Skaters with fake or self-conscious "style"

[ChuckRamone]

huge gino fan here  but even gino crosses the line a bit with the whole arms staying below sea level and the whole gorilla push with the right hand on the knee  ..Antwuan is the only one i feel can say that its natural and looks good doing it...you can tell when someones trynna fake the funk forsure

I do this. old habit. started out probably as a self-conscious copying of sean sheffey but became normal for me to do. sometimes when you get tired from pushing it actually helps to put your hand or hands there and lean a bit.

fuck. I'm just as guilty of this stuff too and I feel kinda bad about starting this thread. maybe I should delete it. my main beef is with dudes who flail their arms around too much. sometimes it comes off as exaggerated "arm steez."

[OwlGreen]

This is a funny issue because no one has ever added as much less-than-necessary style flair as Kareem, Keenan, Stevie, Brent Atchley, and Clyde Singleton, but it's part of what makes their styles great. To paraphrase Ray Mate in Gino's EL, good style is about toeing the line of balance and awkwardness. Almost falling off, and then using minimal effort to rebalance. When one does use unnecessary, exaggerated movements, there needs to be a sense of irony. Dylan has so much balance that his skating often doesn't look awkward enough to be transcendently beautiful, and his symphony conductor arms make it seem he's rubbing his talent in our faces.

[Righteous Victim]

This is a funny issue because no one has ever added as much less-than-necessary style flair as much as Kareem, Keenan, Stevie, Brent Atchley, and Clyde Singleton, but it's part of what makes their styles great. To paraphrase Ray Mate in Gino's EL, good style is about toeing the line of balance and awkwardness. Almost falling off, and then using minimal effort to rebalance. When one does use unnecessary, exaggerated movements, there needs to be a sense of irony. Dylan has so much balance that his skating often doesn't look awkward enough to be transcendently beautiful, and his symphony conductor arms make it seem he's rubbing his talent in our faces.

That's what I like about PJ. He moves his arms just enough to balance but as soon as he doesn't need them he lets them go limp.

[ChuckRamone]

In the late 90s, I remember a lot of dudes would try really hard to look casual and comfortable on their boards by doing a dainty ballerina toe push thing.

[Monkey_Mcpott]

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huge gino fan here  but even gino crosses the line a bit with the whole arms staying below sea level and the whole gorilla push with the right hand on the knee  ..Antwuan is the only one i feel can say that its natural and looks good doing it...you can tell when someones trynna fake the funk forsure

[close]

I do this. old habit. started out probably as a self-conscious copying of sean sheffey but became normal for me to do. sometimes when you get tired from pushing it actually helps to put your hand or hands there and lean a bit.

fuck. I'm just as guilty of this stuff too and I feel kinda bad about starting this thread. maybe I should delete it. my main beef is with dudes who flail their arms around too much. sometimes it comes off as exaggerated "arm steez."

The hand on the knee definitely does help, specially when you are trying to push fast. Now every time i don't do it i feel like it takes more energy out of me to push so its already become a subconscious thing for me to do it.

[smellsdead]

kind of a duality thing to me...
cant have love without hate i suppose

anyone recall the mj interview in which he touches on his twisty torso? something to the effect of him drinking a lot? folks try to bite that shit all day

[chilllyboy]

[Allen.]

kind of a duality thing to me...
cant have love without hate i suppose

anyone recall the mj interview in which he touches on his twisty torso? something to the effect of him drinking a lot? folks try to bite that shit all day

That's one of my favorite chromeball interviews, for sure!

I don't specifically try to bite it, but some fraction above half of the time I do any sort of front 180 into/during a manual, it happens. FS 180 Switch manual... happens. Manual FS 180 Switch manual, happens. Nose manual to Switch Manual, happens. Sometimes it bums me out, sometimes it doesn't. I couldn't imagine being intoxicated in any manner and doing any of the things MJ did.

[Leyzee Emcea]

cringe worthy, realllly

[fang]

I always thought Brent Atchley's lazy "style" seemed like bullshit/choreographed fakeness. I imagined he practiced in a mirror to have that droopy hunchback steez

[Sold Out]

Gillette always comes to mind. Same with some of the supreme kids. That new Paris supreme vid, Sage hippy jumps a barrier and lands like a total kook to start off the entire video. Which is weird cause when Sage isn't forcing it, his style is great. One of my fav clips was his 360 hippy jump that he lands all sketchy and looks super cool, but that straight up hippy jump was disgusting and covered in fake style.

[crackaollie]

Wade Desarmo (kayo it's official) and Dick Rizzo (that huf new ams clip)

[Leyzee Emcea]

Mr Dekeyzer in everything he's put out since got on dc and just went downhill from there

[Theme For A Jackal]

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Sometimes I feel like Miles Silva's style is a little fake. The landing of 1:24 doesn't look natural at all.


Also dudes like Sean Pablo with the crouch and the weird (kinda feminine too?) arm flails when they skate. I refuse to believe that shits natural. Looks like a goddamn dance routine

[close]

Yeah because gravity has no effect on how you adjust your landings when you do a fakie 360 flip down a stair set

Watch the trick right after that and tell me he doesn't have fake style. Moves his body way late after landing in a completely unnatural way.

[7 year old]

that Woogie kid has my favorite after school modeling, he holds his body in the weirdest positions hahaha

[wattscain]

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Sometimes I feel like Miles Silva's style is a little fake. The landing of 1:24 doesn't look natural at all.


Also dudes like Sean Pablo with the crouch and the weird (kinda feminine too?) arm flails when they skate. I refuse to believe that shits natural. Looks like a goddamn dance routine

[close]

Yeah because gravity has no effect on how you adjust your landings when you do a fakie 360 flip down a stair set

[close]

Watch the trick right after that and tell me he doesn't have fake style. Moves his body way late after landing in a completely unnatural way.

Watched it and I don't agree at all. He has an odd yet appealing style but it doesn't look contrived. Skaters learn in their own way how to adjust their bodies pre, mid, and post trick and they continue to adjust as they get older. Just because you can't see that from his eyes doesn't mean what you see is "fake." And just because you might think you would move your body differently, doesn't mean he is faking it. To me, he's the type of skater who doesn't cut his movements short no matter how big or small the trick is and it works. Besides, it looks like that has been his modus operandi since he was younger: