Virginia Beach’s new roller rink and fun center is like an indoor day-carnival, with beer for parents

The show wasn’t planned, but it was happening anyway.

At the new Sk8 House roller rink in Virginia Beach, beneath the glowing on-screen face of Kelly Clarkson, there’s a line of masked kids doing things on skates that I don’t know how to do in shoes — a neat little crossover sidestep that’s like a street version of salsa line dance, a running man that goes magically nowhere.

For a second it’s possible to wonder whether the group in the center of the rink is part of a four-wheeled dance crew, but then you notice it’s more like a pickup basketball game. The ringleader, a teen in a Kangol who says later he’s self-taught, is gathering apprentices like a rolling snowball or a katamari damacy — some a little better at it than others.

“He’s got some good moves,” says another teen who rolled off the rink, “and he’s really nice about sharing them.”