Terrence Clarke has been roller skating since he was 12 years old. With his partner, Ellen Fine, he runs Roll Train, which features JB style skating — named after James Brown — and preserves Black cultural traditions dating to before the Civil Rights era.
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Roll Train preserves Black skating culture
Angela Fitzgerald: In a sunny Milwaukee loft, a class learns new ways to move.
[upbeat disco music]
Terrence Clark: We advertise ourselves as a fitness class. But it’s really about the culture, promoting the culture. We exist to promote Black culture roller skating. We exist to teach it to people that don’t know about it. So that’s how Roll Train got started.
Angela: Roll Train is a roller dance studio and organization headed by Terrence Clarke and partner Ellen Fine.
Terrence: Here, we’re gonna teach you how to do it, how to balance yourself, how to fall, you know, how to get up.
Angela: For Terrence, skating’s been an interest since childhood.
Terrence: Johnson’s Skate Palace was on 76th Street. A lot of times, we didn’t have a ride to the skate rink, so we would skate all the way to the rink and then we’d have to skate all the way home.
[bright brass music]
Angela: But he also knows the Black culture skate tradition goes back much longer as a pastime. And passion.
Terrence: Skaters have been skating since way before the civil rights movement.
Angela: During the civil rights movement, roller rinks were one more white-dominated space to fight to integrate. But the joy that Black skaters found couldn’t be stopped.
Terrence: And it’s always been like a stress relief, a way to express themselves, a way to connect with community.
Angela: And it’s been a way to express a unique style.
Terrence: It’s a style that nobody else gave us. It’s a style we created. This is really like an art form.
Whoa, I feel good [funky music]
Angela: At the heart of Terrence’s skating is what’s called JB style, named for the dance moves of musician James Brown.
Terrence: JB is a lot of footwork, a lot of stunts.
Like this [upbeat music]
Angela: Different skate communities have evolved their own ways of moving.
Terrence: Every city has their own little thing. St. Louis, Atlanta, Detroit.
Angela: The different forms are shown off at huge skate parties.
Terrence: People from all over the country are going to these parties. You go to these parties, it’s nothing but love.
No one can stop this, stop this, stop this, stop this
Angela: Back home in Milwaukee, getting respect for these skating styles has once again been a challenge. At Red Arrow Park, Roll Train led the charge to open up the ice rink to off-season skating.
Terrence: So for 10 years, going back and forth with the county, just to open the gates so we can skate there. And they kept giving us many, many excuses.
Angela: At last, Roll Train succeeded and the gates were opened.
[upbeat funk music]
Terrence: Finally, we got it activated for roller skating. That was a long fight.
Angela: Just one more way for Roll Train to preserve and promote Black culture roller skating.
Terrence: A lot of our skaters at Roll Train are not Black, but they see and they feel what skating does for them. We’ve gotten lots and lots of stories about how since they’ve come to the class, you know, their life has changed.
Angela: Changing lives and sharing his culture keep Terrence rolling along.
Terrence: As long as I don’t stop moving, I’m gonna keep skating.
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