I think she was probably older than me and just moving and having a great time. And I was always feeling like, oh, I'm not perfect, I can't get this. Not realizing that the dance training that you get in choreography and how to pick that up quickly was something that I didn't have, and a lot of people in the room did have, so yeah, constantly beating myself up myself up about that. But I went back to dance right before 2020 and maybe like end of 2018 and started going more regularly again. And I actually came one of your guests, it was Parisha's class that took me back to the dance studio Leeds initially because I thought one of my friends, one of my skate friends, said, Oh, you know, actually dance hall would translate really well to roller skating. I was like, Oh, cool, let me see what's available. And Parisha's class popped up, so I was like, right, let's go and try this way of moving. And at that time, because I was a more confident skater and more experienced, I wanted to be able to identify with people that I was teaching and who were really out of their comfort zone. And I thought a really good way of doing that is going back and being like a beginner again in another skill. Yeah. So um, what I've learned through dance and my journey through dance is like I love it. Without it, I don't have I don't have a brain break because when you run your own business and it is your passion and your hobby, and it's your business, you have to find another space where you can switch off. Yeah, and that's really difficult. But dance gives me that opportunity and it gives me that break. So it's really valuable, and I yeah, I now have a dedicated, protected time slot, and I my team am like, if if there's no one to cover, whatever is on that night will be cancelled because I'm I am going to go and dance, and I have to protect that. And if I don't protect that, I'm not going to be able to give as much. But actually, the all of the people that I've met through dance have all taught me something slightly different, but it's all to do with movement, and it's really interesting how that movement translates into the movement in roller skating. So movement-based disciplines, something that I was not trained in, I do not have a background in, but I am like living proof that it's possible, but also I will talk to people about what their goals are because if your goal is to become a sponsored, aka the best skater in some discipline, then I'm probably not your person. But if you're moving to feel good and you want to just have an experience, or you are a dancer and you want to understand how the translation of movement is in skates, I can give you a very comprehensive start, and then you will be able to take that on further.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah, nice. I think uh it's a common theme with the guests we've had so far is just moving for fun, dancing or skating moving for you and just for fun and just getting what you want out of it, not for any other reason, but just a release to have for and it should we should be encouraging an active lifestyle, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

So we're really passionate about as particularly as women grow older, or really from teenagers onwards, there's not enough movement, and it's really common in teenagers to see that movement disappears from the lifestyle.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, when they don't have to do it at school, yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00

But maybe there's not when just not offering the right kinds of movement. Um, and then so we see a lot of women who are in their 30s, in their 40s, and well beyond actually coming to reclaim a little bit of time and space for themselves, and that's really empowering.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, really fun, and it's something so fun as well, like with the music too, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Just going tuning back into your inner child, and just kind of having disco tunes on, feeling really free. Yeah, it's great. I don't think I'd heard this song. I don't think I'd heard this song. This is very chill. I think it this is maybe a re like a newer update. I don't think it's the original original. Maybe it is.

SPEAKER_01

Let me just check that I've got the right one. Janet Jackson, got till it's gone, Q-tip and Joni Mitchell.

unknown

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00

It's so smooth. This can't help but take you away to somewhere that just is slower. And I think something really important for me in songs, especially when I'm skating, is to usually choose something with a midpoint beats per minute because skaters will match their pace, you'll push at the same pace. Naturally, yeah. Yeah, obviously you're like you'll match your beats, you'll match your dance, but with skating, you will speed up if you keep pushing quite quickly and you don't know how to slow that down, or you don't have a different way of moving. Yeah. If you're just skating round and you're listening to house music or something else that's really fast, you'll start speeding up, yes, jungle. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01

That's a good point. Yeah, that is a nice song.

SPEAKER_00

So having something that's really smooth and quite chill and quite slow just invites you into like a more languid style of moving, and it's like yeah, very sultry. Yeah, nice.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, next section. I like to move it, move it, I like to move it, move it. Tell the listeners your favourite dance style.

SPEAKER_00

Um, I really enjoy hip hop. I think because I grew up, maybe I don't think I listened to a lot of those those tunes when I was actually in that era, but I will have been influenced by all of the external things, um, TV adverts, and those days when we had four channels, I remember channel five being a thing, right? Becoming a thing. But so, in all all of the culture, there would have there was a lot of hip hop culture, skateboarding culture, lots of those things. That was like the era that I grew up in. And even though I don't think I listened to a lot of hip hop at that time because there's a lot of swearing, yeah, just you know, yeah casually, yeah. Um, my parents are very protective, but it that's that's all good. I came back to it later, and it's a dance style that I find really energetic, it's quite free, and once you get over the word freestyle, not being a scary word, and actually it just is an open book of you just move in a way that feels good, and if you're worried about it, put some sunglasses on, switch the lights off. Yes, good tip. That's a great tip, and yeah, just move in the dark. And I would say if you're not used to moving, do it without roller skates on first. Also a good tip. Just move and then add the skates in later. But yeah, the um Let Me Clear My Throat was was on which film is it? Bring it on. Bring it on. Classic. And I was, yeah, yeah, I was really keen to be.

SPEAKER_01

Oh sorry, this is the old school remix. Hope I got that one. Bring it on the god, it's so iconic. It's great. Let's make it clear.

SPEAKER_00

And it's such a hard film to watch now. It's like if you ever try and go and watch on like um any of the old films like Step Ups or any of those, it's like you have to have you have to download a version from somewhere. Oh, yeah, but you can't.

SPEAKER_01

Well, I I'm on old school, I keep all the DVDs. So if you want to borrow them anytime, I've got the DVDs. I don't think I've got a DVD player anymore. Yeah, there you go. Yeah, you can probably bring it on DVD like, but yeah, no, that is such a good one. So, did you do you dance this style now? Do you go to classes of this?

SPEAKER_00

I do go to hip hop class. Um yeah, it's currently owned by Ed, Ed's um collaboration with DSL, but with I think there's been quite a few different influences, quite a few different teachers who all got a different style in hip-hop, and that's been incredibly valuable because you get to see different people's perspectives. And I always I one of my favorite things to do is to take someone's foundations class because anytime you do a foundations class, it allows you to completely relax and just get into the groove, and then you can like sit in the pocket of the groove, feel like switch off the brain, just let the body take over. And I think that's a really important thing for dance that I've come to learn is especially well when it's choreography, your body has to know what to do, can't think about it. If you're trying to think about it, you're not going to come out as fluid as you would want to feel and look, and it's really difficult to enjoy.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, especially in an hour class or an hour and a half before it is done, and yeah, that's it.

SPEAKER_00

Whereas if you've got that, yeah, but if you've got the groove or you're they're very repetitive moves, you can you can almost start owning them, and your body will just take on a different way. And that's something that all of the dance teachers that we've had have have shared. Like, no, I'm giving you this little bit of vocabulary, but you get to use it and express yourself however you like. So you might just yeah, add a little shoulder, add a little cheeky look somewhere. I don't know, a little hand movement. Just yeah, you just add whatever you want, yeah, definitely sprinkle on it.

SPEAKER_01

I feel like hip hop's quite a good one for the skates, you know, with like the grooves and like you were saying for the body rolls and like yeah, I can just see it matching. Are there any styles which you feel work better with the skates? Or I think disco is really iconic with skating.

SPEAKER_00

I think when people think roller disco, they often will think 70s or they'll think 80s. Stranger Things had a flight for 80s roller ink featured. I actually haven't watched it. Vinny's terrible. Come on. Um but I think people do think about the 70s and the 80s when they're thinking roller discos. So we can just modernize that. There's no, you know, you don't need to be wearing flares or whatever, but wear whatever you like. But certainly, if you're wearing clothes with movement, tassels and jackets and things like that, it's really fun to move your whole arm. And what I've learned with our community is because people come from a background that is not movement-based, they typically learn to roller skate as adults, they don't necessarily have a dance background, they're quite inhibited. So give somebody a prop, they are moving their arms, it really adds to the expressions.

SPEAKER_02

Why you've done like the fan workshops and things like that? Yes.

SPEAKER_00

Fans, little cigars, that makes sense, little ribbons, poi, whatever it is. Great. Um yeah, it just helps people to add extension into their movement and understand that if you can really use all of your body and extend right through to your fingertips, it will get rid of the stress in your body so we can move for wellness, but also you're just more expressive.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, think of hold up a scarf and going like that and then doing it without, and that's the move you want your arm to do. Yeah, you've opened my eyes, male. Wow. Get some scarves. I'm don't know about that. I'm not very good at scarves. You don't have to throw scarves very often, so I could probably do that when I'm not very good at catching throwing sticks, things like that. It floats down, it's all good. Yeah, it's all good. Are there any styles that you think would be cool on skates that you haven't tried, which might be a bit trickier, but you thought, ooh, that might work well.

SPEAKER_00

I mean, I don't have a background in contemporary, but I don't fully understand. As like a non-trained dancer, I don't fully understand all the differences between the dance styles and how nuanced they are. I can see like bigger differences, of course, and like when you change shoes. Yes. Yes, of course, I can see those. Yeah. Um, I think shuffle would be interesting. Wow, an interesting adaptation on skates. I've tried like some kind of house movements, but doing even like house basic step paddabare, like balancing on a heel, is really hard. Yeah, because the heels will slip. So there's there's kind of similarities and differences, and I'm just still experimenting. Yeah, no, that's it. But it's quite fun just to play with. I like to play with a single move and see how many ways you can create with that single move, but adding in movement, like how can you add role into it as well, which is the extra element that roller skates give you. There's endless possibilities. There's so much, there's so many options. Yeah, so so take part of beret, you can do that like in front of you, back behind you, whatever. You can twist more, but then when you twist your hips more, you can start to add in roll and flow, and then you kind of end up end up making a finger of eight, which is quite satisfying. Ooh!

SPEAKER_01

How exacting! That is so cool. Next section, put on your dancing shoes. We're gonna get inside your mind. Okay. This is the first time we're doing this. This is a new section. Okay, I'm very annoying. It's we want to learn more about you from quick fire answers. Okay, not too much thinking. It's a this or that situation, right? Here we go, we've got six. Right. Live band or digital track? Digital track.

SPEAKER_02

TikTok or dance mat?

SPEAKER_00

Dance mat.

SPEAKER_01

Skate inside or skate outside. Outside.

SPEAKER_02

Uh disco lights or bright studio?

SPEAKER_01

Disco lights. Good answer. Every time. Uh morning skate or evening skate evening. Um, full costume or comfy clubs?

SPEAKER_00

That's context dependent.

SPEAKER_01

Quick answer, quick answer. I will say full costume. Good one. And last question: if your life was a dance movie, what would the title be?

SPEAKER_00

Oh my goodness. You can have a thank you. If my life was a dance movie. Yeah. It's a tough one. That's tricky. It's a tough one. It would be, I don't know, like roll into your future, or something like that. It's got to be some play on words of roll or like roll into your future. I like it. I feel like I'd have to come back to that.

SPEAKER_01

That's a good off-the-fly episode. That's a tricky one, by the little bit.

SPEAKER_00

Okay, yeah. I feel like that's a working title.

SPEAKER_01

Right. So digital track. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Yes, digital track. Only because I really like what DJs do in terms of mixing. Um, live music is great, like really great, but I do, I think the digital, I can you can have it with you all the time as well.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, different comments. Yeah. Cool. TikTok or dance mark. Dance map.

SPEAKER_00

I love it. It's gotta be old school. As in TikTok, as in the dances that you see on TikTok. Yeah, like dance, yeah, dance. Yeah, I think TikTok dance. I find it hard to learn from a video as well. Um sometimes common. Yeah, where it's if it's reflected, and particularly where it's skating, it's sometimes very difficult to tell if the movement is a push or a pull.

SPEAKER_03

Ooh, right, yeah. And I just for watching it, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Prior to TikTok being a big thing when it was musically, um, and we were you using YouTube videos to learn, I learned some moves, skate moves, and realised later that I'd done it incorrectly. Uh I'd interpreted it the right the wrong way around because I didn't have the knowledge that I've got now. Yeah. And yeah, so I actually find it really hard to learn from a video. And like a 10-second TikTok video can take me an hour. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

I knew it was tricky sometimes.

SPEAKER_00

Give me a dance map. Yes, dance.

SPEAKER_01

There's not many of them around, but there are a few starting to pop up again. So we need to get to undress, we need to do that. Um, skate inside or outside, I forgot what you said. Outside.

SPEAKER_00

Outside, you do a lot outside. Outside, when the season allows, um for me, roller skating is about the feeling of freedom, and there is something extremely liberating about being outside. I think my I I like the company of other people, but I really feel replenished when I get my own time, and you don't need to be on someone else's schedule, do anything else. It's completely self-care for yourself. So, my tracks, what I want to listen to, even if it's the same song on repeat for three hours, um, and just move in a way that I feel I want to. So, yeah, headphones, sunset, oh, it's well, amazing.

SPEAKER_01

Disco lights or bright studio, disco lights have spinning lights every time. Definitely. Uh morning skate or evening skate said evening. You just said sunset skate. Evening because of the sun seat of vision. Yeah, that's beautiful.

SPEAKER_00

And we we have organised sunset skates before. I do have we have also organised breakfast skates, like a little breakfast roll meetup skate. Oh, yeah, I loved that name breakfast roll. Clever, clever, love that and with bacon butter.

SPEAKER_03

I love that.

SPEAKER_00

It's like it meets people's needs in different ways. Yeah. But my preference would always be it's the decompression at the end of the day, the real kind of switching off, and just yep, just letting that that space. Music and sunset. Beautiful, lovely to end the day. Full costume or comfy clothes was an ooh one, but we went full costume in the air. It's so hard, but actually, I think because I'm thinking I've been in carnival a few times now, the costumes are incredible. But also, yeah, for sure. I think having being so visible in those costumes, visibility is something that I've battled with. Um, feeling like it's okay to take up space, being a woman over 40 that it's okay to take up space and be visible is really very challenging. We do not live in the society where older women are necessarily celebrated. I think there's just an expectation that you've been cute and pretty, you've done your time, and now you go and have your children and just fade away. And actually, I think we're seeing a resurgence of women who are not accepting that that's an okay thing. And let's demonstrate to our younger women and colleagues that no, this is not okay, and we want to just forge a very different path. So put on that costume. Be visible. Yes. People are looking anyway if you're on roller skate. So you might as well wear the costume. You might as well wear the costume.

SPEAKER_01

Next section, don't be moody, shake your booty, my favourite. This series, we are going for a highlight reel slash blooper kind of feel. Okay. So we're gonna start with the blooper first. There's got to be an epic fall you've had. Oh my goodness. All of the epic falls, a physical one or a metaphorical one.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, I mean, there are so many. I would say, if nothing else, roller skating absolutely teaches you that when you fall over, the world does not stop. You do not, you do not end, you can get back up and you can carry on. So falling is not failing, falling is learning, and then you can learn to apply that to other parts of your life. So failing is not. A complete and utter catastrophe. It's actually just an opportunity to go, hmm, what do I need to rebalance? What do I need to do to move on? Um, but I think one of my most epic falls was probably I used to skate across Leeds when I went to my hairdressing appointments from the shop that I had in the corn exchange, which was before we moved to Mavgate Mills, right? And I was skating back from the hairdresser, feeling like a million bucks because I was like rolling along my hair just in the sunshine. Got to outside the train station, right, where the hotel is, the hotel entrance, before it has all been pedestrianised, and the paving slabs were not even. Oh, and it was it was not great. Um, it was starting to get dusky, a little bit dark, so busy. I hit like the front one of my wheel, hit a paving slab. And I mean, this is a place that I've skated many, many, many, many, many times, and I know really well, and I'm quite a confident skater outside, and it took a lot of years to feel confident outside. But I hit it, flew through the air, no knee pads on, no, because I was like, well, I'm not gonna carry those. I'm just um yeah, fell over. My rucksack like went up, slid up my back and whacked my head. So my headphones flew off. So it was just like this whole it's obviously really noisy when you've got headphones and you kind of don't realise how much noise you might be making walking around. Um, it's noisy, so I'm like drawing loads of attention to myself going. You're just lying there on the floor.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, and you had good hair.

SPEAKER_00

There we go. I had great hair. So I think that was that was a a pretty good one. And I just had to gather all my things together again. Well, you're just fine. Uh fortunate, no, not not really bad, not really badly injured. I think it was more the the ego and the pride a bit bit fallen. But I thought, well, do you know what? On behalf of all roller skaters everywhere, I need to just get up, get back up and carry on. Get up and keep going, so I just got back up and carried on because nothing else you're gonna do.

SPEAKER_01

Oh my gosh, going on to a highlight section. Take us back to a moment that you could freeze frame and stay in forever.

SPEAKER_00

Oh I I actually think so. I've I've had the pleasure, the opportunity to skate all over the world. Um, I never thought that roller skating could take you all over the world, but once you become immersed in something that you brings you so much joy, you start seeking out opportunities all over the place. So one of the spaces was Skate Love Barcelona. There is a festival every September called Skate Love Barcelona. I believe they've had their 10-year anniversary and they're actually taking a break this year. But the festival used to be quite small and it's grown and grown over the years. But some of the seafront spaces in Barcelona are just stunning to roller skate on. So that and I I have also roller skated in Venice Beach, and please don't hate me, Californians, but um I actually think that Barcelona's better. Yeah. For because the path is away from the sand. The the path on Venice Beach is in the sand. So as a skater, yeah, it's sandy, which is not ideal. So I think that is a space that I could just roll about in. It's just stunning. And on a warm summery evening, it's that kind of sultry feeling, it's not too cold, you do not have to wear a coat, you don't have to worry about the other baggage. Okay. Because when whenever you're moving, when you're dancing, when you're skating, carrying an extra bag alters your weight distribution, and it does make a difference to how you can move. So wanting to not have to do that, you don't need to carry anything, and you still have that like feeling that you're moving without that is really nice, beautiful. Yeah, oh, I can imagine with the sunset as well.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, lovely. Oh, sunset over the sea. Oh, at least that's a you kind of place that is. I can see you doing that. Well, you've got your skin now, you can join do you think you can appreciate the highs because of all the lows that you've got?

SPEAKER_00

Oh, of course. There's no way that you would keep doing this, and I think there are lots of people who don't actually give themselves enough time and don't give themselves enough grace or compassion because it's such a steep learning curve. The falls initially are so challenging, there's so much fear because you can absolutely injure yourself much more easily than you can falling over in your shoes, and that you know, I guess if you were breakdancing or tumbling or doing something like that, again, the the risk of injury is much greater. But a lot of adults maybe don't choose that as their first path in movement. But roller skating is oh, well, it's really fun. I'll just go and have a go and I'll be able to do that. And that's actually it is quite hard. Yeah, so learning that we can learning how to get over that first four, getting being okay with the fear and allowing your nervous system to readjust and like just regulate. Once you get past that, it's actually it's really okay. But there's no way that you would still be doing it if you did not learn the lessons of being compassionate to yourself, believing that you can do it, and pulling on um the new friendships that you are absolutely going to make.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, definitely. Amazing. Um, oh, the song, the song set adrift on memory bliss. Yes. I have not heard this. Let's get it.

SPEAKER_00

Just it's a very chilled sunset vibe. I feel like I've got very much uh a style.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I can see you are on the beach in Barcelona.

SPEAKER_00

Just cruising, probably backwards.

SPEAKER_01

This is now the masterclass minute. You've got 60 seconds to inspire younger dancers. You do public speaking, be fine at this. This is your round. Your round, 60 seconds. Just any inspiration, either for opening up a studio, taking the leap for that, or doing taking dancing, anything you want. Be inspirational. Be inspirational.

SPEAKER_00

60 seconds starts now. I think that cultivating the self-belief is one of the hardest things that you can ever do. So, any way that you can do that and uh find more confidence and empower yourself to take up more space because your voice is important. And I think roller skating physically teaches you to take up more space because of how the movement is performed. You have to move from side to side in order to do that. Your balance will be uh supported if you're looking where you're going. That's quite a confident pose, it's quite powerful, and so pulling all of that energy and pouring it back into yourself as feeling empowered so that you can go on and just change your little section of the world. And if you can do that, you can then expand beyond that. And slowly but surely, giving yourself that time for your roller skate skills to build and develop, which takes time, you will find that your life will change. One minute, there we go.

SPEAKER_01

Yes, that was perfect! What an amazing first masterclass minute. That was brilliant, and then a song to go with that, something that you find inspirational or that you want to inspire the next generation.

SPEAKER_00

So, this this song that I chose is New Disco, which is just an updated version on disco. Yes, but this is such a great song, and the way that I've used this song before, um, which is the Gigamesh version of Donna Summer's Bad Girls, it's just great. There's some really great little electronic riffs in it, um, is in a soul train. Nice. Because getting people to take up space and show us your moves is quite intimidating initially for people who do not have a movement background, but actually a soul train where you've got two rows of people and everyone just keeps moving down the middle. So you just get that little element of it's my turn now. Yes, you can see the confidence building in people as they just they'll start rolling initially, and then maybe the second time they'll strut a little bit more, and then you can see how people's bodies change. Once you take the skates off, that feeling of how that felt, that movement remains with you. And because roller skating makes you feel this much taller, your wheels when you take them off, your body's trying to find well, where's that height gone? So you actually, I do feel that people leave a skate session walking taller. Yeah, no, so it's like you're actually walking taller and making more taking up more space.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, great.

SPEAKER_01

And for people who don't know about soul trains, it's a very uplifting community. Everyone's standing at the side party, they're wooing, they're dancing with you, you don't just stand there in two lines waiting. It's yeah, if you've never seen one before, it's it's they're so good. I always like doing them in hem parties and yes initially, and it's like you all know each other. Come on, let's just have some fun and get the energy energy going.

SPEAKER_00

So they're great. Yeah, so this is one of my favourite songs to use a soul player, a soul train. Let's play it. Let's skip it in a little bit. Let's get in the chorus.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, where's the chorus? Where's the chorus? Oh, yeah. Great tune. Yeah, really good tune. That is gonna be one I will be booging to. I'll have that on all week.

SPEAKER_00

Enjoy.

SPEAKER_03

Well, thank you so much for coming on.

SPEAKER_00

Thank you for having me as your guest. Yeah, I really enjoyed it. What a great conversation!

SPEAKER_01

Very inspirational. Oh, thank you so much. And where can we find you? Your socials.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, yes, that's that's probably quite important, isn't it? So um you can find me at skate sanctuary uk on Instagram, on TikTok, on YouTube, where there are a whole load of videos and tutorials, and our website is theskatesanctuary.co.uk. So if you want roller skates, please come, please come and support us because we are also a social enterprise, which means that all of the profit that we make from selling products and selling roller skates, wheels, and any other light up wheels or fun things that you might want, um, go back to support our programs so that we can make roller skating as accessible as possible and people can find the power, the transformative power of small um eight small wheels.

SPEAKER_01

Yes, eight small wheels, yeah. Small wheels, yeah, eight small wheels. Amazing, thank you so much, Mel.

SPEAKER_00

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01

Thank you so much for listening, everyone. Oh, Mel's just such an inspiration. Yeah, that's another good chat. Yeah, really good chat. You know, when you're just listening to someone and you're like, oh, this is gold, this is a good bit of gold here. People can really take things on that. That's what I was just listening to. Like, oh, yes, this is a great, great inspirational episode. And I can't wait to try some. I'm good, we don't have time to do it now. Slash, it's a bit icy outside. Um, because Mel did actually bring us some skates. Quite relieved that you decided that wasn't a good idea. Yeah, when I texted Jess, like, um, we're gonna be skating, and she's like, I'm not breaking my neck on your driveway.

SPEAKER_02

No, and then I set off this morning and it was literally, I think I've nearly slipped about five times just in my trainers. So just practicing on the way here. I'm not putting skates on today.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, I love that. But yeah, we'll have to go to the skate patri soon and have another little skate around. Or I like the sunset roll. I know that was breakfast roll, the name, but when they go out in the sunset and roll around at leads, I want to go do that. I want to do an outside. Yeah, I want to do an outside. So definitely, and we're definitely going to be having a go at Move It on the roller rink. If you're coming to move it, we will see you. Um, and thank you so much for tuning in again to a new series of the podcast. We're so excited to get going. Um, and hope you've enjoyed this one. Back. We'll see you next time. Bye bye.