Roller dance, in Rome everyone is crazy about dancing evenings on skates

Cheerful, bold, stylish are the dancing evenings on skates who are conquering Rome from the heights of Casilino Sky Park4000 m2 of high-altitude square, built on the roof of the multi-storey car park of a hypermarket, where contemporary arts, sports, cuisine, entertainment and daily life of the Alessandrino neighbourhood live in unison.

And so, under the stars, dance floor and rink become one thing, while national and international DJ sets alternate with sounds from the funky, soul, rnb, 70s and 80s repertoire. And it is precisely in the 70s that the roller dancing or jam skatingif you like, in that melting pot of cultures and contaminations that hip hop culture brings with it, to then spread to Germany, France, England: «We could say that roller dance is the free style of figure skating», says Giada Nazarri, a stent for the cinema, performer and much more, but above all a pioneer of this style that she herself acquired in London several years ago, «then with Covid many dancers put on skates and the dance vocabulary was enriched with new steps».

Having moved to Rome, together with the Pattinatori del Pincio, an iconic reference point for skating in the capital, Giada organizes a Roller Dance course for daily newspaperfour-wheel skaters, and here she meets Fara Sonnino and Alessandra Daniele. The trio thus formed becomes «Dirty Roller», the organizational machine of the Roller Disco events, of which Giada follows the artistic side more closely: «The evenings are preceded by a workshop, not suitable for beginners, held by Roller Dance Fam which starts during aperitif time and which often includes entire families. Even the skates, whether quad or inline, can be rented from us at minimal cost. Later the DJ Set will begin and the real roller disco where even the look plays its part!». In fact, the evenings are often themed with prizes (the «Best Outfit» and «Best Move») put up for grabs by the sponsor «Freemove». For two years now, Roller Disco evenings have been growing so much that they increasingly involve international professionals and performers: «On September 22nd we have with us the American roller skater Dylan Morton, who the most passionate will still remember from his performance at the last Super Ball in Las Vegas alongside Usher, one of the most influential artists in pop and rnb music» Giada informs us.

Dirty Roller has achieved success, given the objective difficulty of finding covered winter spaces suitable for Roller Disco, on the roof of the Casilino Sky Park, it has become a regular event. And it seems almost natural to take flight from the heights of such a meeting place and creative production. Designed by the Fusolab Association, which has been dealing with social welfare, regeneration and urban redevelopment since long before these terms became so “Hype”, the Casilino Sky Park is the aerial square of a neighborhood that in fact lacked them. Here, where the gaze reaches from the Castelli Romani to the Dome of St. Peter, passing by Calatrava’s sail, in a horizon of environmental sustainability that goes hand in hand with the partner LifeGate, padel courts, street basketball, five-a-side football, parkour, a gym, sports facilities with water heated by solar panels, a concert space, a cinema, a theater, and a children’s area coexist. There is also a food area involving strictly local operators and a constellation of street art works, many of which were created under the curatorship of a.DNA Project, in Airlite (painting that purifies the air), signed by artists of the caliber of Alice Pasquini, Uno, Giulio Vesprini, Omuf, Lady Nina, Orghone, V&rbo, Studio ultravioleto and Croma – Claudia Romagnoli.

Part of the international circuit that is part of the Rooftop Days, the Casilino Sky Park stands out for the solidity of its socio-cultural intervention and when, with the last Roman Octobers, we say goodbye to its high-altitude square, waiting for the reopening, we will warm up by dancing on the Roller Disco skates in the winter clubs of Fusolab and in the indoor spaces that will let themselves be infected by so much excitement!