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Hailing from the Gold Coast, Australia, Rolla Bae is your groovy roller disco on demand! Bringing everything to your doorstep in the retro peachy-pink caravan, they’re the masters of turning any kind of occasion into a dazzling disco skate event - in major cities across Australia!
We had a chat with Bec, one of the masterminds behind Rolla Bae, because we just HAD to uncover the story of how this groovy crew came to be…
We at Impala LOVE what you're doing to get people rolling. Can you tell us a bit about the story behind Rolla Bae? What inspired you to start this groovy roller skating community?
Thank you! Without sounding super corny and lame, it had a lot to do with Impala actually.
It was the summer just after Impala had hit the market with these fun holographic and retro classic skates, and my bestie and I had been to a wild Studio54 themed party where skaters in light-up wheels served us drinks. We thought this was the coolest thing ever, so we decided to buy our own. And yes, of course they were Impalas!
We were in Bali on holiday, when Rolla Bae went from hobby to business light bulb. 5 months later, we had our council permit, a retro caravan, 100 pairs of colourful Impala roller skates and a team of energetic skaters, ready to hit the St Kilda foreshore for our mobile skate disco!
We can see you’re travelling ALL around Australia … how big are your teams in these locations? Are you always looking for new additions to the crew? If so, how can they join?
Yes! We truly are mobile!
We began in Melbourne, but after back-to-back wet summers, bushfires and COVID lockdowns, we decided to take the caravan on a road trip up to sunny Queensland.
We currently have crews of around 10–15 casual skaters in Queensland and in Victoria. And yes, because we’re event-based, we’re regularly hiring.
Skaters can apply for jobs via our website: https://www.rollabae.com/jobs
Roller skating is for everyone, regardless of skill level. How do you ensure your events are inclusive and welcoming for all rollers, newbies and professionals alike?
That’s the best thing about skating, isn’t it? We’ve had 5-year-olds shred the rink and an 85-year-old grandpa who flawed us with his moves. It’s really important to us that everyone feels welcome when they skate with us, regardless of their skill level or whether they can even skate at all. We welcome all types of wheels to our events; wheelchair users, pram-pushers, and BYO skaters.
We’re really conscious about the different reasons people choose to skate. In the beginning I put a bit of pressure on myself, as the boss of a skate company, to be a better skater, learn some tricks. But I quickly recognised that I don’t skate to be the best at the moonwalk or spins. I’m clumsy, easily the worst skater on our crew, but I skate because it makes me happy.
What are some of the most memorable moments you've had with the Rolla Bae community?
I think the thing that hits us at our core is the power of roller skating to bring people together in the community and build personal resilience and confidence.
The thing we learnt with our kids ‘Learn-to-Skate’ program, was the sheer resilience that skating cultivates. Sure, it’s a fun activity to try, the reason we started Rolla Bae in the first place, but to see little kids, fall down, over and over again, and each time, dust themselves off and try again was quite humbling. It’s where we developed our mantra ‘fall down, get back up’.
If Rolla Bae had a theme song, what would it be?!
There’s a song we had on repeat the first summer we launched at St Kilda Beach, called “Summer Girl” by HAIM. Whenever I hear it I’m immediately transported to those summers at the caravan.
It’s not very disco, but it sings to that carefree, endless-summer spirit with which we created Rolla Bae. We have a neon sign that says “sunshine state of mind”, which I feel like this song conveys perfectly.
Pair that with a disco classic from the 1970s Studio 54 era and you’ve nailed the essence of Rolla Bae.
