How this Bolivian all-female skate crew is celebrating their Indigenous roots

Apr 17

April 17, 2022

Members of the all-female skate crew ImillaSkate in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Photo: *Luisa Dörr*

"Many girls who see us skating feel proud to see us dressed [this way]…even our own families feel proud we're showing our traditions."
—Fabiola Gonzales, skater

The gist:

The crew —”called ImillaSkate (imilla means "young girl" in the Aymara and Quechua languages) — want to pay homage to their heritage and call out the persecution that the Aymara and Quechua people, majority ethnic groups in Bolivia, have long faced.”

Spanish colonists took indigenus landleaving the people impoverished and marginalized, which caused women to, “abandoned their cultural costumes to avoid discrimination.”

"By skating in polleras, we want to show that girls and women can do anything, no matter how you look or how people see you…the message is to be yourself and be proud of who you are."
—ImillaSkate co-founder, Daniela Santiváñez, an ImillaSkate founder

The nine crew members, most in their 20s, “meet regularly to practice. It's especially important to them to wear traditional dress at public events.”

"At first, I used to feel a little awkward" about wearing the pollera while skating, but now, she adds, she understands "the object of doing it and I feel more comfortable and free."
—ImillaSkate member Susan Meza

Award-winning Brazilian photographer Luisa Dörr, “discovered the young women on Instagram,” and captured these images in September and October 2021.