Dance and freestyle longboards - essentially invented by Loaded, and improved upon year after year. We're pretty close to perfect now I reckon - and the new Mata Hari Kaspar Heinrici brings a load of extra colour to that perfect dancing platform.
Dancing boards can be really long, over 45". Loaded invented that category, or perhaps it was Longboard Larry... but either way, Adam Colton and Adam Stokowski were heavily involved! If these boards remotely interest you, I highly recommend googling them and being inspired to skate, to have fun and be creative.
The Mata Hari is slightly under 45" and has a light bamboo and composite construction that makes it that bit more easy to handle than a big beast of a board. Lighter and with a nice snappy flex, you can cross step to your hearts content and also whip it up into your hands if that's your thing.
We're stoked on the new colourway - I hadn't heard the name Kaspar Heinrici in a good few years. He is a man with kind eyes and solid legs for pushing a longboard and he was a welcoming and caring presence against a background of testosterone and ego on my first skate trip to the States. I'm really happy to know that he's still involved with the scene and industry to the point he's been able to put down some colours on such a high profile deck. And it's beautiful.
From Loaded themselves:
FUN THINGS COME IN SMALL(ER) PACKAGES.
Continuing the legacy of Loaded dancers, the Mata Hari embraces a progressive and rapidly evolving new era of longboard dancing and freestyle. Compact dimensions, lightweight construction, poppy kicktails, and a range of wheelbase options make the Mata Hari our most technically adept board for those who live to explore and challenge what is possible on a dancing skateboard.
VERSATILE VARIATIONS – The Mata Hari includes three wheelbase options for a range of performance characteristics.
Outer: (29.25”): Ideal for dancing. Increased stability and space for footwork. Yields a slightly softer (but subtle) effective flex from the deck for cruising and carving comfort. Allows the rider to progressively shorten the wheelbase to maintain leverage at the kicktails as they wear.
Middle: (28.25”): Ideal for a blend of freestyle and dancing.
Inner: (27.25”): Ideal for freestyle. Increased agility, greater kicktail leverage, quicker pop, and reduced swingweight for more technical, aggressive freestyle riding. Yields a slightly firmer effective flex from the deck for enhanced control and resilience under heavy landings.
FUNCTIONAL DESIGN – Compact, symmetrical shape with mild rocker and concave provide a comfortable and highly versatile platform for longboard dancing and freestyle trickery. Aggressive, street-inspired kicks generate powerful pop and help protect the rails and top surface of the deck when the board lands upside down.
STRONG, LIGHT, AND POPPY – Dual vertically laminated bamboo cores are sandwiched between layers of triaxial fiberglass, epoxy resin, and bamboo veneers to create a light, strong, and poppy platform for freestyle and dancing manoeuvres. CNC-milled wheel wells allow for loose trucks and reduce the chance of wheelbite.
GRAPHICS – Hearkening back to an era of significant progress in music and dance, we’ve opted for an Art Deco influenced design to inspire you to get your swing on. The griptape design echoes the Art Deco bottom graphic and ensures traction where needed while facilitating spins and pivots on top of the laser-etched top logo.
