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!
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