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Dan Gesmer in “Four Wheels Down,” 2002.

Head Seismologist

Daniel Jon Gesmer grew up in Rockford, Illinois (where the founders of Bahne were born!), two hours west of Chicago, where he was born in 1963. In the mid-1980s, he became known throughout the skateboarding world as the innovator of a highly artistic approach to flatland freestyle, founded on advanced turning techniques and comparable to ice figure skating.


The "spreadsheet geek" at many of the world’s biggest pro slalom races.

Starting in 1983, Dan’s personal need for better steering performance led to many years of R&D on technologies that let skaters make tighter turns with more power, control and stability. Dan incorporated Seismic Skate Systems in 1992, and the first result of his ongoing efforts was the original composite Seismic truck (U.S. patent #5,263,725 – Nov. 23, 1993).

Dan is also a prominent figure in the current renaissance of slalom and freestyle skateboarding. His writings on both subjects have been printed far and wide. Dan also manages timing data at many of the world’s premiere slalom competitions.

Dan at 20, ripping a G-Turn on an experimental board. Yale University campus, 1984.

In 1986, Dan earned a degree in philosophy and psychology from Yale University, writing his thesis on the legendary turn-of-the-century Russian artist Vaslav Nijinsky. Dan’s writings on Nijinsky have appeared in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and specialty arts publications around the world. He intends to eventually complete a major book on this subject.

 

“Four Wheels Down”

In the summer of 2002, 38-year-old Dan Gesmer dropped 15 pounds and put in serious gym time to get back in shape for an alternative flatland freestyle video, “Four Wheels Down.” In a freeform format, it showcases the expression-oriented, pure-gliding approach (“glide-style”) that he began developing in the 1980s. Camera and editing are by noted skateboard documentarian Robert Kittilä, who helped create the legendary 1980s series of documentaries by the Powell-Peralta Corporation.

Dan at 24 performing an arabesque in front of the Rock River in Rockford, Illinois, 1988.

According to 2001 World Professional Freestyle Skateboard Champion Stefan “Lillis” Akesson, “I am totally amazed by the skating and editing and the music! This video will amaze everyone, no matter what they think, or used to think, of Dan's style of skating.” Webmaster Adam of NCDSA.com calls it “some of the most powerful, most stylish, most uncannily balanced skating I’ve ever witnessed... I must have said “no f***in' way!” out loud to myself 5-6 times the first time I watched it.”

A low-res QuickTime version of the 4-minute piece is available for free download from:
http://www.ncdsa.com/four_wheels_down.mov

For more information on flatland freestyle, see:

NCDSA Freestyle Forum

“Return of the Living Primo Slide” in TransWorld Skateboarding Business (vol. 14, no. 2, Oct. 2002)

“Moving Freestyle Forward” (page 1 and page 2) , by Daniel Gesmer, in Concrete Wave magazine, vol. 2, no. 1, Summer 2003, pp. 34 – 35.

“Confessions of a Skateboard Heretic” (page 1 and page 2) , by Daniel Gesmer, in Concrete Wave magazine, vol. 1, no. 4, Spring 2003, pp. 54 – 55.