Bill Butler

Bill Butler, born in Detroit in 1933, emerged as a foundational figure in Black roller-dance culture. He learned to skate in Detroit's vibrant rink scene, developing his movement vocabulary through experience and, by most accounts, military service including time in Alaska. Butler arrived in New York with a clear vision: that roller skating should move with the rhythms of Black popular music—jazz, rhythm-and-blues, and dance records—rather than remain bound to the organ-led conventions of mid-century rinks.

In 1957, Butler began skating at the Empire Rollerdrome in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, a rink whose clientele was predominantly Black but whose musical programming had not yet shifted to reflect their social lives. Working alongside skater Gloria McCarthy, whose family operated Empire, Butler advocated for recorded Black popular music on the floor. Together they established a "Bounce" night where he could demonstrate the technique he called Jammin'. The Brooklyn Bounce and Wobbly Duck became recognizable movements within his vocabulary. This history is a community one: McCarthy, Empire's owners, the rink's skaters, DJs including Robert "Big Bob" Clayton, and generations of dancers were all participants in shaping what Empire would become.

Jammin', as the National Museum of Roller Skating describes it, is a rapid-paced approach built from basic moves and strides learned across inside, outside, and middle positions. The technique joins rhythmic dips, spins, crossing patterns, turns, close floorcraft, and an unmistakable relationship to groove. Its development predates the late-1970s commercial roller-disco boom that would make Empire nationally famous. During the 1970s and early 1980s, Empire became a cultural destination where Butler worked as performer, instructor, and creative presence. The rink's importance rests not on celebrity visits but on its everyday community, its regional dance language, and intergenerational instruction.

Butler converted his expertise into documentation in 1979 when Pocket Books published *Jammin': Bill Butler's Complete Guide to Roller Disco*, coauthored with Elin Schoen. The 114-page instructional book covered roller disco fundamentals—rhythm, safety, etiquette, turns, stops, jumps, named walks, and regional styles—at the height of the craze. It gave a mass audience access to knowledge long transmitted through skating itself. Later, his expertise moved into film. For Malcolm D. Lee's 2005 feature *Roll Bounce*, Butler served as skate director and was integral to the skating choreography, helping translate rink vocabulary to screen while training performers to make the movement credible. He continued to teach, skate, and support community memory well into later life, remaining publicly active through heritage events and archival work into 2023.