Five Favorite Parts With Maité Steenhoudt

Intro & Interview by Fraser Doughty
Collage by Requiem For A Screen
Skate Photos by Guillaume Perimony
Illustration (via Board Graphic) by Nathaniel Russell

Fluid dancer, chess grandmaster and newly pro Maité didn’t sit on a fence when choosing this list of parts. The word “thematic” comes to mind, and so does “Huh, really?” Like the Antwerpian’s trick selection, expect the unexpected.

Bob Burnquist – Oakley: “Dreamland “(2012)

I was really young when this came out — I must have been 12 or 13. We’d sit around chilling: myself, Donald [Huycke] and the crew and we would always put this on. It’s probably the clip I’ve watched the most throughout my life, especially when I’ve got nothing to do.

Everything about it is crazy. I’m just watching the show and not even getting absorbed by all the tricks done separately. Sometimes Bob goes switch, then you can’t even count how many turns he takes when he’s in the air. 720, 900, something in the middle? I think he must’ve been the least fearful person on planet earth at the time.

His ender doesn’t make sense either, but it’s as crazy as it gets. He airs onto a helicopter, then you’re left thinking, “Where is Bobby B?” He falls off at the end and you don’t see the parachute, he’s just gone. Every time he waves to the camera, I say “Bye Bob.”

Donald Huycke – “Hoax MFG” (2015)

Young Donald has been my homie since day one. We went to kindergarten together and then high school, too. He was skateboarding at the park one day, and we’ve stuck together ever since.

This was the first time a friend of mine really tried to film a part. I’d be chilling, not caring too much, and he’d be ready. Shorts on, socks pulled up, and Bad Brains playing. Hoax MFG is still going; they probably make the best socks out there.

When it was finally released, I watched it on repeat maybe fifty times to get the YouTube views up. He recently did some modeling for Gucci, so I’ve told him to quit school, do that full time and make the big bucks.

Karbonkel Industries: “Pro Life” (2015)

At this time you could buy handycams for fifty euros and Donald [Huycke] must have gone with the twenty euro piece.

We were 13 and it felt like Donald had become a special effects genius with his shitty, blurry camera. Sketches and skits became far more important than the actual skateboarding, which seems to be a trend in Belgium whether then or now. The Pokeball flies over and at the time we thought, “Woah, this looks real!” and we thought he’d become a graphic designer or video producer.

Skateboarding needs stuff like this, you can’t just have banger after banger anymore or “pure skating.” I prefer to see something interesting in-between tricks that makes the section special. Otherwise, I just get bored.

Mike Arnold – Skateboard Cafe: “Lloyds” (2017)

I went on an Adidas trip with Mike once. We were in Australia and he jumped over cars in the street. His free running legs came on the trip, I guess, and he skated spots differently. Which I was into. I never saw him after that. I’ve been in London for a while now and I haven’t seen him once.

His creativity on a skateboard is crazy. The part is one spot and he manages to use it in so many different ways. I’d like to see more footage of him skateboarding, not in clips but a full part with all the stuff he can do. I imagine Mike could fingerboard really well and from what I’ve heard, he’s a Bob Burnquist fan too. Me and Mike need to find Bob together.

Antwerp Montage – feelsgood (2020)

Like “Dreamland” and “Lloyds,” it’s as much about the place. Antwerp is my home and this video represents that rather than a singular person. Saying this, I really thought my crew was bigger…

It was filmed throughout winter and it really felt like one of the coldest I’ve been through. When you see anyone with just a t-shirt on, they must’ve already warmed up, and if there was a sudden burst of heat, the session would go off.

A lot of the spots are exhausting, you have to run onto your board to get any speed, and after two hours of running onto your board, you might as well have been running a marathon.

Previously: Jahmir Brown, Una Farrar, Chris Jones, Mason Silva, Beatrice Domond, Mark Suciu, Justin Henry, Breana Geering, Sage Elsesser, Bobby Worrest, Nik Stain, Anthony Van Engelen, Dom Henry, Bing Liu, Andrew Reynolds, Cyrus Bennett, Jacob Harris, Jamal Smith, Paul Rodriguez, Gilbert Crockett, Ben Chadourne, Tom Knox, Louie Lopez, The Chrome Ball Incident, The Bunt, Lacey Baker, Andrew Allen, GX1000, Brian Anderson, Gino Iannucci, Josh Kalis, Sean Pablo, Wade Desarmo, Chris Milic, Chad Muska, Hjalte Halberg, Danny Brady, Bill Strobeck, Aaron Herrington, Jerry Hsu, Brad Cromer, Brandon Westgate, Jim Greco, Jake Johnson, Scott Johnston, Josh Stewart, Eric Koston, Karl Watson, Josh Friedberg, John Cardiel, Pontus Alv, Alex Olson, Jahmal Williams