Sprockettes Invitational

[November 15th, 2006] In the two and a half years since the Portland Sprockettes donned their pink spandex and began hoisting mini-bikes over their heads, doing semi-acrobatic two-wheeled tricks and performing booty dance moves à la In Living Color's Fly Girls, our local bike-dance team has been talking about an "international bicycle danceoff." They told me about it when I first interviewed them at the Alberta Street Fair in September 2005, but I had already read about their collective dream on their MySpace page. At the time, a bicycle danceoff seemed pretty unlikely prospect—let alone an "international" one.

But funny things can happen when you're dealing with a group of ladies who are dedicated to breaking down the typical body image associated with dance teams while promoting bicycling and a general do-it-yourself attitude (the routines are self-choreographed and the costumes are home-designed—without any formal training in either field). Audiences both inside and outside of the Sprockettes' bikester world have been wowed by the group's halftime shows at the Rose City Rollers' roller-derby events and benefits for causes such as the rebuilding of a bombed abortion clinic in Olympia, Wash. But nowhere has the response to the Sprockettes been so enthusiastic as Vancouver, British Columbia.

The Sprockettes performed at VeloMutation, the biggest bike party in B.C. in 2005, and when the group returned the following year, a new all-girl group took the stage: the B:C:Clettes. Nicole Bennett of the group, which uses full-sized bike wheels like cabaret fans, wrote WW that "the absolute reason" the B:C:Clettes started was because they were "thoroughly inspired" by our Sprockettes.

But cyclo-dancing isn't only for girls—the Brakes, another B.C. group, is the world's first all-male bike-inspired dance troupe (they also perform with full-sized bikes). The Sprockettes' choice of mini-bikes springs from their involvement in Zoobombers, Portland's mini-bike icon. The small bikes enable them to perform some unique moves, like the "Hand Crank," which involves rotating on one's toes while leaning onto a bike seat, tracing a circle like a compass.

These three groups will meet this weekend for the Sprockettes Invitational—the first bona-fide international bike danceoff. It's shaping up to be quite a production: The Sprockettes say they will dance to a live performance by Romanteek (they normally play the Olympia, Wash., band on a stereo), but it's nothin' you and your spoke-buddies couldn't put together given some time. Sure.

^CHECK OUT CLIPS OF THE SPROCKETTES IN ACTION

“We’re always trying to come up with things to do with the bikes other than riding them,” Nickey “Agent Bunny G” Robare told me when we met up to discuss some of the Sprockettes’ most well known moves.

“We have our friends in Canada now, and we’ve definitely learned things from them and they’ve taken things from us, but we have to figure out all the bike tricks and the best way to do them ourselves,” says Bunny G. To familiarize yourself with some of the stylized bike manipulations you’ll be able to see this Friday, read on.

The Bike Pump Perhaps the most memorable move in the Sprockettes’ repertoire is also one of the simplest. During “Get Serious” by local band Euromotion, the Sprocks lie on their backs and pedal their mini-bikes, bouncing them to the beat, in what’s called the “Bike Pump.” “It’s a very popular move,” says Bunny G, and indeed, I’d have to say it seems to elicit the largest applause of any, perhaps in part because it’s rather risqué. While the Bike Pump is picturesque, it has resulted in numerous photos of Sprockette bums and underoos. “There’s been some movement within the Sprockettes to try to do the Bike Pump in a way that does not completely display our butts,” explains Bunny G. “It looks good from any angle. It’s a cool thing to see someone upside down with a bike like that.”

From the Portland Bike Summit at Portland State University in June 2006.

Mutual Support While this move is a crowd favorite, Bunny G says, “Picking up the bikes above our heads, to me, is cooler because it shows that we're strong. Unless you're riding a really tiny mini, they're heavier than normal bikes because they're really cheap and made for kids who aren't actually going to ride a bike very much." But the Sprockettes also display their strength by lifting one another. A variation on the Bike Pump is the "Baby Got Back,” where two dancers link arms and then one is hoisted on the other's back where she does the Bike Pump. The Sprockettes have also created various human pyramid moves involving bikes, among them “Mutual Support.” Eliza “Agent Chaos” Strack dislocated her shoulder when dismounting from the top of the pyramid last August.

From the Portland Bike Summit at Portland State University in June 2006.

Other Sprockette balance moves include a few varieties of flybys. In the “Wheelbarrow,” one Sprockette steers a mini-bike while two others hold her legs horizontally. In this clip, the Wheelbarrow is followed by the "Hand Crank," in which a dancer traces a circle with her feet while pedaling with her hands.

From the Portland Bike Summit at Portland State University, June 2006.

The Super Girl and Arabesque In one solo flyby, the Super Girl, a Sprockette places her tummy on the bike seat and appears to fly a few feet off the ground. It reminds me of old-timey bike posters like this. The rolling Arabesque is also somewhat majestic.

From the Alberta Street Fair, September 2005.

The Sprockettes have been increasingly incorporating acrobalance (acrobatic balancing) techniques into their routines, such as one move the call the “NordicTrack,” where two dancers essentially join hands and feet and crawl facing each other, one with her back to the ground and the other turned toward it.

But for me, the heart of the routines will always be the bike moves. So, what’re the ladies working on now? “We’ve been trying to figure out how to ride a mini-bike backwards by sitting on the handlebars,” Bunny G says. “But we haven’t mastered it yet. The Brakes can do it, so it can physically be done, but it’s very hard.”

I can’t imagine they’ll allow themselves to be shown up for long. —Jason Simms