Dancer Style mit J Ben Hartley

  • Boardmag
  • 08.03.2011



Ben beim One Food Manual

Der 24-jährige Ben steht erst seit zwei Jahren auf seinem Dancer. Kaum zu glauben! One-Food-Manuals, Kickflip, Boneless und Breakdance-Moves zaubert er auf seiner Planke. Das Video „Jehu" kursiert schon  bei Gesichtsbuch und wurde auch im letzten Loaded-Newsletter gefeatured. Auch ich war begeistert und habe dem jungen nachwuchs Dancer ein paar Fragen gestellt...


You´ve got the kick flip down with a dancer! How long did you practise for
 it? Can you give some tips for this trick?


The Kickflip took a long time for me. It is definitely one of those moves
that you will have to spend hours on...and destroy your board in the
process. hah!  the amount of stress I put on my old loaded dancer to learn
that move literally split the board in half length wise.  As for tips, I´m
not sure if  helped or hurt that I never street skated on a short board but
from what I hear its completely different. Thats is your first tip.

Other than that I have most of my weight on my back foot before the jump.
Its critical to keep your weight over the center of the board... I usually
have to intentionally lean over the front of it before I jump. Lastly, make
sure to flick the board towards the front of it. This will level out the
rotation and keep the board in control. I´ll be doing a more thorough video
trick tip soon.

Another hard trick is the one food manual, you´re even doing a one food
G-Turn! Give us some help to learn this one!


First get your one footed nose manuals on lock. I spent a lot of time on the
carpet of my apartment holding those out. I would time myself each night
and set new goals to reach, it worked wonders. Once you get that, its just
a matter of angling your shoulders to guide the turn and leaning your
weight.

I have seen you in an older vid´s with an Larry OSD, now you ride the
Loaded dancer, tell us about the differences between these boards.


Larry's OLD is sick, truly a great board.  But there are a couple of big
differences that had me riding Loaded dancer.
1.  Weight.  The Loaded dancer is lighter my just a hair.
2. Length.  The loaded dancer measures 55 in while the OSD is 59in. 
    The shorter board allows for easier rotations.
3.  Flex.  The OSD has a very damp flex, especially when broken in.  Its a
     very comfortable feel, but for hard jump tricks i bottomed out all the time.
     The Loaded Dancer is stiffer, and a bit "snappier"
4.  The nose and tail kicks on the Loaded Dancer.  They give you that extra
leverage for manuals and pops.  I dont think i could do a Kickflip without
em.

Of course now that the Loaded Dancer is retired...I ride The Loaded
Bhangra...and that board is in a whole new league :)

You are sponsored by loaded, but what does that mean?

It means we both want the same thing. To see the sport grow.  I have heard
it said from the guys at Loaded that "A rising tide lifts all boats".  If we
can raise the overall stoke for the sport, all the skate companies are going
to keep growing!  So with being sponsored, I try to do that in partnership
with loaded. Put on events, post videos, shoot some photos, wear my helmet,
and spread the good vibes.

How and why did loaded contact you and how was your feeling about that?

I had sent them a package of about who I am, and what I do. They were
excited about what they saw and emailed me. I was stoked. I have majorly
looked upped to this company since I started riding. They have progressed
the sport so far, and really taught me a majority of what i know through
there videos that I was thrilled to be apart of that team.

Tell us what dancen is all about?

Style, Flow, and Creativity.  Oh and loving my wife.

In the Jehu vid. you are doing some fancy breakdance moves (1.36), have
you a name for this? How did you invent these?


So much of the  dance tricks have to do with combination moves, and subtly
style variations. So I dont have any names for that stuff.  But the last
little breakdance step from the ground I call a "Flare Step"

I invented these moves just from wanting to see more literal dance steps
incorporated in the genre of skating. I got creative and just
started piecing it together bit by bit.


How would you describe a good style on a dancer, how a bad one?

Good style:  Flow, consistency, variation, matched with aggressive riding.
Bad style:  Rigid, safe, out of control.

Here in Germany dancen is not really popular, how is it in your spot?

In my world its HUGE. ahah, but honestly I live in an area with no major
hills to bomb, no water to surf, and no resorts to snowboard. To me it is
the best option! It grows every year though. Not just hear in the
flatlands, but all over. More and more creative and challenging stuff is
being developed and combined with aggressive street riding. This is growing
the genre big time. And man... I live near a college campus and everyone is
blown away by the style and flow that dancing brings.

What move are you working on these days?

ALOT of new combo dance moves that donet have names yet, some new break
dance steps, manual variations, laser flip.

Is there a new vid in the making? Can you tell us about it?


Oh yes. As soon as this weather breaks here, I will be putting together a
new video, really highlighting the footwork. "Jehu" only had a taste of it.
I have a full production lined up for it, including an 18ft tall crane for
the camera to mount on for some really smooth camera action to highlight the
smooth dance steps.

What are your longboard plans for this year?

Push my production quality, and originality with skating. I want to hit
stuff that people dont associate with skateboarding. Moonwalking meets rail
grinding.

Youtube Video

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