A roller disco is a discothèque or skating rink where all the dancers wear roller skates of some kind (traditional quad or inline). The music played is modern and easily danceable; historically disco but in modern times including almost any form of dance, pop, house, R&B, or rock music. Roller discos often involve the usage of a disco ball.
Format
editTraditionally, roller discos employ a live disc jockey and incorporate complex sound systems, lighting effects, neon lights, disco balls, and sometimes a separate illuminated dance floor.[1]
As in other discos, special effects such as fog machines, and flashing traffic lights may be used.[citation needed]
History
editOrigin and rise in popularity
editRoller skating as a hobby originated in the 19th century and peaked in popularity around 1942.[2]
The Empire Skate Center in New York City is credited as the birthplace of roller disco, due to its skater patron Bill "Mr. Charisma" Butler.[3] The inventor of jam skating, Mr. Charisma is today known as the Godfather of Roller Disco.[3]
In the 1960s, New York skater Mr. Charisma created a new style of roller skating titled jammin'. Butler convinced skater Gloria McCarthy, whose father owned the Empire Skate Center, to start a "Bounce" night to showcase his new style.[3]
1979 craze
editBy 1979, Mr. Charisma's "stylish tricks...made the [Empire Roller Disco] a HOT destination", as it "drew storied celebrities away from the snooty uptown clubs (Studio 54) down to the warm & accepting Brooklyn Rink".[3] Among the most notable was Cher,[3] who hosted Billboard's Disco Forum skate party at the Empire Roller Disco that year.[4][5] Other celebrities who visited the rink to skate included Prince, Grace Jones, Madonna, and Olivia Newton-John.[6][7]
At the height of the disco craze in 1979, Billboard reported that there were an estimated "5,000 roller rinks in the U.S.," attracting "more than 28 million young American skaters". According to American record producer Ed Chalpin "99.9% of these rinks" were playing disco music specifically.[1]
The 1979 musical film Roller Boogie capitalized on the trend, prominently featuring a teenage love story revolving around roller disco. Featuring Linda Blair and award-winning freestyle skater Jim Bray, the plot focuses on a Venice Beach rink's "Roller Boogie contest", which is almost thwarted by the mafia's attempts to close the rink for real estate purposes.
| "Disco Dip", 1979 promotional song | |
|---|---|
| Produced by Ed Chaplin, the song was "written and choreographed especially for use as a promotional tool" to popularize the concept of roller discos. | |
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6y_qm_XcWU |
In 1979, Brooklyn's Sheepshead Bay Roll-A-Palace was what Billboard called "a typical example" of a disco roller rink, hosting a variety of events and over 5,000 skaters per weekend during its peak popularity.[8]
Roller disco-themed music
editThe same year, Ed Chaplin produced and premiered a song titled the Disco Dip as a promotional tool to enhance interest in the roller disco hobby. The Kalamazoo News described it as "the pioneering roller disco record", i.e., "the first roller disco record played in a skating rink".[9] The song and dance debuted at Roll-A-Palace, in collaboration with preeminent nationwide disco station WKTU, after which a series of Disco Dip events would follow.[8] Written "especially for use as a promotional tool" to promote interest in the roller disco hobby, the dance/song/event was featured three times in Billboard:[10]
A new dance, the disco dip, designed primarily for use at roller rink discos, will be debuted Tuesday [February 13, 1979] at the Roll-A-Disco in Brooklyn. The dance, with music and lyrics by Ed Chalpin of PTX Enterprises, was written and choreographed especially for use as a promotional tool to stimulate interest in the concept of roller discos. The party is being sponsored jointly by WKTU-FM, New York's leading radio station, and the top disco station in the country, and the management of the Roll-A-Disco rink. WKTU is giving away 500 tickets to members of its listening audience.[8]
However, composer Mark Winter of Astound-A Sound Productions of New Jersey claimed his song "Roller Palace" was published a day before Chalpin's product, thereby making "Roller Palace" the first roller disco-themed record. Its lyrics humorously describe a "love on wheels" romance at a "disco, disco roller palace" where "everyone rocks as they roll".[9]
Other 1979 disco songs that mention roller skating include Cher's skate-themed single "Hell on Wheels" (later featured in Roller Boogie)[11] and "Good Times" by Chic, which advises listeners to "participate" in "clams on the half-shell and roller skates".
In 1980, the Milennium Complex dance hall in Plymouth, England was closed and converted into a roller disco.[12] It would close in 1987 to reopen as a nightclub.[13][14][15]
21st century
editIt experienced a mild revival in the early 2000s, especially in the mid-eastern United States,[where?] where certain clubs continue to host roller disco nights.[16] As of 2006, the craze has largely discontinued.[citation needed] As of 2024, each one of the disco-era New York City roller rinks have closed.[17] Some were eulogized in airbrushed murals at nearby Newark's Branch Brook Park Roller Rink.
Some now use in-line roller-blades.[citation needed] Roller discos are also popular among older children and young teenagers, especially for parties. To minimise the risk of injury, the organisers of roller discos often only allow participants to skate in one direction at a time so that they do not crash into one another, although many roller discos have a "free skate" section in the middle of the roller rink.[citation needed]
In 2020, roller skating and roller discos experienced a resurgence in mainstream popularity across the Western world due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[18][19] The resurgence in popularity for roller skating and discos has coincided with a disco revival and a resurgence in other retro phenomena that provided "a light-hearted escape from reality" during COVID-19's widespread lockdowns, curfews and restrictions.[20][21] The resurgence was powered by social media apps like Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat which have seen an increase of roller skating-related content.[21] During the pandemic, companies selling roller skates in the US were reported to have sold out of roller skates due to high demand.[21] In Hobart, Australia, the popularity of roller skating in 2020 was at its highest since the 1980s.[22]
Gallery
edit-
Quad roller skates, produced in an unidentified year and pictured in 2002 -
Roller skaters at Brooklyn's Sheepshead Bay Roll-A-Palace, 1979 -
Dreamland Margate's retro-styled Roller Room, pictured in 2016
In popular culture
editFilm
edit- Roller Boogie (1979), a film about roller disco
- Skatetown, U.S.A. (1979) is set in a fictional Los Angeles area roller disco.
- La Boum (1980) the main character Vic Sophie Marceau sneaks out to go to a roller disco called La main jaune.
- Xanadu (1980), American film
- Get Rollin' (1980), American documentary
- Joe the King (1999), Independent Film. A scene takes place at a roller disco.
- Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002) gives Goldmember a roller disco in 1975.
- In Van Wilder (2002), the main character Van Wilder throws a roller disco party.
- Roll Bounce (2005) has a roller disco competition in the plot.
- ATL (2006)
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b "Brooklyn Sees New 'Disco Dip'". Billboard. 1979-02-17. p. 70.
- ^ "Google Books Ngram Viewer". books.google.com. Retrieved 2025-01-03.
- ^ a b c d e "Undiscarded: Stories of New York: Ep7 – Rollerskate". The City Reliquary. 2023-05-17. Archived from the original on January 3, 2025. Retrieved 2025-01-03.
- ^ Bego, Mark (2001). Cher: If You Believe. Taylor Trade Publishing. ISBN 9780815411536.
- ^ "What's Hot! What's Not!". Cue: The Weekly Magazine of New York Life. 1979. p. 19.
Cher held a party here recently . The crowd is mostly black and flashy . The music is heated . There are neon palm trees , mirrored balls , loud sounds , and hordes of street people having fun . It is not as snazzy as the Roll - A - Palace, but it's funky.
- ^ Reaven, M., Zeitlin, S. (2006). Hidden New York: A Guide to Places That Matter. Rutgers University Press, 114.
- ^ Ortiz, Lori. (2011) Disco Dance. ABC-CLIO, 127.
- ^ a b c Riedinger, Bob Jr. (1979-03-03). "Going Back to the 1870s: Skating To Music". Billboard. pp. 48, 57.
- ^ a b "Faster Than Sound". Kalamazoo News. 15 November 1979. p. 16. Retrieved 2025-01-02.
- ^ George, Nelson (1979-07-14). "Roller Craze". Billboard. pp. 46, 65.
- ^ Dagaard, Colin (1979-09-02). "They Fall in Love On Roller Skates". Toledo Blade. Retrieved 2009-12-30.
- ^ Davey, Tony (15 July 2018). "The many lives of Plymouth's lost 'palace of fun'". PlymouthLive. Archived from the original on 31 March 2023. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
- ^ I love 1984 BBC TV show
- ^ "Watch Plymouth's Gaumont Cinema Closure". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 31 March 2023. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
- ^ Davey, Tony (15 July 2018). "The many lives of Plymouth's lost 'palace of fun'". PlymouthLive. Archived from the original on 31 March 2023. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
- ^ Canvas is one such club
- ^ Frishberg, Hannah (2024-05-08). "NYC's 'last remaining roller rink' closes after 17 years". New York Post. Retrieved 2025-01-03.
- ^ "Was This the Summer You Started Roller-Skating?". The Cut. 28 August 2020. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
- ^ "Why 2020 Is The Summer Of Rollerskating". Vogue. 13 August 2020. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
- ^ "A comeback of disco amid the COVID-19 pandemic". hani.co.kr. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
- ^ a b c "Roller skates are selling out everywhere as Americans seek nostalgic outdoor pastimes that provide a 'light-hearted escape from reality'". Business Insider. 2 September 2020. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
- ^ "Rollerskating has become so popular in Hobart that scammers are offering fake tickets". ABC News. 30 August 2020. Retrieved 4 September 2020.