I ran into this video around a month ago, but hadn’t had the chance to write about it until now.
I’m not completely sure why it is so compelling to me, but I think I have a pretty good idea. First and foremost is the raw and visceral feel of it. Of course the music and play on speed heightens the experience, but these kids who would most likely be perceived as trouble based on appearance, (as can be seen by the Oakland police officer at the beginning), are simply using their bodies as a form of expression. Their movements from fluid to mechanical and their invitation to taking turns remind me of a great jazz band I once heard many moons ago at a hole in the wall jazz club here in Los Angeles.
The way they interrupt the daily norm by forcing that car at the beginning to make a wider right turn, by simply remaining still, reminds us of the simple power each of us has as an individual.
I think the majority of us who work online in the internet space forget what we are capable of because of what has become the norm. We need a reality check. We constantly check our phones for meaningless 140 character tweets, or we post a picture on dailybooth or check in via 4square in a lifeless routine. It has become the complete opposite of living. Overlooking the simplicities and details of life.
The guy in the white shirt who comes in at 1:26 essentially sums up the video in a nutshell. Completely fluid art of expression in its purest form, his body. Yet it is done so in an atmosphere which is anything but pure. Surrounded by cement, and traffic lights which direct us what to do, or not to do. It is the pinnacle of what we have created in “civilized” cities, urbanism.
Its nice to see the rain doesn’t stop these guys. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like if the rain would wake the rest of the zombie populace up.
Perhaps thats what this video means to me. That these humble guys understand meaningful acts of expression, whether it be a public display to others, or the simple smiles and laughs exchanged among one another at the end of the video. While we with all our latest gadgets, tools, and material objects endlessly spiral further and further into a digital space that we complacently adjust our lives to without fully understanding the long term effects.
