The idea behind the EXOTIC AQUATIC DANCES is to combine music and surf; always trying to find the balance between both elements that perfectly defines surfing. Finding rhythms, cadence, pulse, tempos that may be used to reenforce and highlight the moves of a given surfer on a given wave. That is why these videos are edited with footage shot in one single session.
The beauty of longboarding lies in one key element: Style. It is unique, personal, and non-transferable. Style is a combination of factors, the wave, the board, the fin, experience, concentration, repetition, muscle memory… but above all, style is the way the surfer reads the wave, interprets movement, and feels the energy, linking his steps and maneuvers in a fluid, light and harmonious way.
The feet move to balance and re-balance the board. Weights are shifted, the waist sets the direction, hands and arms help to read the magnetic braille of the wave. The feet cross-step again, swift and confident, to move the body and generate the necessary momentum. The board glides, gaining speed, flowing into the critical point of the wave, getting into position. Meanwhile, the head is upright. The eyes are fixed on the unfolding wave ahead. Two more steps, and the entire set comes together in a key and perfect moment of liquid levitation. Then the movement starts all over again.
Riding a wave is much like dancing. The surfer has to flow and feel; the wave is his music. His way of interpreting the movement, of integrating himself into the rhythm, of taking the steps at the right moment without skipping a beat, decorating each move with his own signature, that is STYLE.
Clovis Donizetti is probably the most talented french classic longboarder nowadays. His style is based on an easygoing and precise flow that is mainly influenced by the great early Californian longboarders, seasoned with that unique touch that defines the french loggers, the real guardians of the European Continental Old School. Clean classic moves with no extra decoration, keeping it simple, neat and clean. Less is more.
Since he first came to surf in the Salinas Longboard Festival, many of us fell in love with his ways. Always close, always friendly. Always calm. That is Clovis and this, his Exotic Aquatic Dance, was shot with little time, during dusk a late day in August in San Vicente de la Barquera, northern Spain, while he was testing his new Fat Cat de Crèam shaped by Robin Kegel, in relatively small waves.
