If you’re a Juliette Lewis’ fan and follow her career as a singer and as an actress, then you know what Roller Derby is. If you just fell into this (beautiful) blog, we’ll explain you what it is =P

Roller Derby is a contact sport practiced by women who wear roller skates (the old school ones, quad speed) and the object of the game is basically to run laps on a banked track trying to pass through the pack of the opposite team. There are lots of other rules, but did you get the picture?

To get a more “visual” picture of it, here goes a description we found in another blog:

“Picture a hockey game but with a roller skate track instead of the ice. Now substitute the large T-shirts for stockings and tank tops and forget about ordinary names, try cool nicknames such as Tanya Hyde and Demi Gore. You’ll get a pretty good idea of what Roller Derby is.”

Can you imagine what it is like?

The sport gain visibility in Brazil with the movie “Whip it“, starred by our dear Juliette and directed by Drew Barrymore. Since then, Roller Derby is getting bigger and bigger and we already have a Brazilian league that will compete in the first Roller Derby World Cup!

To celebrate the success of this sport in our country we invited the girls from the Gray City Rebels league (it’s not a team, it’s a “league”!) to give us an interview. They’ll explain to you a little bit better about this different and ultra-modern sport – although it was created in the 30’s!

JLBR interviews Gray City Rebels

JLBR - How did you find out about this sport? What made you start practicing it? Is this sport suitable for every kind of person? Can anyone be a part of it, including the skinny and the chubby ones?

Dedé – One of my cousins had said something about roller derby to me like, 3, 4 years ago… She said that it was a kind of “Riot Grrrl” sport and that you had to be a bit chubby to play, because you could actually hit other girls. I didn’t pay much attention to it, but then, some time later, I watched Whip It, starring Ellen Page, Juliette Lewis and Drew Barrymore (<3) and I thought: “wow, this could be fun! Are there any leagues in Brazil?”. It turned out there was a flat track league, different from the movie, which is banked track, so I joined the league, made a lot of new friends and it kept me going. In the end of 2010, some friends and I left the league and started our own, the Gray City Rebels.

Every single girl can do derby, and that’s what’s cool: you don’t need to have an athletic body, you don’t need to be tall, like in basketball for example, you can be little and a bit chubby (o/) and still find your place in the team as a great player. Besides that, you are gonna be fit, roller derby is a sport that does wonders for your body; your thighs get stronger, your legs get more beautiful, the arms get bulgy and so do your abs…Anyhow, it’s better than swimming, dude!

Is it true that Roller Derby used to be a lot more violent in the past? What are the rules nowadays?

Dedé – When roller derby came about, in the 30′s, it was just a race on roller skates. The goal was to run 948324823423 laps on the banked track. In the 70′s, roller derby revived as something staged, a game in which the girls ran laps on the banked track hitting, punching and pushing each other around. It was all staged, every single move had been previously rehearsed, it was like wresting, where everything was allowed: punch to the face, pulling hair, pushing, pulling, etc.

Modern roller derby is well structured, solid and full of rules. Since its boom (and re-revival) in 2000, the rules have been improved and everything that was allowed in the “wrestling derby” is not allowed anymore. You can throw elbows, like shown in Whip It, kick or throw somebody off the track in an ilegal way…What you can do is to use your hips, thighs and shoulders to push someone off the track as well as to help your teammates. There’s an association called WFTDA, which is responsible for coordinating and qualifying the leagues that decide to associate with them, besides promoting tournaments among leagues and countries.

Is Roller Derby an expensive sport? We know that in Brazil it is really hard to get any kind of patronage… what do you do to keep your trainings? Do you buy the equipment here in Brazil? 

Dedé – It’s an expensive sport, yes. The kind of skates we use are not made in Brazil (the one brand there is here is not good at all), so we end up importing skates, wheels, bearings and even the gear. We can buy the gear here, but sometimes it’s worth it to buy imported gear, it’s a matter of quality and price.

The practices here are DIY and we learn stuff by watching videos on YouTube, bouts, by bringing some players down to S. America to teach us, etc. The girls who are part of our league pay a monthly fee (a very symbolic one) to help us make buttons, tees, flyers and to cover occasional expenses we might have.

The style in Roller Derby is really important for those who don’t know much about the sport. How do you deal with this?

Dedé – In the Gray City Rebels we say that the girls may join derby because of the clothing style, but if they decide to stick with us, it’s because they have fallen in love with the sport. Roller derby is so much more than fishnets, lift and separate shorts and colorful socks, it’s a sport whose aim is to make the athletes reach their limits and go beyond them. It requires mental and physical strength, besides effort, which is highly demanded during practices. It’s funny that in the first or second practice, a girl may be dressed “derby style”, but by the time they reach a certain number of practices, they start wearing leggings, a comfy tee, whatever fits them best for playing a sport. It’s like going to the gym: do you put make up on and some clothes to show off or do you go there to exercise? To us, it is to exercise.

For those willing to join the Roller Derby world, what should they do? What are the first steps?

Dedé – Here in our league in São Paulo, in order to start practicing with us you have to be able to attend 2 or 3 practices a week, you have to be willing to learn and you also have to be committed to the sport.  The first step is to go to our practice and get to know us, so we can explain to you how our league works. We take the sport very seriously and we want girls who are committed and willing to help the league. After that, it’s a nice idea to save some money to buy your skates and gear – we do have some for rent, while you wait to buy yours. And then, you just have to get ready and fall in love with the most rad sport in the world!!

What’s a “Derby Name”? What’s the story of your Derby Name?

Dedé – The derby name is kind of a nickname that envolves a pun. The girls who play roller derby use them during bouts. There are people who say that it’s kind of your alter ego, but I particularly see it as a way to make a joke about something you dig a lot. There are girls whose derby names have to do with their toughness and how they’re willing to beat other girls on track, like Atomatrix, DeRanged, etc. and others with puns like Georgia W. Tush, Smack Daddy, and so on. My derby name is Kaia Pilsen because of a singer/guitarist that I like very much, called Kaia Wilson. When I joined derby I had junt been to one of her concerts and I was much into her music. People say that I like beer and that I joined roller derby for the after-parties, so… Pilsen. ;p

Mari – The Derby Name is like a nickname, it’s more like an alter ego, that is what people say. It can be a pun with the name of a famous person, a singer or a band…sometimes it’s a pun with one of the player’s personality traits.
My derby name is Peryl Streep. It’s a pun with the name of an actress I like very much (and it’s kinda obvious), Meryl Streep…”Peryl” is for “Peril” and “Streep”, well, it’s just the plain surname. I chose it after having given it much thought, I came up with a list of derby names, like “Virginia Woound” (with double “o” to be a reference to Virginia Woolf. All I know is that I wanted something different for a derby name.
When Montreal’s founder and players Georgia W. Tush came down to S. America to give a bootcamp hosted by us (GCR), she told me that she had never known anyone whose derby name was a reference to a senior, so… I think I got something pretty different for a derby name! Haha!

Tell us a little bit about the Gray City Rebels and about the Roller Derby World Cup in Toronto.

Dedé – The Gray City Rebels is a league that I, Ju Leal (Ginger Midget), Mari Teixeira (Peryl Streep) and Renata Hazan (Alpha Mail Me) founded when we decided to leave the other league we were part of. We were not happy about the way some things were dealt with, we wanted things to be different, but we were too smitten by derby to simply give up. Founding and managing a league is the coolest and hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life. We take care of everything, from time and place of practices to deciding what skills are important to acquire as an athlete, what we can do to recruit girls, what we can do to have productive visibility in the media, etc. The girls that join the league have to be committed to the sport and envolved in it, having to attend 75% of the practices, taking part in committees and practicing really hard to pass an evaluation after 2 months of practice. You can’t join just because of the fishnets, make-up and the parties and that will be it, it’s much more than that. We have girls who have been skating for 2 moths who are skating confidently and very well. For us, roller derby is that: it’s all about going beyond your limits, pushing yourself into doing something nice and getting more confident about yourself.

From December 2^nd to 4^th, there will be the first roller derby world cup in Toronto, Canada, and Nanda Corrêa (aka Brazilian Nut, who plays for Gotham Girls Roller Derby) had the idea to gather the girls in Brazil and make a team. We had a two-round tryout to select 20 girls to represent out country in this tournament, including 4 Brazilians who play in countries like USA, Canada and Germany. We don’t know exactly how it’s gonna go, but we’re super anxious and practicing a lot to do our best!!! It’s been really hard specially because we’re paying everything ourselves, we have no sponsors, no government support, so the girls are doing what they can to pay for the tickets and expenses.

We’re accepting donations on the site we’ve put up about the world cup, which is beautiful - Roller Derby Brasil - and contains a lot of info on our athletes!

Have you ever seen the movie Whip It, starred by Ellen Page and Juliette Lewis? Did you like it? Do you think Juliette was convincing as a Derby Girl in the eyes of the real Derby Girls?

Dedé – I watched it at the time and I liked it very much! A movie with Drew Barrymore, Ellen Page and Juliette Lewis is like a magic potion for girls, it’s impossible not to like it! Of course that nowadays, after knowing the sport better, I think when it comes to roller derby itself the movie leaves a lot to be desired, but it’s cute… I think Juliette ended up being the toughest girl and put a lot of effort into it, I think the girls that I know who play derby see her character (whose name actually exists in derby, Iron Maven) as a real derby girl.

Mari – I’ve seen Whip It, of course! It was the first derby-related movie I saw. I think the movie is pretty amazing, although there is some ilegal stuff that went on during the bouts (like throwing elbows for example), but then you realize that that’s what is fun about the Hurl Scouts, their lack of care for the rules (kids, don’t do this on the track! haha!)
Juliette passed for a derby girl easily! She’s got attitude, she’s got a pretty awesome game face and she’s got that special Juliette something going on, that cool stuff. <3 I can say that she was my first derby crush, back in March 2010!

Juliette fell in love with Roller Derby and she loves when local leagues go to her concerts. Leave her a message!

Dedé – All I can say is that I love the fact that Juliette invites the derby girls from the city she’s playing to go to her concert! Here in Brazil roller derby is so unpopular that having the visibility she brings would be spectacular! Juliette, come to Brazil skate with the Rebels! We dig your music, you’re rad!

Mari – Juliette, come to Brazil again! PLEASE! The Gray City Rebels will open their doors to you, let’s rock and roll, sista!

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Did you like the interview? If you wish to know more about Gray Ciry Rebels please visit their oficial site! And to end this post, a lovely pic from VS Magazine photoshoot, from the Whip it promo with Juliette and all the girls!

See ya,
JLBR Team