“Crazy Legs is a Salvation Army by day and a skate club at night,” says New York-based director and artist Sean Frank of the iconic Brooklyn rollerskating club. “For a lot of the skaters it is more than a hobby, it’s a way of life, a form of self expression and escape.”

Capturing a mix of skate veterans, first-timers and everyone in between, Frank’s film celebrates a motley crew of characters from the little boy called Prince who could “whip around the rink at lightening speed and would ride through the legs of anyone who got in his way” to opening narrator Movingstar, a NYC skate scene regular. “She used to skate for years with one blade and one quad skate,” says Frank of Movingstar. “She has choreographed music videos and skated behind Michelle Obama and Kathy Sledge, but still returned to Crazy legs every Wednesday night.” 

Using the film’s second location, the Knockdown Center in Queens, to shoot moving portraits of the skaters, Frank overlays their moves with “Go With It” from the acclaimed new record Ego Death by The Internet – Odd Future members Syd tha Kyd and Matt Martians’ future-soul group. Sadly, since filming, Crazy Legs has shut down due to lack of funding, and the skaters are looking for a new spot to spin. 

Ananda Pellerin is a London-based writer and editor.