You’ve heard about rhythm and jam skating, but what do they even mean.
When I first started skating, I did not know the difference either. Today, I want to define rhythm and jam skating and discuss 3 differences between the two.
I made a video to break this down to, so if you are more visual, check out my whole video on the topic after you finish reading. Let’s start by defining both styles.
The TL;DR
The definition of jam skating changes depending on who you ask. That’s why today, I’m going to be speaking about the definition of jam skating and rhythm skating consistently presented on the web. Basically, what type of skates will you find and what do people use those skates for if you Googled it and clicked on some links. Here’s a graphic to sum everything up for you.
The Equipement
We can do moves on any skates, but different skates allow us to do different moves more effectively. Style skating boots are high on the ankle. The plates are stiffer and the wheels are hard and small. These skates are optimized to roller skating doing quick turns and pivots while you’re moving.
Alternatively, jam skating boots are low. The plates are more flexible and the wheels are wide and softer. This makes it easier to do ground work and turn corners at higher speed. The lack of ankle support makes it more difficult to pivot while moving.
The equipment rhythm skaters use works best on the outside, while jam skating skates are optimized for groundwork, something you do on the inside. Admittedly a lot of jam skating is “shuffling” or “trucking”, the thing that makes jam skating special is its focus on the inside. Jam skaters compete in break dance style battles, like the battles at Heartbreak. Alternatively, most rhythm skating techniques focus on the outside.
One of the most popular of these techniques is trains and trios. Trains and trios are techniques where you link hands and use the momentum of the skaters on the line to perform different patterns while skating around the skate floor.
The Sales pitch
Jam skating is a piece of Style Skating with a new direction. The original sales pitch for jam skating was break dancing on skates. This lasted from the late 90s to the mid 2010s. When the pandemic boom hit, the jam skating sales pitch changed.
Until recently, jam skating is a phrase generally used to describe low cut boot skates, with wide wheels, and jam plugs. Jam skaters use these skates to perform various dance moves on skates that incorporate hip hop dancing, break dancing, and gymnastics. At the start of the pandemic, jam skating became synonymous with any dancing on skates that’s not artistic skating.
James Wilson tells a piece of this story in his chapter in the The Evolution of Skating, a collection of skater stories. James aka Mr. Jam Skate is a sales rep for Anabolix, a rink owner, performer and much more. He used to be the Vice President of United Jam Skate Teams of America (UJSTA), the official jam skating governing body. According to his chapter in The Evolution of Skating, James, former artistic skating champion, started jam skating after he became an adult.
He points out In his chapter, when he and his friends started jam skating in the late 1990’s it wasn’t know as jam skating. People called it “shuffling” or “toe jamming”. This was in the late 90s meaning the popular use of the term jam skating is 30-40 years old. Wilson, is a person who sells skates and an authority by the nature of his titles, but he wasn’t calling it jam skating until the late 90s.
Rhythm skating describes almost a hundred years of roller skating history and techniques. The roots of some regional style go back as early as the 1930s. As Reggie Brown, a JB skating legend, DJ, event organizer and father featured in United Skates, told me out the roots of JB go back to the Lindy Hop era and Savoy Ballroom. I Googled it and it all checked out. I made a video about Chicago history. You can watch it below.
Rhythm Skating has a similar origin but the marketing campaign is different. In fact, the term “rhythm skating” is around the same age as “jam skating”. Rhythm Skating is a marketing term to describe roller skates with a high top boot, hard wheels, and jam plugs. These skates are meant to be used inside of the rink. Ironically, it is used more frequently on the internet than IRL.
Before the internet, people skated with their homies and only saw skaters from other cities during skate jams or road trips. That’s why, if you ask a skater “what type of skater are you ?”, 99% will say their regional style. Skaters have pride in our regional identities and styles. Each style has a history of contributors, organizers, and skaters. That’s why the accepted term among historians is “style skating”.
Conclusion
In a nutshell, the main differences between jam skating and rhythm skating can be summed up like this:
- Origin: Jam skating and rhythm skating were both created to sell skates, but they emerged at different times. Jam skating became popular in the late 90s, while rhythm skating has a long history that goes back hundreds of years.
- Marketing and Commodification: Jam skating has been heavily marketed and turned into a product. The term itself is used to sell skates and related stuff. Rhythm skating, though also a marketing term, has a stronger connection to the diverse skating styles developed and used by African-Americans across the United States.
- Equipment: Jam skating usually involves low boots for easier ground work and wide, soft wheels for stability and high-speed cornering. Rhythm skating, on the other hand, often uses high ankle boots optimized for quick turns and pivots, along with hard and small wheels for maneuverability. The equipment changes how these skates are used. Jam skating is all about skating on the inside of the circle, with a focus on breakdance-style battles and shuffling techniques. On the other hand, rhythm skating is more about skating on the outside of the circle and learning different skate styles like JB, Detroit, Up Top, and Snapping.
These differences highlight the cultural, historical, and marketing aspects that set jam skating apart from rhythm skating.