The Creation of "Grand Avenue"

IMP-Style: "Grand Avenue"


As much as I love hip-hop, after the first three IMP-Style videos, I wanted to try something new. I've always loved dancing to jazz drumming, and Amon Tobin's "Bridge" has all the firepower I needed to create a sustainable vid. Of course, naming the video "Bridge" would likely just confuse the viewers, because there are no bridges in it, so this is the first IMP-Style I haven't named after the song.

Grand Avenue is exactly what it sounds like: the most expensive real estate in downtown L.A. Bank buildings, concert halls, museums, government buildings. I got to dance on the steps of Disney Hall, on the flagpole of the Superior Court building, in and around the fountains of the Music Center and the County Administration complex. The reflecting pool I leap over is part of MOCA, the Museum of Contemporary Art, and I rolled down 45 steps of the California National Bank.


Even though Grand Avenue was my first IMP-Style in the ritzy part of downtown (Bunker Hill), it was hardly my first time playing there. In 2007, I worked at a TV network near Glendale, and it was an easy ride from there, through Chinatown, to spend the last bit of daylight playing on the structures. Even though I started doing parkour at Century City, Bunker Hill is really where I started earning my wings.

In the following video, which I shot one day after buying this camera (a year ago), I just played around one square block of Bunker Hill, namely the Hahn Administration complex. Many of the same features appear here, as in "Grand Avenue."

However, the stairs I rolled down in the older video are from the Music Center across the street, which is where the stairs dance, pole slide, and fountain silhouette scenes were shot.


Not everything was shot on Grand Avenue, however; I cheated a little. The set-up that was furthest afield from that was the tree jump from the pedestrian walkway, underneath the overpass. I remember well the first time I attempted that jump, because I didn't make it. Didn't fall, just got spooked. An easy jump, but a helluva consequence, if I messed up: a 25 foot drop to concrete below. Once spooked, it's hard to get past the mental hurdle, and I backed off on my second attempt, as well. On the third try, however, I went up to the overpass, got on the tree from there, and climbed all the way down. Once I had my hands on the tree and felt the places I needed to land on, it seemed doable, and I haven't been spooked about it since.

When I had previously played at Bunker Hill, I always came after 6pm, so the whole area was largely deserted. That was not at all true this time around, as I went earlier in the day, to shoot several set-ups before dark. The following outtakes are some of the encounters I had with passers-by, including security telling me to scoot.

At the Music Center, when I first went there to dance on the stairs, security told me that they didn't allow "professional" shoots on the grounds. Which evidently just means: I can shoot, as long as I don't use a tripod. So all the takes there were shot by placing the camera on benches or walls.

Surprisingly, no one gave me any trouble at all for dancing on the steps of the Walt Disney Concert Hall. I thought that was going to be the swiftest eviction, because they have cameras dotting the place. Some guy on the street, who was handing out fliers, watched me playing around, and when I was done, he offered me a flier for a dance performance, since it was kinda obvious that I was into dance.

I wear my mistakes proudly, because it shows I'm entering new territory. I've only been doing parkour for a couple years (started at age 37), so I'm a student to each new obstacle. Thus, I am happy to share my bloopers. The last, and most dramatic one, was a dance I attempted while climbing a tree, but it's hard to make tree-climbing look on-beat, so I didn't end up using it in the cut. At least it served the purpose, of giving me a dramatic spill to complete this blog!

The Creation of "Elephunk"

IMP-Style: "Elephunk"


One thing I love about IMP-Style is that it's limitless. Since there are an infinite variety of objects and environments on and in which to play, there is also no end to my discovery process. In "Pass That Dutch", I shifted my ratio away from "top-rocking" (bipedal dance), and towards more 3-dimensional dance exploration. That set the bar for me, and Elephunk shifted that ratio even further.

My first location was a place I had briefly explored (and been kicked out of) previously: the Amtrak maintenance yard. Such great structures to enjoy! I knew there was risk in this one, especially as I had recently been cuffed and detained for trespassing on railroad property, which I was fortunate enough to get on camera.

I've already posted the video of the arrest, so here's the video of the deputy, searching vainly for my camera, while I sat, cuffed in the car:


There were workers at the Amtrak yard, but they were the cool Latino labor types, not the uptight white management types. They didn't bother me at all, despite the fact that I shot in three separate locations, with two takes each. When I danced in the doorway of the engine car, one of them shot video of me with his cell phone camera. Amusing, because each time I glanced back, he quickly turned, to act as if he was shooting the train car he was working on. Didn't bother me any; the worst thing that could happen was the he'd post it on YouTube! ;)

The bridge-like structure at the Amtrak yard is part of a parking scheme they have, wherein a train rides onto this enormous turntable, and it rotates to allow the train to park in one of several radiating spots. Unfortunately, I didn't have control over the turntable, or believe me, I would've had it spinning during the whole dance. Maybe for a future video?

I thought the turntable was going to be mostly a parkour/dance stage, but then I found the brooms that had been left there, and realized that I needed to include them in the dance. In the bloopers video, below, you'll see how I tried to use up to three brooms at a time, but I needed a lot more practice, so only the play with the single broom made the cut.

Props are an important new feature of the IMP-Style, because it's just the micro version of parkour. In parkour, I explore with my body on the solid features of a concrete world, and with props, the object plays on me (the truck tires are somewhere between prop and structure). I attacked the brooms with some confidence, because I've had the chance to play with them before. Inspired Mayhem's third video was a contest entry for Swiffer, and my fellow IMPs and I danced with all sorts of cleaning utensils:


The big change in how I approached Elephunk (vs. the earlier IMP-Styles) was that I indulged in second takes. In the first two solos (and in the duet with Outi), I just set up the camera, and shot only once per location (with a few exceptions). But when trying to approach a subject as new as the red train car was, with all its little ledges and lips, there's no opportunity in one take, to even learn it, not to mention really relax into a dance. Of course, second takes and trespassing don't mix that well, so I still have to be as efficient as possible.

Speaking of trespassing, of course I got accosted by security (who thought I was nuts), one police officer (who thought I was a tagger), and kicked out of the cement mixing plant (who knows what they thought?). Some of which I got on/slightly off camera:

Both guys used vulgar language, but they were kind enough to call me "bro" and "partner". And nobody pressed charges. :)

The cement plant was a beautiful find. I was having Z (my motorcycle) tuned up nearby, and wandered over to this gorgeous tempting spot, with absolutely zero signs of human life. A ghost plant. I wandered in, to see if any alarms would go off, with my cover story of shooting this unusual sign that I saw posted:

Of course, as you can hear in the video above, there were indeed people on the premises, but by the time they shooed me out, I had already shot two takes on the mixing vats, and was busy exploring the see-saw like ramps that I think are used to help spray water into the cement trucks. The truck tire was shot just outside the plant.


Of course, the further I go in trying to explore new territory, the more likely I am to make mistakes. So far, no more than a few bruises and scratches (knock wood), but some of the bloopers are worth sharing: