Forget couples skate
On the rooftop of a warehouse in Chinatown, the L.A. Derby Dolls fly past one another in the twilight.
Outfitted in helmets, spandex pants and knee and wrist pads, the skaters are flaunting their moves. With names like “Axis of Evil” and “Slamazon,” it would be hard to guess that most are working professionals. Yet -- zoom -- there’s an animator. An NPR reporter. A PhD candidate. A playwright. A disc jockey.
They have come, in their spare time, to practice the lost art of roller derby in Los Angeles. With some luck -- and, of course, cash -- they just might do it, drafting off a greater national movement that is reviving a sport that sizzled in the ‘60s and ‘70s.
Formed by Rebecca “Demolicious” Ninburg and Wendy “Thora Zeen” Templeton in October, the L.A. Derby Dolls are 70 women strong and growing.
On a recent evening, Ninburg watches her teammates shoot by. They rent the track -- banked to promote speed and relatively soft to prevent bone breaks -- from Lou Sanchez, a former skater for the L.A. Thunderbirds. Gesturing at the secondhand red vinyl booths (from the club Fais Do Do) that serve as bleachers, Ninburg says, “Craig’s List seems to be where we’ve gotten everything -- including our skaters.”
During the day, Ninburg, 35, works as a freelance sculptor in the motion picture industry. Co-founder and fellow Silver Lake resident Templeton, 30, freelances as a set painter.
The soft-spoken Templeton grew up skating in the basement of her grandparents’ house with her sister and her cousins. She says she practiced tricks like skating backward in the roller rink as a kid. Ninburg also frequented the neighborhood rink. “I was the roughest one of all our friends,” she says.
“Nobody wanted to play with me.”
The artists met at work about a year ago, when Ninburg spotted Templeton’s Roller Derby brand roller skates. The two became friends, and while carpooling together they began to discuss their roller derby dreams.
Soon they hit the roller rinks, recruited a coach and got in touch with a league in Texas after reading about it in Jane magazine. “They’ve helped us so much because they’ve given us faith that [roller derby] can exist and that it can survive,” Ninburg says.
The group broke off into teams about a month ago, and, like the Dolls’ feisty skate names, their teams carry equally splashy monikers: Fight Crew, Tough Cookies, Sirens and Tru$t Fund Terrors. When they skate in front of an audience, they wear fishnets, short miniskirts and colorful team shirts. “Yeah, it’s sexy and powerful at the same time,” Ninburg says.
She adds that she remembers only one thing from watching roller derby on television as a kid: women skating at the same level as men. “They were out there and they were always doing what the men were doing,” she says. “That was always what inspired me.”
Templeton echoes Ninburg’s sentiment. “Watching women get aggressive and violent was really cool, you know, instead of playing with Barbies.”
In addition to coordinating the Derby Dolls’ activities, Ninburg and Templeton attend practice at least four nights a week. “It’s pretty much a full-time job,” Templeton says. “We’ve both taken off a couple months of work to do this.”
They’re still surprised, though, by how the project has evolved. “We didn’t think anyone would be crazy enough to do it, but the response was overwhelming,” Templeton says.
“It just sort of had its own momentum,” Ninburg adds. “We keep getting new recruits, but the attrition rate’s really low because this is a really amazing community.”
The highlight of this journey, Ninburg and Templeton agree, has been the camaraderie among the skaters. Ninburg says they tend to be highly independent and very strong -- both emotionally and physically. “They’re supportive, encouraging and entertaining, unlike most of the women I’ve known,” she says. “I’ve got 65 to 70 new great friends.”
The skaters see one another more than they see their husbands and boyfriends, Templeton says. “We’re so different, but there’s something there that connects us all.”
In a larger sense, the L.A. Derby Dolls are also tied to a national movement of female athletes hitting the banked track -- from Gotham Girls Roller Derby in New York to the Rat City Rollergirls in Seattle. “The fact that there are 16 leagues now is really amazing,” Templeton says.
For now, the Dolls are still in the building stage, gearing up for a second large-scale fundraiser in the last seven months to help launch their league. Saturday’s “Hellraiser” will include footage of their skating, fire dancers, a Doll dunking booth, carnival games and “inflatable sumo wrestling.” A VIP area will feature live roller derby competitions to a rock ‘n’ roll beat.
After that, the Dolls are planning an exhibition match in late November and their first 12-game season in February.
“One thing I learned from this [experience] is that if we want to do it, there’s a chance it’ll happen,” Ninburg says. “It doesn’t seem like anything’s impossible anymore.”
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L.A. Derby Dolls
What: A carnival-themed fundraiser for the league, with a roller derby exhibition in the VIP area.
When: 8 p.m. Saturday
Where: The Dollhouse, 1460 Naud St., Los Angeles
Price: $10 before 10 p.m.; $15 after 10 p.m. VIP tickets, $25. Ages 21 and older.
Contact: www.derbydolls.com