Pirouette
Sign in to add this trick to your list.
Shown for a regular-footed rider. Teal ring + arrow = the rider's facing direction; teal band = the tail; a dot is where a hand holds the board - bright yellow for the front hand, amber for the back one, which is the whole difference between a mute and an indy. Board and rider rotate independently - each follows its own component. Drag to orbit.
How it works
A dancer's turn on a skateboard: the rider rises tall - often onto one foot - over the rear wheels and spins a full rotation with the body drawn into a tight vertical axis, arms closing from extended to hugged-in exactly like a ballet pirouette. The physics is conservation of angular momentum: the wind-up is generated with arms and shoulders wide, and pulling them to the chest cuts the moment of inertia so the spin accelerates. The upright, closed silhouette distinguishes it from the crouched, arms-out 360 spin.
Step by step
- Roll slowly or stand stationary; lift the nose slightly to free the front wheels.
- Wind the arms and shoulders open against the intended spin direction.
- Release the wind-up while rising tall over the rear axle, optionally onto the ball of one foot.
- Snap the arms in across the chest to accelerate the rotation.
- Hold a rigid vertical line - head, spine, and rear-axle contact stacked - through the full 360.
- Open the arms to brake the spin, settle the front wheels down, and roll out.
Body mechanics
| Front foot | Lifts or lightens as the body rises; in the one-footed form it leaves the deck entirely. |
|---|---|
| Back foot | On the tail directly over the rear axle, riding the pivot on the ball of the foot. |
| Shoulders | Deliver the initial torque, then square up and freeze so the spin axis stays clean. |
| Arms | The throttle: wide to wind up, snapped inward to spin fast, opened again to stop. |
| Gaze | Spots a fixed point each rotation, whipping the head around dancer-style to fight dizziness and mark the stop. |