How a roller rink’s adult night keeps cultural mainstay for KC’s Black community rolling

HG Biggs
·4 min read

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Music thrums through the cavernous room. People on roller skates speed around the outside edge of the hardwood floor. In the center, skaters dance and practice skills at a slower pace. Lights dance across the walls in neon hues and patterns as varied as the skaters themselves. At a corner table alongside the rink, two old friends play dominoes.

This is adult night at Winnwood Skate Center, the only time the Northland Kansas City rink is reserved for the 18+ crowd. It’s a crowd that rolls out in force.

Friends and business partners Knejie “KJ” Allen and Adontis Atkins met at an adult skate night. The two U.S. Air Force veterans now own and operate SK8 SHOT Studios in North Kansas City, Missouri, where they spread their passion for roller skating through classes for all ages and skill levels.

TOP; Bishop Hill, center, skates past a group at Winnwood Skate Center during an adult night skate session. BOTTOM LEFT; Gee Smith, right, plays dominoes rinkside with friend T-Bone at Winnwood Skate Center. The men play nearly every Sunday during adult night. BOTTOM RIGHT; Snappin’ involves an active skater relying on a partner for support. The partner holds out an arm as an anchor, as the active skater shows off their moves.

Allen calls skating his one true love. “It gave me an opportunity to express myself in a way, as well, that I had been insecure about for a majority of my life, which is dancing,” he said.

Many of the skating styles folks practice at Winnwood’s adult nights fall under the category of rhythm and dance, which Allen describes as “just anything that you’re doing, dancing on skates.”

TOP LEFT; Jordan Sherrod, who goes by Archie Louie professionally, teaches a partner skating workshop at SK8 SHOT Studios in North Kansas City. Jordan says that “skate chemistry” is essential to partner skating. TOP CENTER; At SK8 SHOT Studios, Adontis Atkins’ and Knejie “KJ” Allen’s beginner skate lessons consistently pack the floor. TOP RIGHT; Allen demonstrates a complex step during an advanced skating lesson. BOTTOM; SK8 SHOT owners Allen, left, and Atkins check their social media during a partner skating workshop held at their studio. The two see the studio as a less intimidating atmosphere for beginners to enter the skate world.

In Kansas City, many skate styles intermingle. Skaters move to town from around the United States and bring with them the steps they learned growing up. “We’ve got a little bit of everything honestly,” Allen said.

Allen and Atkins explained that the days of segregation shaped the demographics of roller skating and adult skate nights. When segregation was still the law of the land in the United States’ not so distant past, Black skaters were once relegated to odd days, like Tuesdays and Thursdays, and late hours at the rink. Today, that legacy is still evident.

TOP LEFT; Many skaters customize their skates and take great pride in their boots, choosing different models based on the style of skating they prefer. Knejie “KJ” Allen’s right skate sports a blue wave design, and the inside of his red left skate showcases his studio’s logo. BOTTOM LEFT; Allen loosens Amanda Jelks’s skates during an intermediate skating lesson at SK8 SHOT Studios. Customizing skates to an individual’s feet can make all the difference in their ability to execute more complex steps on wheels. RIGHT; Most dedicated skaters prefer their own boots to the rentals at the rink. This skater sports light up wheels.

For many Black skaters, adult nights provide one of the times they can find a community where they are in the majority.

“Us being Black here in Kansas City and going to the skating rink for adult night was a place where we saw a lot of people who look like us, like 99% of the building,” Allen said.

While adult nights have evolved over the decades, from the name attached to the gathering to the music guiding skaters around the rink, Allen says that “the one thing that remains the same is that this was the night that Black people came out and enjoyed ourselves and danced and had fun.”

TOP LEFT; A skater flies backwards after tripping while trying to execute a difficult move at Winnwood Skate Center. TOP CENTER; Kimbr Stevens checks in on a fallen skater during an adult night skate session. Stevens says that the camaraderie and family unit of the skate community make the rink a space for skaters to find belonging. TOP RIGHT; Three skaters slide around the curve of the Winnwood Skate Center rink. BOTTOM; Bishop Hill, center, who also raps under the name Fin Dollaz, continues to skate after the lights come back on at the end of an adult night session. Hill recently moved back to Kansas City and returned to the skate scene.

Myron Frye, who has been skating for more than 50 years, describes the Kansas City roller skating culture as “profound.”

“Over the years it’s progressively had its ebbs and flows, but for the most part today there’s a mainstay. It’s the younger group trying to get like the older group, and there’s a mixture, but it works out really well,” Frye said.

For Kimbr Stevens, skating is transformative. “You just are in your own space, and you do your own thing, and it feels freeing,” Stevens said. She encourages aspiring skaters to pursue that feeling of freedom. “If you’re just wanting to experience (skating) the way that we experience it, you have to really know your limitations, and you have to give it to God.”

TOP LEFT; Haley Struxness has been lacing up her skates and working on her partner skating skills (TOP RIGHT) at SK8 SHOT like she did with instructor Jordan Sherrod and fellow student Drake Eidson. TOP CENTER; Struxness laced up rink side at Winnwood for an adult night session. She rolled into the rink (BOTTOM) in a manner much like merging on the highway, syncing to the rhythm of the floor and skating away on another adult night in Kansas City.

Atkins finds a similar freedom at the rink. “It’s very much therapy for everybody that’s in there,” Atkins said. “Honestly, anything past 15 feet away from me just doesn’t exist. It doesn’t matter. It’s off my mind entirely.”

Bishop Hill, a Kansas City native who recently moved back from Chicago, spoke about the unity skaters find. “A lot of people think skating or just the younger generation nowadays is always violent. But if you’ve got a crowd like this that love a hobby or something in particular, then there’s really no problem. It’s everybody just having fun,” Bishop said.

Winnwood Skate Center is located at 4426 Northeast Winn Rd. Winnwood’s adult nights are Tuesday and Thursday from 8:30 pm to 11:30 pm and Sunday from 8 pm to 11 pm.

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