Courtesy Diavolo Dance Theater

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"Here are our rock stars!" shouts a grinning Jacques Heim, artistic director of Diavolo Dance Theater

Heim is like that, full of jolly bluster and French bonhomie. It's part of his charm, his public signature. His greeting was directed at the boys pictured above, Angel Aparicio, 16, Gareth Surjue, 15, and Seth Milner, 16 (left to right), who had sauntered into Diavolo's mammoth dance studio at the Brewery Arts Complex on a recent afternoon. Diavolo's business manager, Ilona Plotrowska, had chauffeured the boys from their school (downtown's new Ramon C. Cortines School of Visual and Performing Arts) to a rehearsal.

They weren't there to dance, though; they were going to skateboard. And Heim has hired them to act themselves, normal L.A. teenagers. That was easy enough. It's the nonchalant cool and daredevil risk-taking of the skateboard culture that were partial inspiration for the piece Heim is currently choreographing, Transit Space.

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L.J. Williamson

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CicLAvia, like most L.A. events, is a fab chance for people-watching, and though the expected bike jerseys, shorts, and plain T-shirts were in abundance, a few people are beginning to write the style guide for what will hopefully become not only a regular event, but a smashing spectacle. Here are eight different trends spotted on the streets at CicLAvia Sunday.

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Adam Gropman

Dash goes skateboarding

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It's a pleasant summer day down at Venice Beach, the boardwalk humming with activity. On the paved path pointing toward the water, near where Windward Avenue ends at the beach, a skateboarder shows off, kicking sturdily against the pavement, leaning into ovals and figure-eights, occasionally falling off the board but then sprinting and jumping right back on. It's not Tony Hawk-level skating, but it's pretty damn good for a dog.

The mind has to adjust to what the eye sees. He's a scrappy little canine, with a pointy snout and a sturdy tail, and he's soon joined by another, much larger dog, also on a board. While together they make for a comical Mutt & Jeff duo, their skateboarding is seriously good.

On a beach known for many sights -- some outrageous, others randomly weird, but only a handful indicative of real, rarefied talent -- this act is rather mind-blowing. These pups aren't just staying on a rolling board that's been pushed by a human, they are actively, aggressively skating -- going against what one would imagine is every dog's powerful instinct, which is to get the hell off a moving slab of wood on wheels.

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Lea Lion

Ashkahn Shahparnia with his work Anything at the Architecture and Design Museum

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Even in the art world, where breaking the rules is the golden rule, some things still follow an equation. Take, for example, the gallery opening. It's one part boxed wine, one part background jazz, add some painting/sculpture/etc. and -- presto! -- it's an insta-art show.

That is, unless the show is "Come In! 2: Surf.Skate.Bike," a group exhibit of work by emerging Los Angeles-based artists, on view at the Architecture and Design Museum through July 24. Last week's opening not only broke the rules with live punk rock and Derby Dolls on roller-skates but also fell smack-dab in the middle of the show's run.

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Tibby Rothman

Alex Olson on deck.

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If skaters in Venice, California, now have a skatepark to themselves, it's still illegal to hit the decks in Venice, Italy. But on June 6, the iconic skateboarder Steve Olson, a pro-skater since he was a teenager in the 1970s, and his son Alex, whose low-key riding style is reminiscent of the grace surfer Gerry Lopez brought to the water, pooled their talents in the old world.

Check out the vid of the Olsons that I brought back after the jump.

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Paul T. Bradley

Who's The Geeze? That's Producer Alan Sacks and Original Dagger Christian Hosoi

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Cory: They're just thrashers, they're alright.
Chrissy: Thashers? That sounds like, like vandals and juvenile delinquents. Troubled youth...
Cory: Nah, nah. It's just an aggressive style of skating. Y'know...we thrash.
Chrissy: Well, what do you thrash?
Cory: What do you got?

(Spoiler Alert: Not long after this, the guy gets the girl, wins the big race, and gets the big contract. When does that happen anymore?)

Is that '80s retro thing totally dead yet? Has everyone moved on to fetishizing the '90s by now? We hope not; the '80s were some sick times.( For the record, we're not talking about fey "Flock of Seagulls" haircuts and crappy synth, we talking about, well, thrashin'.)

Sunday night, Cinefamily celebrated the upcoming 25th anniversary of legendary skateboarding film Thrashin' with a packed theater full of fans, including brahs and the female equivalents thereof. On hand was a cadre of the film's cast and crew and it felt more like a rad family reunion than a full-fledged rager.

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