Freestyle Judge Training in Madrid

This weekend I gave a hand to a long-term friend to help him into a delicate task: Examining candidates who passed a freestyle skating judge test.

The judge training was taking place in Madrid, Spain. Kio and Marie, whom I met in rehab, came pick me up at the airport on Saturday afternoon. I worked on the exam videos the candidates would have to explain the next day, and then we went for a night trip, driving the streets of Madrid in Kio's convertible Mercedes, visiting the Temple of Debob (an ancient Egyptian temple that was rebuilt in the center of Madrid), having a drink, going to a friend's where we spent most of the evening telling weird stories about mosquitoes in Asian jungles and English seaside resorts inhabited by old people, until bed-time.

Cirque Eloize: "iD" Show

In a few days, the most unexpected coincidences followed one another so that in the end, I found myself in the VIP area at the Grand Rex theater watching the show "iD" of Cirque Eloize, with Seba team mate and superstar freestyle slalomer Korean Kim Sung Jin performing in it!

It all started with a forgotten SD card story.
Londonner Keanoush who was staying at my place for the Fashion Week had footages belonging to Sung Jin on his hard drive. We made the most of Sung Jin's touring in Paris to have dinner together at my place, which was the occasion to meet together ("long time no see...") eat home-made sushis and take-away pizzas, and transfer the crucial footages for an upcoming video, which Keanoush was holding hostage for months, into Sung Jin's SD card... Which he unfortunately forgot when he left... The African beers from the shop down the street must be to blame...

My 2012 World Freestyle Skating Champ's

A short summary: judging, writing, sleeping, eating, judging, writing, judging, eating, sleeping, judging, judging, writing, etc.

JETLAG

After my trip in the USA for the RollerCon and the rest (here and there), I crossed the Earth to the other side to go to China. Do you know the ping-pong jetlag effect? From -9h California to +6h China!



from -9 to +6

Hardcore? Surprisingly not that much... Reaching a certain point, being jetlagged becomes a non-countable fact, period. You are not a bit or a lot jetlagged, you are just jetlagged and you deal with it. Especially when you arrive the afternoon before the World Championships of Freestyle Slalom and you have to judge them!
And even if you had to suffer a 23-hour trip with one train (Paris-Brussel), one international flight (Brussel-Beijing), one internal flight (Beijing-Wenzhu) and one shuttle bus (Wenzhu-Lishui). Alone.
Don't pity me on the loneliness though, I love travelling by myself. I was just trying to be pitied a bit more.

Freestyle Patchwork

I MADE IT!

I made a presentation video edit of Chloe Seyres.

... Oh wait, that's me!

I was always worried when asked "show me what you do" because I did not have any representative video material. Then I was forced either to put my skates on and "do my stuff" or show various videos for the person to get a general overview of what freestyle slalom is.

One or two years ago, Seba gave me great hope when he told me that I was going to have a profile edit. But I was soon disappointed in seeing the result: I had ordered something like this and I received something like that, which in my opinion severely lacks editing talent. Unrefined, slow, lacking details and video material, crucial shots cut and useless shots inserted... and last but not least it does not match the music rhythm! It is a shame because it was the first time I had the opportunity to get such a quality of image...

Then, in addition to the slow-motion failed profile, I would show some nice edits such as Around the 20 which is the exact opposite: great editing but poor content, a fan video shot during a winter session, and a couple of competition videos...

This week, I found the long-awaited motivation to gather youtube material and make a compilation, as I had promised to rest after my 4-week rehab stay and my weekend of rollerdance demos. I set my mind up in watching the edit of a b-girl that I met in the rehab center. It was exactly the kind of breathtaking punchy video that I wish I had.

Of course, the quality of image sucks... you cannot ask too much of youtube!

But yet the edit is dynamic, and it even makes ME want to slalom again.

If you want something done, most of the time you'd better do it yourself...

I am Legend... am I?

Lately, SebaSkates added me to the "Legend" skaters of the team!

Seba is my inline skating sponsor who, in 2007, offered me to enter the freestyle skating Dream Team, the Seba Team. Since then, I had the chance to travel around the world and take part in hundreds of freestyle competitions thanks to Seba. I'm still representing the brand each time I get the occasion, and I recently started to take part in SkateCross competitions under the Seba colors.

The "Legend" labelling is a great honor and I'm proud to achieve this position while I'm still alive (haha).

Have a look at my PROFILE on the SebaSkates Website.

...and if you want to know more about that addictive sport and the life I had before, check out my freestyle website: Close Yr E's -- It's all about rock'n rollerskating...

2012 Visual Identity for the Paris RollerGirls

What better way for starting the year than unveiling the official shots of the PRG players? 30 girls, 30 personalities, 30 different stagings.

The displayed photos on the website are full length but there are complementary head shots for the rosters... be patient!

Enjoy the browsing HERE

All shots © Carole Dodeman

Let's not kick the habit of talking about ME, because this is my space and I say whatever I want in it! I chose to be represented reading a book about Janis* because she rocks, with my headphones around my neck because they just live there -- and for the record, with my mp3-player in my pants because my clothes were too tight and without pockets. I painted the logo of my band Akouphën on my shoulder because there's no reason why I can't proudly display my tattoos like everybody, and let kicked cones lying on the floor because I kind of broke my slalom-skating chains with success thanks to derby!

* A book that I strongly recommend by Jeanne-Martine Vacher entitled "Sur La Route de Janis"