Last week I spent the afternoon in Chinatown shooting Dancers Among Us with Heather Lang, a performer in the Broadway show "Spiderman." Caleb Custer, from Design Brooklyn, was videotaping the shoot for my upcoming series of web videos (this week I'm releasing the first video- keep an eye on my Facebook fan page for a post).
As usual, I had no specific plans. Heather has great energy, so I figured we'd just improvise. I was attracted to the colors in the streets, but I didn't see a lot of potential for interesting scenarios. Plus it was (once again) really cold and windy, and I didn't think Spiderman could stand to lose another cast member to injury. So I decided to keep the jumping to interior locations.
I came across a store called Mercury. It had teddy bears in the window and a bed prominently displayed in the center of the room. That's irresistible! We walked inside and I asked if I could take a photo on their bed. Since the "yes" came so easily, I then asked if the young man behind the counter could join her. Yes again!
I was loving Chinatown (maybe a language barrier was working in my favor). I turned to Heather, "You can't be wearing jeans, you're on a bed! Let's do it naked." Apparently there wasn't a language barrier after all, because everyone in the store stopped and stared at me (including Heather). "Okay, not a great idea. Do you sell pajamas?" Not only did they sell them, they had a pair that was custom fitted to Heather's body and perfectly matched the interior. I handed Heather a blue teddy bear and asked her to pretend it was Christmas morning. "And try not to break the bed when you land."
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Next I wanted to find a fish market. That would seem to be an easy task in Chinatown, but not in the winter. When we finally found one, I asked to borrow a hat, apron, coat, and gloves and have Heather jump around while holding a huge fish and spraying a hose.
I didn't understand why my request was immediately and unequivocally denied.
So I whipped out my big guns. "Did you happen to see my four page spread in the NY Daily News? Here, let me show you."
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6n-vtSZS1kwZ02X-vu7APBATvhlRLh3iBYA5DwnGn4wgetfmtC4d2ctvgxFGsvoCn-wyfgWrcc5sj-ctVJOdZaXbfrTDIw4gfXgF1B-kryl2-Fzb_dieHHH1YEgmRJoC8amDyZwArUg/s400/Heather_4.jpg)
Needless to say, he was unimpressed.
My offer of a monetary exchange was equally unimpressive.
So we found another market and practiced the jump together outside. This time I wouldn't ask for permission.
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That didn't go over very well either. After two jumps, I heard a very loud, "Enough!" And my Nikon had decided to freeze up during those two jumps.
So we returned to the original market with a new plan. If we buy some fish and pose in the street, we should be able to fire off a bunch of shots before they scream at us. We decided on anchovies. Much to my surprise, Heather was willing to put one in her mouth. I asked her if she could eat the anchovy and do a back bend.
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We didn't get admonished at all. On the contrary, they invited us inside to shoot some more. This taught me a very valuable lesson- "leggy blond dancer" is an international language.
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We said goodbye to Heather and sped downtown to meet Ade Chike for a sunset photo on Wall Street. Ade was a finalist on last season's So You Think You Can Dance. Next week I'll blog all about our adventures together, but here's a preview. I said, "So what would you like to do, Ade?" And he replied, "Well, I do like to jump!"
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