“The way I see it, style is the key to snowboarding. When I watch tricks by other people, I want to see style. I don’t want every trick to look the same and that’s what I think is happening in snowboarding, at least in competitive snowboarding — kids are learning tricks just to learn ‘em and get on to the next one. Style is the finesse and the emotion and the feeling you put into your tricks, and a lot of kids are skipping it now. You know, 900, 1080, okay what’s next. They’re not worrying about putting a cool crail into it or a really boned-out indy; it’s getting lost in the newer generation of kids. And there are kids who are saving it — Ben Ferguson is one. And then you have all the legends, guys like Terje, Nicolas, Gigi — you just see the emotion and the feeling they put into these tricks and that’s their style and that’s why it’s their style, it’s the finesse and it’s their way of doing the trick. I think kids need to listen up to those guys and watch people who have good style and realize that it’s not just about getting the trick done, but about doing the trick in the coolest form and the form you feel most enthused about.

I think the people who have the best style are those who are most conscious of that feeling, and they enjoy putting that effort into the trick instead of just getting the trick done and on to the next.

Style is what you make it; don’t copy others.” — Danny Davis

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Originally featured in Snowboard Mag 11.2: The Transcendent Issue

See also: The Way I See It – Pete Saari, Mike LeBlanc and Andrew Hardingham

Photo: Dean Blotto Gray / Burton US Open, Vail, Colorado