Longboard Freestyle Dancing: Your Complete Guide!

Longboard freestyle dancing involves cross-stepping or walking on a skateboard in motion. The board needs to keep carving and rolling on a flat surface while you are performing dance movements.

Learning to freestyle dance on a longboard requires skills, patience, coordination, and balance. There are many skateboard dance moves, like the ghost dance and cross-step.

Here we talk about the gear you need to start longboard dancing and the steps to each one.

What do you need to start longboard freestyle dancing?

Photo courtesy of Medium

• Helmet
• High socks to protect the shins
• Knee pads
• Quality deck
• Shoes with good grip

How to Cross-Step Dance?

Step 1: Start in the usual stance but try to gain a little speed.

Step 2: With your front foot, you need to bring it back and place it in the front of the rear foot with the front toes forward. Your feet need to be close together, and your shoulders are facing forward.

Step 3: Now using your back foot, you need to cross over and place it directly in front of the front foot, close to the board’s heelside edge.

Step 4: Both of your feet need to be right near the heelside rail as you move your body weight to it, so the board carves heelside. This will be to your left if you skate regularly.

Step 5: Cross again, but use your front foot this time. It needs to be placed in front of the back foot while you are pressing the toes in the board’s toeside rail. This will start the frontside carve.

Step 6: Your back foot needs to come to the rear as you bend your knees and push forward to the front rail. Here you will continue the frontside turn.

Step 7: Do step one over and continue with the heelside carve.

How to Ghost Dance?

Step 1: Start off by riding a normal stance

Step 2: Go ahead and move your rear foot to the back of the deck, then pull the front foot down to the back foot. Your toes need to be facing forward. Your foot should be close to the tail. The front foot should be equal distance centered widthwise.

Step 3: Your back foot needs to be lifted off the deck

Step 4: The back leg needs to be swung over the forward leg. Move the back foot past the front and heelside edge of the board, then down to the floor. As the legs cross, the back foot needs to hit the ground, and the front foot will then lift off from the deck

Step 5: As the back foot is taken off the ground, you cross the front leg over the back one, then quickly try to jump back on the deck using the front foot.

Step 6: Now the back foot needs to return to the starting position.

How to dance chop wood style?

Step 1: You need to start rolling in a regular stance to do this dance. In this one, your feet need to be positioned as close to the 90-degree angle as you can with the deck to make carving easier.

Step 2:  Point your front foot forward as you turn along the heelside rail, pressing your ball of the foot against it (this will trigger a heelside turn).

Step 3:  Squat with your front leg forward, lift your hips, and turn your shoulders forward.  Maintain your balance by lifting your arms and leaning forward.

Step 4:  Push your back feet away from the board without touching the board (out in the air)

Step 5:   As you prepare to toeside carve, take a normal stance: the ball part of your foot needs to press into the toeside rail, and bend your knees. Shift your weight to the board’s front edge to start a frontside carve.

Ghostride Kickflip Dance

Step 1:  As you ride in a normal stance, you need to jump from the deck heelside, landing on your front foot, then step slightly forward, so your rear foot ends up in the board’s center.

Step 2:  Now, as your back foot is grounded, your toes are edging under the deck, and flip the board 360 degrees over the horizontal axis. This is done by lifting it with the top of the foot. This isn’t just a normal foot kick. You need to pull the board up with you while using your hips to jump with your knees bent at a 90-degree angle.

Step 3:  When the board has completed its full rotation, you step onto the board with both feet from your jump.

Tips for longboard dancing

• To begin, you should learn to tilt your feet while dancing and carve while you do so
• To make your routines and lines more fluid and dynamic, add more speed as you progress
• Do not copy anyone else, but be true to yourself
• You can create a unique style, moves, and combinations by combining several steps together
• While longboarding, you can be inspired by music to be more imaginative, creative, and unique
• Try something new and don’t be afraid to take risks
• Breakaway from standardized patterns and standards
• On the longboard, keep improving your dance lines and pushing yourself
• As you gain confidence and style, they will both develop more
• Have fun and express yourself

What to look for in a board for freestyle dancing?

• A longer deck allows for more foot space
• Kicknose and Tails make flips, ollies, and shuvits possible
• Drop-through cutaway shapes are available for running larger wheels and turning trucks without the risk of wheel biting
• In addition to keeping the deck lower, drop-through mounting gives you more footbrake control and allows you to land flips with more stability
• A strong, flexible deck offers good pop as well as comfort and pumpability
• Concave yellow bottom and narrower deck allow free foot movement – dancing shouldn’t make your feet feel “locked-in”!
• Smaller wheels will help keep weight lower in order to accelerate quicker and avoid wheel bite without sacrificing roll speed

FAQs

1. How to avoid getting hurt while longboarding?

Ans. Don’t forget to wear safety gear. That is my biggest piece of advice to new riders. Knee pads, wrist guards, helmets, and quality shoes. You might think you look goofy, but it will protect you from injury and give you more confidence to take risks.

2. Can I dance freestyle on any kind of truck?

Ans. Although high-angle trucks have a longer wheelbase, they provide a lively ride and quick turns

3. Can any longboard be used for freestyle dancing?

Ans. In this case, you can use any board. However, keep in mind that small boards are not recommended for dancing. Your best option is a longer board, as it will allow you to learn and cooperate for better dancing tricks. You can customize with different parts and accessories as you get more skilled.