What
a wonderful weekend full of new impressions, Europe's best dancers,
amazing people and so much passion and love behind it. When Fränky,
the owner of the longboard shop Funky
Summer Berlin, came up with the Eurodance and that he still
needed helpers, of course I was all in. I was very much looking
forward to this event and I was curious about the international
skaters and the atmosphere.
Everyone
already met up on friday night for the Eurodance
Beachparty just to get to know each other a little bit. We took
the usual route like tuesdays and headed to a beachlike area. This
was a BBQ and Chill Out thing, so after taking a few pictures and
hanging out with the ten-year old super sweet Johanna and her family
I shortly left.
Saturdays,
the first day of the competition, I arrived around 1pm at the
Velodrom Berlin and everything just has started. There were three
categories: Men,
women and kids until the age of 15.
That day the competitors had two rounds to earn points and then to
qualify themselves for the finale the next day. I would say that
there were about 50 men (+/-), exactly 14 women and two boys. Skaters
and longboard friends came from France, the Netherlands and other
countries. I was just super excited to meet some internationals and
to see what Europe has to offer in the longboard scene. Everyone
showed off his talents and tricks. Towards the evening, we removed
the bar and helped cleaning, the participants had the chance to take
a shower and then come back for the 'aftershowparty'. It wasn't a
party, it was more of a: everyone can do whatever she/he wants, be it
skating or paddling with your board like surfboards (what my friend
and I did >>so much fun, though!!!) or just sitting together
and enjoying some acoustic music from Loaded ambassador Lotfi
Lamaali.
On
sunday, after this lovely night of singing and playing, I had to get
up early for my morning shift. Haha, arriving there, there were
exactly two people waiting. One of the judges and a french
participant. I was like: Okay, where is Fränky? Shouldn't he be here
to prepare everything so the participants can start at 10? Well,
whatever, he arrived an hour later and we started by noon :) That day
the competitors had another round to earn points. In the afternoon
the judges counted these and the finale was set. 16 men, 8 women and
the two kids made it into it.
 |
| Lotfi Lamaali. |
 |
| Femke Bosma from Utrecht. |
 |
| Melanie Golz from Cologne. |
The finale started with the kids, and Simon the
eleven-year old was actually the only one attending, but just before
the contest started another boy came up: Konrad. From now on, it wasn't
counting points anymore, it was just the battle between the competitors.
It was about flow, technique and combos.
The
girls competed until the judges decided for the finalists: Femke and
Melanie. Among the men Lotfi and Jeff made it into the end. Due to rain
and bad weather forecasts, we had to interrupt the contest and changed
the spot of the finale. We went downstairs to the roofed spots and I
have to say, it was actually more fun, more exciting and more thrilling.
The
girls started and oh my gosh, you had to see Melanie, she was really
stunning and super stoked in her element. I hope I'll find a video of
her! Femke was also really really good, considering that she's only
15 and she made it into the European's best two! I cannot imagine how
good she'll become when she's my age. Melanie danced backwards,
jumped around and landed most of her tricks, which brought her the
title European's best female Longboard dancer!!!
 |
| Jeff Ellis. |
Lotfi
and Jeff had another super interesting race. The french Loaded
ambassador showed his signature tricks like the 'propeller' and
jumped over a stick making a full twist. That was just amazing!
Unfortunately I have to admit that I did not show as much attention
to the other contestant Jeff, but watching him now and then was so
much fun. I think he showed way more variety, which is why he nailed
it and won the competition.
Jeff,
Melanie, Konrad and all the others, you were superdupermega stunning!
Congratulations about the titles and for showing your talents!
 |
| fränky and Lotfi Lamaali. |
Furthermore
I want to thank every single one who came to watch, to dance, to
skate, to just hang around, to help, to organize, to drive and to
make this crazy, lovely, warm, exciting, fun event happen.
I
was totally stoked by the tricks and passion the dancers put into
their work, but I think that this wasn't about work or hard training,
it was more about having fun, dancing and just being there to meet
this longboard community. And YES, these people can really dance
their names! Now, I'm super motivated to skate more often and to just
enjoy this community, which has opened up. It's like: WOW, there's a
whole new world to explore and everything just happened by sharing a
hobby, a passion, a love for skating and dancing.
Stay
tuned for more impressions of the last weekend's event and a lovely
interview with one of the most amazing people I've ever met. So get
out there and go skating!
Love,
Minh
Right after Marc Stone's show, we had some dinner at Vapiano and then headed over to the Blogger's Bazaar Berlin. What's that? Well-known bloggers from Berlin went through their closets and sold many of their clothes to us :) It was a flea-market from bloggers like Mia from Heylilahey or Julia from Floralpunk and everyone could buy their clothes, a great idea to shop mindfully. So, did I shop? 
