Balancing Life On 8 Wheels: Roller Skate With Rue-Ann Paisley

For many people, the Covid lockdowns and the transformation of our daily lives into shapeless never-ending monotony were, despite the many struggles, a chance to get back in touch with ourselves. For every story of tragedy and loss, positive narratives of personal renewal and self-discovery have also been an unexpectedly beautiful off-shoot of the last two indescribable years. There is balance in all things.

One such nourishing tale is that of Rue Ann Paisley, co-subject of Razvan Pestean’s film Roller States (2022), which profiles the relationship between two young Londoners and the sport/hobby/past-time/cultural-movement/way-of-life that they love: roller skating.

“During the lockdowns, I wasn’t working. I wasn’t busy,” Rue Ann tells me over Zoom from her home in North London. “My thoughts would cloud over and there was a pressure and noise in my head that I knew I had to combat. Going from always doing lots of things to a total standstill was such a shock to my system. And that’s when I turned, well, turned back to roller skating. I was, like, this is just what I need. This is it.”

““I remember just having an amazing time. I was terrible. But it was so freeing to be moving on the skates.” ”

Rue Ann explains she started roller skating originally when she was 14 at a friend’s birthday party in Wembley’s Fix8 Rollerdisco. “That’s definitely when the seed was planted. I remember just having an amazing time. I was terrible. But it was so freeing to be moving on the skates. I was pretty athletic even then but you wouldn't have known it that first day!” In fact, Rue Ann was an accomplished track athlete through her teens, competing nationally as a sprinter across multiple events. “I used to love those events where all the schools would come together. And my athletics career did probably prevent me from progressing my skating at the time because I didn't want to break my ankle. But, ultimately, I fell out of love with athletics. It just had such an intense competitive edge. I loved the training but the competition side of it wasn’t working for me.”

Rue Ann tells me that she kept picking up and putting down her skates over the subsequent years, attending skate events during her university years in Birmingham as well as during a year spent in Spain. “The amazing thing about the skating scene is that wherever you go, London, Madrid, Barcelona, everyone is so warm and welcoming. There’s always someone there to keep you going if you’re struggling. Having a sense of belonging with other skaters is something I fed into and I think it’s something I’ve always searched for. Skating really is about connection and community. We support each other and learn from each other.”

““Having a sense of belonging with other skaters is something I fed into and I think it’s something I’ve always searched for.””

When I ask Rue Ann if she thinks the sense of community among skaters is a new phenomenon, she is quick to recognise the legacy of the roots of the UK skate scene in the 70s and 80s. “Roller Skating has been around for a long time. It's been very underground, whereas I think now it's becoming more mainstream, and people think it's a new thing. It's always been here. It just hasn’t had the same backing as other sports and I wonder if that’s to do with the communities that traditionally do it. But it’s been there for years. It never went away.”

After graduating university, Rue Ann found herself working at Fix8 Rollerdisco in 2020 while also progressing her career in the media. “That’s when it all came crashing down. Lockdown. Furlough. Silence. Myself and my friends eventually started meeting up with skaters in Montrose Park in Collindale. And things started opening up. The cool thing was that I could actually get to know people properly. Obviously, when you’re working at a skatepark, you don’t get to hang out the way you’d like to. So, I really started enjoying myself and learning and growing with other skaters. I could feel things progress so I started to document my skating on Instagram. Just so I could see my own before and after. People were very receptive to my content, even when I was falling over. So I decided to do more of it. It was literally like ‘oh, this is what I’m learning today.’” Rue Ann (@rueranpai) laughs off the idea that she is a skating influencer but she does acknowledge that the response to her Instagram videos was “massive”.

Rue Ann’s increasing profile as a roller skater led to invitations for commercial skating work, with Rue Ann appearing in several adverts and music videos, including the video for Miss Me by MoStack (featuring AJ Tracey). “It’s been quite surreal. I skated in a Pull and Bear commercial in Paris and my friends told me it was online and on digital billboards in Westfield. I was, like, I have to see this in person. So, I went there and, oh my gosh, I just started crying. It didn’t feel real. It’s on my Instagram if you want to see me crying. Like, skating was just something recreational, something that I just enjoyed so the fact that people wanted to use what I love creatively was a big surprise.”

In Razvan Pestean’s Roller States (2022), Rue Ann takes centre-stage alongside fellow skater Tre Skywalker. The film gives us a glimpse at the deeper human meaning that skating has for its two protagonists — how skating provides a means of individual and communal creative expression; its role in mental, physical and social well-being; how it shapes the way skaters perceive who they are as people.

Rue Ann’s skating is all about being in the moment. “You have a flow of energy and it’s like you’re really focussed and zoned out at the same time. There’s a sense of release and a feeling of balance.” What goes through your head when you’re in that moment? “Well, say I’m practicing spinning and my body can feel that it’s not in the right position. I’ll know to stop. There’s a sort of feedback within my own body without saying anything. And sometimes I'll do a spin and, like, it's another feeling. I just know that it's where it needs to be.

““Other times I’ll probably be thinking ‘come on, come on. Just be straight, put your arms out, and strengthen your core. And let’s go again. Breathe.””

Although skating is often seen as an exhibition or outwards performance, for Rue Ann, you learn humility quickly when you’re trying to progress. “I try new moves and there are lots of hard landings before it comes together. But, you know, it’s a confidence builder. I try it. I don’t get it. But eventually, somehow, I’m doing the move I couldn’t do 20 minutes before.” That confidence “stays with me when I finish skating for the day.”

People talk about ‘the great resignation’ over the course of the pandemic lockdowns, with stable jobs abandoned and people opting for more fulfilling work-life situations. Perhaps, it should be better described as the ‘great subscription’, given the uptake in cycling, hill-walking, and so many exhilarating outdoor activities, not the least of which is roller skating. Rue Ann’s view on the ever-growing numbers of people trying out life on 8 wheels is that it’s only going in one direction. “Over the last two years, the community has just grown and grown and it’s been beautiful to see. As skaters, we want to share what we do with others and that openness helps people get hooked to the whole scene around skating. It’s such a positive movement. The more the merrier.”

Rue Ann is kind enough to suggest I give roller skating a go myself, and, by the end of our conversation, I am very tempted. I express my concern at the inevitable ‘hard landings’ every beginner skater has to face. Rue Ann smiles knowingly and tells me “Oh, don’t worry. You learn to style out the falls pretty quickly.” “There is balance in all things,” I tell myself. Balance in all things.

Follow Rue-Ann on Instagram @rueranpai

Photography by James Anthony Parker

Film Credits