East Europe Roller Derby Tour

20/09/2017

DERBY NAMES (2nd part)

LEFT TO THE RIGHT
GUERRILLA JAY. My Derby name relates to my birth name, Joanna, therefore Jay. The Guerilla part is linked to my family name which in English means war. I think it fits well with Roller Derby.

PSYCHO KILLER. It’s my alter ego, a character that let be myself on the track, with my strangeness! I chose this name also because I really like the song from Talking Heads, Psycho Killer!

KANGA LU. I am Australian. I did not play derby until I came to Czech Republic. Part of my identity is based on being Australian. Also, my name is Lulu. So, my little sister thought I could be called Kanga Lu. That’s why I have this stupid Australian animal name. Actually I am really s**t at jumping, there is quite a lot of irony on that. Maybe I am more like a wombat, because I am a blocker. My ass is on the way of people!

07/09/2017

First glimpse of a serie that needs to be continued. DERBY NAMES is about those names Derby players choose for themselves. These portraits illustrate what Kinga called the “opportunity Roller Derby gives you to be truly yourself”. Indeed, these characters people choose or invent are often the reflect of their personalities or aspirations. For Katerina, it also functions as an alter ego freer than herself to be who she is, with her qualities and faults.

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT.
LADIS SWEET MASTERPIECE. My Derby name is Ladis Sweet Masterpiece because I am a multimedia artist. Also, I would like to do masterpieces on skate!

MÖRKÖ. My name on skate is Mörkö. It’s a character from my favorite cartoon called the Moomin. Everybody is scared of her because everything she touches freezes immediately. But actually, she is very nice and very sad that she does not have that many friends. That’s unfair. That’s why I chose her name, because I think she’s amazing!

HARLEY KWIN. My Derby name is Harley Kwin. I chose it because she is from one of my favorite comics and animation, from Batman. She is The Joker’s girlfriend. She is really sweet and really cute, but also very deadly. Just like me!

With Prague City Roller Derby

©Anaïs Suire

31/08/2017

It's time to go home now.
Thanks to all the lovely people we met on our road, you made this trip amazing, full of interesting conversations, roller skating, fun and looove !!
Ps: more publications to come and this project is not over !

28/08/2017

2 days left in Prague, enjoying it as much as possible with Prague City Roller Derby

28/08/2017

Sunday, 6 pm. The members of Prague City Roller Derby start their 3 hours training. On Sundays, everybody train together, team A, team B and Freshies.
They lost their venue few weeks ago. Now they train outside. The floor is good but there is no track. What's more playing games can be dangerous on concrete.
That's why they avoid contact for the moment and prefer to improve some technical skills.
Joanna, aka Guerrilla Jay, is the one who prepares the exercices. She is the derby coach. Two years ago, she leaved Portugal to live here in Prague. Girls really like her strong and exhaustive trainings.
Prague City Roller Derby
©Anaïs Suire

27/08/2017

The first day we met Budapest Derby players they told us their team was “a nice group of black-sheep.” Indeed we knew Roller Derby was known to be an inclusive sport, gathering people with different personalities, sexualities, genders, skin colors, bodies…
We thought that this “black-sheep” concept was maybe a good symbol of Derby inclusivity and that it would be interesting to question deeper this sentence.

Thus we asked Budapest Roller Derby members about their black-sheep experiences and the roots of their motivations to join the team. We discovered that the differences between its members were actually central in the creation of this community, they often call “family”. We understood too that feeling less like a black-sheep integrating Roller Derby is not the point.
In this context, the goal is to make people feel proud of their black-sheep side. For some it’s actually a kind of activism.

Realised by Mado Berrenger and Anaïs Suire. Photography : Anaïs Suire

26/08/2017

Episode #4 We met Gabor Fabian, Aniko and their children in Budapest. Street skater forever, Gabor is part of Roller Derby Budapest but he also motivated all his family to practice quad skating... Like him, his 6-year-old twins are not afraid of anything !!
Budapest Roller Derby project

Gabor, Budapest

22/08/2017

We arrived yesterday in Worclaw, Poland, where we were nicely welcomed by Breslau Advengers Roller Derby and Breslay Rebels Roller Derby. Two recent teams, a male and a female, who train together on every monday :)

20/08/2017

Still in Warsow with the derby family! Starting a rockabily transformation!

19/08/2017

We arrived in Warsow on last wednesday and we went straight away to the Hellcats training.

18/08/2017

Episode #3 Dafina Dobreva tells us about roller derby in Sofia. Cofounder of the team, she explains the difficulties she encounters but also the reasons why she will never give up.

Dafina, Sofia

17/08/2017

Check out this new born team in Budapest, Budapest Roller Derby project ! We wish the best to this amazing team and crazy people. See you on the track