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[00:00.40] Some American skateboarders are creating new moves by combining longboarding and dance.

[00:10.23] This version of the activity is already popular in southern California.

[00:16.87] It has also become popular in cities like Paris, France and Seoul, South Korea.

[00:24.57] Reporters from The Associated Press recently spoke with some skaters about the unusual activity.

[00:33.60] The AP described it as bringing together skating and dance -- with a little danger as well.

[00:43.43] Hannah Dooling told the AP she often joins friends in Santa Monica, near Los Angeles, where they enjoy longboard dancing and doing tricks.

[00:56.98] Longboards started out as a way for surfers to keep in shape when they were not in the water.

[01:04.94] They are longer than traditional skateboards.

[01:08.93] The added length can be more difficult to move with, but many skaters say they can be more graceful on a longboard.

[01:19.82] Today, skaters use longboards to make sidewalk turns and bomb hills.

[01:27.52] They also use them for longboard dancing.

[01:31.24] Dooling, who is 30 years old, showed off some of her moves during a recent night in an empty parking lot in Santa Monica.

[01:41.60] She was joined by her 33-year-old friend Yun Huang and Jane Kang and Christie Goodman.

[01:50.36] Kang and Goodman are both 29.

[01:54.35] Everyone in the group wore wide-leg pants and flat-bottomed shoes for riding.

[02:02.06] The friends get together most Saturday and Sunday afternoons if the weather is nice.

[02:09.22] The meetups are supported by the Dancing Foundation.

[02:13.74] The non-profit group started with assistance from American technology company Google.

[02:21.18] The organization was started by Achille Brighton, a 39-year-old software engineer.

[02:32.07] Longboard dance is still quite young.

[02:33.66] But Brighton told the AP it has already spread worldwide – from southern California to Paris to Seoul.

[02:43.75] He said those places have public squares and a lot of open spaces where people can watch the skaters.

[02:52.25] “You don’t need skate parks.

[02:54.91] You just need roads," Brighton said.

[02:58.63] "And because you do it in public, you’re out there, people see it. And they’re like, ‘Oh, that’s kind of cool.’”

[03:07.13] Dooling was one of the first to try longboard dancing.

[03:12.17] She learned to skate in the northwestern city of Seattle, Washington.

[03:18.02] Now, she works remotely for the technology company Amazon in Los Angeles.

[03:25.19] Dooling said she did not know anybody when she first moved to the area with her partner in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

[03:36.61] Through skating, she said, she found a community.

[03:41.66] Huang, a native of Melbourne, Australia, started skating during the pandemic.

[03:48.57] Some days, her board and her dog were the only things that would get her outdoors and moving.

[03:57.60] “We were all kind of depressed from COVID," she told the AP.

[04:02.64] "I tried meditation before.

[04:05.83] That didn’t work for me, but I felt like I could really be in the zone with this.”

[04:13.27] Brighton said he thinks one thing that ties together longboarding and longboard dancing is danger.

[04:22.04] You might miss a step; you might fall; you might get hurt, he said.

[04:28.67] “And that’s the exciting bit.”