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JOHN BLOOD arts & culture ► featur arts & culture ► featur Roll Glide CLASSIC CITY ROLLERGIRLS GEAR UP FOR A NEW SEASON By Rosemary Scott news@flagpole.com The Amazing Acro-Cats FELINE STARS TAKE CENTER STAGE By Noah Rawlings arts@flagpole.com winter comes to an end, the peo ple of Athens are ready to roll into a new season, and the city’s roller derby squad is no exception. The Classic City Rollergirls are preparing for what they hope will be their most triumphant season yet. The Classic City Rollergirls are currently in the midst of their bi-yearly bootcamp, which is open to the public and serves as a way to assess talent and train new mem bers. More experienced and serious members will make up the com petitive “A Team,” and members who seek to participate in a more casual capacity will make up the “B Team.” Though the girls plan to skate into their newest season with their usual confidence and overall bad-assery, the team will look much different than last season. Due to team transfers, retirement and the chaos that is everyday life, around 18 members have left, leaving the Rollergirls with about 25 members overall, which is five less than they need to make up both teams. derby is nothing like the 1970s roller girl trope that once saturated the media. “Roller derby is an intense sport that has complex details and rules,” she says. “It’s certainly a real sport and should be recognized as one.” For those who are unfamiliar, here’s how roller derby works: There are two teams with five players in the rink at a time. One mem ber of the team (the jammer) must attempt to pass four players (the blockers) to score a point. The players are allowed to push one another out of the way, which is where the sport’s rough reputation comes in. The players cannot use their heads, elbows, forearms, hands, knees, lower legs or feet to block opponents. Though roller derby certainly isn’t for the faint of heart, Cleland says the sport doesn’t have to be so serious. With a hus band and three kids to look after, she says roller derby is one thing that is all her own. “Roller derby can be anything you want it to be,” Cleland says. “It can be exercise, a net work of fantastic women, stress relief, an P icture cats jumping through hoops, cats walking on tightropes, cats playing the cowbell—in short, a traveling cat circus. The Amazing Acro-Cats are returning to Athens, where they will be performing at the Morton Theatre on the evenings of Friday, Mar. 13 and Saturday, Mar. 14. Acro-Cats was started in Chicago in 2006 by Samantha Martin, a longtime animal trainer. Prior to forming this feline festi val, Martin ran a circus comprised of rats, suitably titled “The Amazing Acro-Rats.” As it turns out, the rat circus did not sell. breaking things.” Such human-cat miscom- munication leads some people to give their cats up. It disincentives others from adopt ing rescue cats, who may face squalid living conditions or euthanasia. Thus, Acro-Cats strives to show that cats are trainable, and trainable using only positive reinforcement techniques, like associating the movements of tricks with receiving treats. Just as one might teach a dog to sit, one can teach a cat not to scratch furniture, or to run to their crate during an emergency, or to, erm, ride a skateboard. After a couple bootcamp sessions, I was hooked. B'easy knocks a jammer out of bounds during a bout against Ohio Roller Derby in Columbus, OH on June 29,2019. Luckily, the girls are only in the midst of Week Two of bootcamp, which takes place every Saturday through Mar. 21. There’s still ample time for newcomers to join, and more experienced skaters may be permitted to expedite the bootcamp process. Team captain Angie Cleland, known to fans as Violet Konduct, says she had no idea what she was getting into when she joined the roller derby four and a half years ago. “I went to an open skate at one of the rinks and someone gave me a flyer, so I thought it was just a way to get some good exercise,” Cleland says. “After a couple bootcamp ses sions, I was hooked.” The Classic City Rollergirls have made a name for themselves over the years, but roller derby isn’t just an Athens thing. It is one of the fastest growing female sports in the world, with co-ed and male teams emerging as well. Cleland wants to emphasize that roller escape... We welcome anyone in any capac ity they want to participate.” The Rollergirls’ needs don’t just include A team members, but referees, casual skaters, non-skating officials and donors. Cleland says the team’s biggest goal for the season is to train and grow the newest members’ skill sets and retain those mem bers for seasons to come. The Classic City Rollergirls’ next game, called a bout, will take place on Saturday, Mar. 14 in Charlotte, NC. The next home bout is scheduled for Saturday, Apr. 4 at Athens Arena, 280 Commerce Blvd., off Atlanta Highway. To find out more information about the rollergirls, donate to the cause or see the full season schedule, visit classiccityrol- lergirls.com. To become part of the team or see if roller derby is your thing, go to the rollergirls bootcamp every Saturday through Mar. 21. © Cats, on the other hand... People loved it. First, there was an Animal Planet feature in 2011, then, a New York Times spotlight in the summer of 2015. In the fall of 2015 came the peak of Acro-Cat fame, perhaps, with an appearance on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” In 2017, Martin relocated the Acro-Cats from Chicago to Griffin, GA, drawn by the state’s burgeoning movie industry (for which she trains animals) and the more cat-friendly climate. However, shortly after her move, Martin was diagnosed with can cer and had to put Acro-Cats on hold for most of 2018. After a bumpy but successful period of treatment, Martin is now can cer-free, and Acro-Cats have been back on tour since 2019. Entertainment is at the core of Acro- Cats, but Martin puts the show to benevo lent purposes. Acro-Cats donates part of its proceeds to local animal shelters, incorpo rates rescued house cats into the show, and arranges for the adoption of foster cats and kittens. (Since 2009, Acro-Cats has helped foster some 250 cats.) In conjunction with these aims, Acro-Cats also propagates new perspectives on cat behavior, training and sociality. “People should raise their cats more like they raise dogs,” Martin claims. It is a commonplace, Martin says, that “you don’t just put [a dog] in a doghouse in the backyard and then throw food at it a couple times a day,” but when it comes to cats, “people leave out a bowl of food, and they buy a few toys for them, and then they wonder why my cat doesn’t care about me, or, oh, my cat’s destructive, oh, my cat’s “Not only can cats be trained, they should be trained,” Martin says. “Who’s going to leave behind a cat that gives you a high-five when you come home from work?” On a practical level, then, Acro-Cats simultaneously provides a zany form of entertainment and a service to cats and cat owners alike. Like many forms of animal entertainment, though, anthropomorphism underlies Acro-Cats. Acro-Cats shows animals doing what humans do: playing instruments, wearing clothes, skateboard ing. When we anthropomorphize, we are liable to level the difference between an animal acting out of pure volition and an animal acting for a treat. The two need not be mutually exclusive: a dog may come to enjoy playing fetch or hunting only after being trained to do so. But, as you are likely to notice from watching an Acro-Cat closely, cats aren’t intrinsically interested in pawing a piano or walking on their hind legs. They would probably rather chase bits of yarn, or scratch their paws against your rug—things they don’t need to be taught. This isn’t a hefty ethical problem, but it may lead us to substitute understanding animals for being entertained by them. That said, if audiences enjoy the anthro pomorphic aspects of Acro-Cats, they will not ignore the specificity of the cats them selves. Martin notes that some of the best Acro-Cats moments are when the perform ers deviate from the script, when they dis play their full-fledged cattiness: “Sometimes they come out, they stretch, they groom. And then sometimes they just leave the stage”© MARCH 11, 2020 | FLAGPOLE.COM 9 DORRIS STATE AUSTIN