Memorial Weekend, 2012: Derby Conventions, Derby Parties!
The conventions are coming! The conventions are coming!
Expect to see roller skates in the sky as Providence Roller Derby contributes its energy to some serious mothership derby force happening this Memorial Day weekend.
Northeast Derby Convention
Our incarnation of roller derby was born a mere ten or eleven years ago. Rules, strategy, equipment, technique and standards of skill still evolve drastically from season to season. If we’re going to achieve world domination, we need more than the Internet to connect the dots; we need the bodies and minds of nationally-recognized superstar innovators like Demanda Riot and Teflon Donna and Suzy Hotrod to teach and inspire us!
The West has the well-established derby cult weekends March Radness and RollerCon. And now the East will have the Northeast Derby Convention! Organized for the first time this year by Bruised Boutique shop owner and Boston Massacre skater Dee Stortion, the convention will feature all of the above-named derby legends and more right in the heart of downtown Providence at PRD’s home season venue, the Rhode Island Convention Center.
There will be skating clinics, there will be equipment vendors, there will be scrimmages, there will be blown minds…and there will be afterparties! Registration is still open! The NE Derby Convention spans Friday, May 25-27th; the program schedule can be found here.
Derbytaunt Ball 2012
Providence Roller Derby’s inauguration party for our newest class of skaters, the annual Derbytaunt Ball, will be on steroids this year. Why? Because we’re inviting everyone from the Northeast Derby Convention AND the general public to join us! Woot!
Help us welcome Cherrie Krush, Elsie YaLater, Freak ‘N Awesome, Laura Ingalls Piledriver, Luce Cannon, Raggedy Ann-eurysm, Raquel Welts, Scared Stiffany, Shotz of Petrone, Smoke ‘N Mirrors, Sun Scream, and welcome back PRD alumnae Elle Razor and Jean Harlot on Saturday May 26th at the PVD Social Club (in the jewelry district). Raise your glass on May 26th if you are wrong in all the right ways!
Details:
The Derbytaunt is open Saturday, May 26th to NE Derby Convention goers beginning at 8pm and the general public at 10pm. Bring your derby convention ticket or lanyard for free admission at 8pm, otherwise an Abraham Lincoln will be required ($5 cash) and you will not be allowed entry until 10pm. Address: PVD Social Club, 71 Richmond Street, Providence, RI
Annual WFTDA Conference 2012
Some dutiful PRD soldiers will not be able to join us for the party of a lifetime because they’ll be representing Providence down in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida where the annual convention of our national governing body, the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association, will be happening that same weekend. WFTDA is like derby’s NBA, handling the nitty gritty organizational side of our amateur, alternative, all-women’s sport. This year’s panels will be addressing hot topics like Tournament Hosting 101, Philosophy of Ref-to-Skater Communication and Balancing: Intraleague and Interleague Priorities. Fortunately for our reps, “BeachCon” has afterparties too. Represent!
