Jam skating (or Jamskating) is a skating style consisting of a combination of dance, gymnastics, and roller skating, performed on roller skates. The origins of jam skating are disputed, but it is often traced to the Great Lakes region, Florida and California. The style has its roots in traditional roller disco, but has been greatly influenced by breakdancing, artistic skating, gymnastics, and modern dance. Successful jam skaters are well practiced in these different forms and must have the ability to translate these movements while on skates. Jam skating first became popular in the early 1970s and is still practiced.

Style

Styles of Jam Skating: Jam skating is neither aggressive nor speed skating. This form of freestyle skating is referred to by many different names: toe-dancing, spot-skating, shuffle skating, hexing, rexxing, trucking, shadow skating, crazy leg, boogie bouncing, and disco skating. These names strictly describe the style of skating, not the moves.

Competition

Jam Skating, like breakdancing in its early evolution, was an almost underground movement fueled by teenagers and skaters in their early 20s. Events were created to allow Jam Skaters to meet, trade moves, and, most importantly, "battle". Battling and performing remain a very important aspect of Jam Skating. This element pushes the boundaries of what is possible to perform while on skates; moreover, it ignites evolution within the skate culture. Competitions, such as Heartbreak Skating Competition (Carrollton, GA), Pajama Jam (Franklin, IN), Southern Slam (Anderson, SC), Social Skate (Dallas, TX), The Championship (Cookeville, TN) and Classic Summer Jam (Sandy, UT) are examples of existing competitions happening.

Equipment

Traditionally, roller disco skaters wore an artistic high-cut boot with toe stop. In the early 1980s, this transitioned into a trend of wearing low-cut speed skate boots with smaller jam plugs in place of the toe stops. This trend continues today, as the low-cut boot allows for more agility with feet while skating.

In popular culture

Film

Music

Jam skating was featured in multiple music videos.

Television