00:03Floasis means a place where you get to mentally, emotionally, physically, where
00:09you're in your trance, where you're so deep in your vibe or in your groove,
00:21whether you're moving your body or writing a paper or cooking, I mean
00:27whatever it is. The Floasis is where you get to, where you can just drop into the
00:32flow and not think about anything else other than what you're doing and being
00:37fully present. I'm Keon Sagari, also known as Neon Keon, and I'm a roller skater, a
00:45dancer, and a performer in Los Angeles. My whole life I have known what I've
00:54wanted. The artist in me just kind of kept going towards movement and kept
00:58going towards my art. It's fun to perform.
01:05I love bright colors. I mean when I wear something that's really bright and
01:09colorful and bold patterns, it helps me feel bold and helps me take risks and
01:16push myself. From a young age I started dancing. I was the youngest student in the
01:22whole school. My tights were so baggy on me. My leotards would just fall off the
01:27shoulders because I was so tiny, but I loved it. And then from there I moved on
01:33to competition dance, so like jazz, tap, hip-hop, and it was my life. So I'm in my
01:40office and creative space. I started skating, it's gonna be three years now. It
01:47wasn't until I kind of hit a flow with my skating that I finally felt confident
01:52enough to share a video. I started posting my videos and it really just was to
01:58show this new thing that I loved to do. Even if no one saw it or no one liked it,
02:03I just was so proud of myself to be doing this new thing that made me feel really
02:08freakin' good. Every time I skate, I really feel that hunger in me to be my own best
02:17self. I push myself so much to the point where I'm like, okay, I gotta stop because
02:23if I keep going, I'm gonna, I'm not gonna be able to walk tomorrow. That drive really
02:29comes out in me on my wheels. I feel that the most when I'm skating. It's very just
02:36like, like I just want to eat it. I want to eat it all up. So I'm just headed to
02:45the
02:45beach right now, go get a good skate practice session. I get out here
02:52definitely a few times a week and it just feels so good. I meet up with friends,
02:57we play our music, we vibe. I mean, we got the sea breeze. I got super excited to just
03:06keep creating content because people were saying how good it was making them
03:11feel. My friend, Alia, was really the first one to be my skate buddy and she was
03:17super encouraging. She showed me a lot of moves. We first started going to the
03:23rink together and Keanu would get so frustrated. She's like, oh, I can't. You
03:26know, she was like not picking up a stats that she thought she would, but then it was
03:29like overnight. She just like became just this force on her wheels and then just
03:34blew up and it's just been so crazy and cool to watch and just to watch her glow
03:40up. It's just been really amazing and special. I love you. Through her, I started
03:46meeting other people because we would go to the rinks. Once we started going to
03:50Venice Beach, I started meeting people out there and that's where I met a lot of the
03:55OG Venice Beach skaters. Keanu was easy to mentor one because she had a dance
04:00background and she fell in love with skating just like I did when she first
04:04got into them. I've been doing this a long time. I was blessed to be taught by
04:08some of the best skaters in the world and I just felt like it was necessary to
04:12pass those blessings on. I met Keanu at the rink. I remember her always just really
04:20wanting to learn. Keanu's like part of my skate family. We just have become like this
04:26inseparable, we call it the impenetrable skate dome. Everyone needs a Keanu in
04:31their group because no one is like Keanu. That was kind of it. That's all I needed.
04:37Just like a little bit of encouragement, a little bit of guidance. If I commit to
04:42something, I really go hard and I go all in. So I did not hold back. Once the pandemic hit,
04:49I had more time.
04:49I was skating every day and just training and training and training and pushing
04:54myself. Some people like to say oh you're just a clout chaser if you post videos
05:03online or you're a pandemic roller and that's almost like this negative thing
05:08or you're a tik-tok skater and as a dancer and an artist I would I get
05:12offended by that because I know that I come from so much training and work and
05:20experience in movement. I was exposed to a professional lifestyle from really
05:27young. At about 12 years old I'd moved over to a classical ballet school and
05:31started training very very rigorously. Towards the end of high school even
05:36though I love ballet and I'm super passionate about it I struggled to find a
05:39job. Doesn't matter how great of a dancer or performer you are if you don't
05:44look like what they want or maybe what the rest of the company looks like then
05:49there goes your chance or your opportunity. With a heavy heart I left ballet so I
05:55transitioned more into contemporary dance but I still kept coming up against a lot of
06:01walls. I had a really negative experience with the company that I was working for
06:07that really broke me down. It was my dream job and it was completely the opposite. It was the most
06:16toxic and harmful and artistically stifling space I have ever worked in. I started realizing
06:26that I was terrified to dance because I was afraid to do anything wrong because I
06:33felt very disposable and expendable. I realized I just I don't have anything
06:38left to give and and dance wasn't making me happy anymore. So I decided screw it I'm
06:46moving to Los Angeles where it's sunny and warm and I get to just go dance in
06:51commercials or music videos. I had started skating already before the job started but
06:57it really was just a hobby. I knew I loved movement I knew I loved dancing and
07:03performing and being on stage and having that exchange with an audience and so I
07:08decided to take the leap of faith skating and performing again full-time. Before I
07:13was chasing the jobs and chasing the dream and then now I was doing something
07:19purely out of the love and joy of it and then the opportunities started coming my
07:24way. Over here this is really really special to me. I did a partnership with a
07:32company in Amsterdam called Adam and they made an embroidered version of me to go on
07:39their shirt. It's mind-blowing for me to see something like this like have
07:44something tangible to show how far I've come. Now I think people embrace the term
07:50pandemic roller people who started skating during the pandemic because it saved
07:56them and it helped them work through a really difficult and dark time and
08:00there's nothing to be ashamed about of that. Why wouldn't I want to be paid for
08:05something that I love to do if the opportunities are coming my way? What
08:09skating has done for me is given me a sense of freedom and the ability to accept
08:18myself as I am. Who I am is enough and that is life-changing. Rollerskating first of
08:29all makes me feel very connected to my dad. I think about him a lot when I skate
08:35and I try to channel him. My dad has passed away. He passed away ten years ago.
08:49He was a cyclist, a biker, and he would always beg me to come out and bike with
08:55him when I was younger and I never wanted to. I never enjoyed it. I never really
08:59understood it in the way that he did. He died doing what he loved. My dad passed
09:05away cycling. He was hit by a car when he was on his way to work one day and he
09:11sustained a very very traumatic brain injury from it and he survived for three
09:16years after the accident but then from complications passed away. And he was
09:29just always very he was just so excited about movement and loved to level up on
09:42himself. Like he was his biggest competitor. I didn't understand the
09:47freedom he experienced being on wheels until I started skating. When I'm skating I
09:53feel connected to him because I finally understand what it means to have freedom
09:58and joy on wheels. Feeling like you're flying of like pushing through the wind of
10:03pushing yourself physically to the point of exhaustion but it's like joy
10:09exhaustion. I feel like now I move for my dad and I channel his passion and his
10:16energy and his love of life through almost everything I do but especially
10:21skating. I feel my fire. I feel free. I feel like I'm flying especially when I'm at
10:33the beach and there's a breeze and I see the ocean and I mean that is just the
10:38ultimate. My only hope when I share my content is to encourage others and inspire
10:45others to either make art or to get out in their life and pursue the things that
10:50they've always wanted to pursue. I really believe that movement can do that and that
10:56movement can inspire people and that's that's all that I want. Roller skating has
11:00given my life more meaning.
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