Love and Skating in Las Vegas
By Anny Ayala Ortega
My introduction to roller skating was when I saw Michelle Steilen, a.k.a. Estro Jen, in this profile of her skate part for Bones Swiss Bearings. In 2017, I asked my best friend Jennifer to learn how to roller skate with me, and so we did. It took a lot of courage and getting over fears, and in the end was about pushing through and learning the steps together. It’s a sport you can immediately fall in love with.
I would post Instagram videos of me, Mayra, Jennifer, and Alejandra skating and use hashtags; Camille and Jenny found us this way, started "following" us, and eventually we all met up. We started contacting each other so that we wouldn’t have to skate alone. We created an Instagram account called @nenaskateclub just for fun, and to share what we were doing.
As skaters, we felt a lack of support from the existing community and a discomfort entering the male-dominated space of skate parks. We were trying to make roller skating a bigger part of Las Vegas culture, because it is a sport that can bring people together. I think many people, especially women in Las Vegas, can benefit from learning a sport that is finally dominated by women. But it grew into something bigger: people started to notice us through hashtags, crews from California, and beyond. Nena Skate Club was not only skating—it was an attitude.
I was always considered the weird kid throughout school, so I kept to myself, but I was always creating things. I would draw, paint, make things with clay, fabric, collage, photography... everything. I first got into zines because of the 90s Riot Grrrl band, Bikini Kill. I read about how zines were used to spread information at a low cost without having to go through any kind of approval or publishing. Anyone can make a zine! They are an important resource and an outlet for information and creativity.
Collaboration is something really exciting and special because you all support each other. Since Nena Skate Club, I’ve kept thinking about new collectives and how to organize them to bring important stories to light in an easy, sharable way. With my first skate zine, NENAS, I highlighted the roller skaters in our community that carried Nena’s attitude and love for the sport. Volume 1 was a series of photographs of some original Nena Skate Club members skating in local well-known spots. The next issue, renamed 206 Zine, will focus more on who these roller skaters are both in and outside of the organized sport, and their hopes for its future in Las Vegas. It will also feature photography and artwork submissions from Las Vegas locals, as well as skateboarding. I am collaborating with local artists like Chelsea Mango of Perspective Riso to create risograph posters, and Coy and Jean Munson of Vegas’ Plot Twist Publishing to produce it.
Now Jennifer and I have started @malcriadamedia, another Instagram platform, to document rollerskating, skateboarding, and the artistic subcultures that have grown up around us in Vegas and elsewhere. Right now it’s just the two of us managing it for the love of what we do, but who knows where it can go!
Anny Ayala Ortega is a photographer, roller skater, Thai tea fanatic, and dog lover from East Las Vegas.
Self-portrait by Anny Ayala Ortega @spooook.y