'I just had to roll through it all,' New Yorkers skate to shake off stress of 2020

Record ID: 1630258

  • Title: 'I just had to roll through it all,' New Yorkers skate to shake off stress of 2020
  • Date: 2nd August 2021
  • Summary: PEOPLE SKATING
  • Embargoed: 16th August 2021 21:01
  • Keywords: COVID-19 CPDSA Central Park Dance Skaters Association The Skate Circle coronavirus free roller skating pandemic
  • Location: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
  • City: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Health/Medicine,United States
  • Reuters ID: LVA00DEOL9OAV
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: AUDIO QUALITY AS INCOMING
    Central Park rollerskaters were giving it all on a hot Saturday afternoon in July to sweat out the stress of 2020 - the coronavirus pandemic and the fight for justice that shook many of them to the core.
    "Mr. Floyd got murdered and COVID-19 and all of the other things that came along with it, being inside for so long and wearing masks," said Lynna Davis, aka 'Lynna The Moving Star' and the vice president of the Central Park Dance Association. "You have to find a way to get that stress off, and skating did all of that for me, that's why most of us never stopped skating... I just had to roll through it all."
    Like Davis, many skaters continued with their favorite past-time even after the Central Park Dance Association, that organizes the skating sessions west of the Bandshell and east of Strawberry fields and the Sheep Meadow, had suspended its official activities for the summer of 2020 due to pandemic.
    They spun pirouettes on any stretch of flooring they could free up at home or, unofficially and on an individual basis, in public spaces, like local parks and gardens.
    Many, like Emily Doyle, a circus performance enthusiast and a native New Yorker, who now lives in Oakland, California, took up skating to get out of home, move more, and connect with people in a way that was safe in the era of social distancing.
    "I skate because it is such a release for me," said Doyle. "It's a movement meditation, and it's also a very awesome community that you tap into."
    The Central Park skaters community calls itself 'the skate family,' said Bob Nichols, the president and one of the founders of the Central Park Dance Association.
    "If you look at the newsletters over the years, we'd like to have, what we call, the family portrait, and it's all of us together, and in our diversity and glory, and we love each other," said Nichols. "It's made us better people because we're more understanding and more accepting. And it's part of what New York is."
    On that sunny Saturday, some skaters said they were making the best of the afternoon, fearing new limitations on social interactions due to the Delta variant spreading 'like wildfire,' according to health experts.
    One decided to join the party even though she couldn't skate due to an injury.
    "It lifts my spirit up. It's so great. And it's... just energetic," said Diane aka 'Lady' from the DJ Stormin' Norman's booth. "I think it's an impression of living life fully with joy, with beautiful people."
    The Central Park skating rink officially reopened on April 10, 2021.
    The association just received a permit to continue its operation in September, said Nichols, who also told Reuters he was not worried about the Delta variant shutting down activities.
    (Production: Aleksandra Michalska)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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