Artistic

Artistic roller skating is the branch of the sport where the winner is the skater or team that shows the greatest skating skill. It's about being the best, not necessarily the fastest or strongest. On ice, it's called figure skating (but that name covers only part of the sport). Most events are for single or pairs of skaters, but there is a team aspect too.

You can compete on inline or roller skates. Some aspects are more difficult on inlines, a few are easier.

There are four basic "disciplines" to the sport. Click on each link below for more details on each:

Free Skating

Also known as freestyle, this is arguably the most exciting part of the sport. Skaters demonstrate their ability to perform spins, jumps and sophisticated footwork in a choreographed routine.
You can freeskate using "quad" roller skates or inline skates. Most skaters prefer "quad" skates, for the extra control they allow, but others prefer inline skates, partly because they are lighter. Special artistic inline skates are needed, like those in the photo - "street" skates don't have the toe stop you need for many moves in freeskating. You will also see the skates have three wheels, which gives better manoeuvrability, and the centre wheel is lower for the same reason.
The difficulty of your routine is up to you - simple jumps and spins in lower grades make way for more difficult items, like sit and camel spins.
Dance
Involving either a team of two skaters or a solo skater, dance involves the performance of a set or custom-designed dance to music. Unlike ballroom dance, skate dancing is normally performed with a single skater or team on the floor at a time, because skilled skaters will use an entire 50 x 25 metre floor, performing at high speed.
Dance skaters will tell you that their discipline might lack just a little of the flat-out excitement of freeskating, but is a lot more fun.
While most dance skaters use normal "quad" roller skates for dance, there are several competitive grades for those who prefer inline skates. There have been cases where one skater of a dance couple skates on inlines while the partner skates on quads. A good pair of "street" skates will get you started, but you will probably soon be looking for a set of "artistic inlines" that will give you more control.
Figures
Figure skating requires the accurate following of a fixed pattern on the floor, commonly involving one- or two-foot turns from forwards to backwards or vice versa. Most skaters use figure skating to improve their general skating skills, and a lot also find the idea of performing a figure better than others to be the ultimate skating challenge.
Because of the high demands on skate control in figure skating, all figure skaters use "quad" roller skates. Most serious figure skaters have a separate pair of skates designed specifically for figure skating, but if you're only using figures to hone up your skating skills, you don't need to take this step.
Precision and Showgroups
This is the "team sport" side of skating, in which between 4 and 24 skaters perform a routine that includes elements of dance and freeskating.
Many skaters use precision or show as a way into the sport, because the idea of participating in a team is less daunting than that of performing alone. However, even experienced skaters tend to jump at the chance of joining a team, because they enjoy working together with skating friends for a common purpose.
Showgroups are the more recent addition to the sport. Group sizes can range from "quartets" with four members, up to 24 in a "large" group.
You can skate on inline or roller skates. A team can include a mix of both. As with freeskating, however, your inline skates will need a toe stop.