What exactly is Longboard Dancing?
Longboard Dancing is a sub-genre of skateboarding that involves the combination of dance movements & footwork, rhythm, and freestyle skateboarding. This is performed while the board in in motion, making for a highly creative spectacular.
Skaters like Hans Wouters, Abou Seck and Lotfi Lamaali helped popularize the sub-genre through their Youtube and Social media. DockSessions further promoted the sport around the globe, and allowed complete beginners the chance to physically get on a board for the first time.
How does dancing differ from freestyle?
You may think to yourself ‘this looks a lot like freestyle longboarding’! The main difference is that freestyle is focused on performing flip tricks, whereas, although Dance can involve flip tricks too, these are part of the dance movements. Dance is more about the flow of the line. Got it? Good.
From here, we caught up with Fireball sponsored skater, Pavel Valkov, to get the low down on how you can get into Longboard Dancing and some simple trick tutorials you can do to get out and skate as a beginner to the sport. Take it away, Pavel:
How to get started with longboard dancing
First you need to have a good board for dancing. You can start with some basic moves like the peter pan, cross step, back cross step and some half and full front side pirouettes. When you are good enough with the basic steps, you can try some combinations with them and you can experiment with your steps and try some harder longboard steps.
The Basics: Dance Longboard tricks for first timers
Each section below features a trick tip and a full video tutorial to help you visualize exactly how it looks in motion. If you have any questions or need help, drop a comment in the comments section at the end of the article.
1. Cross Step
This step is one of the easiest steps in our sport. When you do cross step please don’t forget to keep your body straight! Slide your front foot to your back foot while staying on your toes. Cross your feet while turning on your heels.
2. Ghost ride
Put your front foot in the middle of the board. Then swing your back foot over the other side of the board and step on the ground. Then bring your front foot around and jump on the board. This is a great move to combinе with a lot of others!
3. Peter Pan
Peter Pan is my first longboard step that I learned. Put your front foot as close to the back as possible. It is similar to the cross step however your body and feet are parallel to the board. Put your weight on the leg that is on the board. Don’t forget to be upright while you are doing Peter Pan.
4. Nollie Shuvit
The easiest way to learn a nollie shove it is when you imagine It is like a nollie pivot with body varial. After some time of practicing it’s going to be easier and easier for you!
5. Kickflip
This is a classic skateboard trick, but the longboarders have different technique. Push down on the kicktail as if you were going to ollie, but in the longboard version you need to flick down vs out.
Be sure to follow Pavel on Instagram for more great trick tips @_pavel_valkov_
What dancing boards shall I get?
Although you could dance on most longboards, it doesn’t mean you should. Here are some tips for choosing the best longboard for the best experience:
Dance Longboard Decks
The size of your longboard skateboard deck plays a big role in how easily you’ll pick up dancing and how enjoyable it will be. Generally, the longer the longboard deck, the easier it will be as it will have more flex and space to move around. Also the wheelbase is usually longer, meaning a more flow-y feel to your ride. On the flip side, shorter decks are more snappy and direct due to the shorter turning radius.
For your dancer longboard we would recommend a top mounted board with a good flex and slight rocker profile. Avoid drop through longboards for this style of riding. Around 47” in length is a good size to go for. We recommend dancing decks like the Loaded Mata Hari or the Landyachtz Stratus due to their build quality and brand involvement in the dance community.
Best Trucks for Longboard Dance
If you’ve seen some of our other guides, you’ll already know this, but we would always recommend reverse kingpin trucks (RKP) for longboarding if you are going to be mostly carving and turning. These tend to sit lower, giving you more stability and can turn more than traditional trucks, meaning a more fluid experience.
You’ll need to fit your truck width to your deck width, but we recommend Paris V3 Trucks, which come with a lifetime guarantee!
Pro Tip: If you are finding that your trucks don’t seem to turn enough, try loosening the kingpin nut or swapping out the bushings for a lower (softer) durometer. The right bushings for you will vary based on your weight, so we recommend trying a few duros to determine which works best for you.
Longboard Wheels for Dance
A softer 82a wheel around 60-65mm is recommend by most longboard dancers. Something like the Fireball Tinder Series Wheels come well regarded by the community as they are able to cruise cracks and debris in their path without throwing you overboard, and come with SlidePrepped rounded lips allowing for smooth slides and grounded spin/flip tricks within the run (the sharper the lip, the more grippy the wheel).
Wrapping up
That concludes our beginners longboard dance guide. Show us your new dance moves by tagging us on Instagram @fireballsupplyco. If you have any questions or wish to learn more dance tricks, drop a comment below letting us know.
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