en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkour
Frenc h origin, in which participants attempt to pass obstacles in a smooth an d rapid manner. Parkour is said to be L'art du Deplacement, or the Art of Displacement, c onsisting of uninterrupted forward motion over, under, around and throug h obstacles (both man-made and natural) in one's environment. Such movem ent may come in the form of running, jumping, climbing and other more co mplicated techniques. The goal of the practice of parkour is to be able to adapt one's movement to any given situation so that any obstacle can be overcome with the human body's abilities.
Jump London that: The most important thing really is the harmony between you and the obsta cle; If you manage to pass over the fe nce elegantly - that's beautiful, rather than saying I jumped the lot.
dance: a way to encapsulate human movement in its most beautiful form. Parkour is often connected wi th the idea of freedom, in the form of the ability to overcome aspects o f one's surroundings that tend to confine - for example, railings, stair cases, or walls.
Over time, free running has also been widely u sed by journalists to describe activity that is parkour-like, but that h as often placed more emphasis on 'showy' moves that are not normally a f eature of genuine parkour. More recently, the term Freestyle Parkour was coined to refer to activity that shares some similarities with parkour, but that incorporates movements (such as flips, spins, and many others) that lie outside the realm of parkour as practiced and advocated by Dav id Belle and others.
Sebastien Foucan says, Free running has always existed, free running has always been there, the thing is that no one gave it a name, we didnt put it in a box. He makes a comparison with prehistoric man, to hunt, or to chase, or to move around, they had to practice the free run. The origins of recognisable Parkour, though, lie primarily in the childho od games of the arts founders.
David Belle was introduced to this method by his father Raymond Belle, a Vietnam soldier who practiced it. The word Parkour der ives from parcours du combatant, the phrase referring to the obstacle courses of Hberts method. The younger Belle had participated in activi ties such as martial arts and gymnastics, and sought to apply his athlet ic prowess in a manner that would have practical use in life.
From then on we developed, says Foucan in Jump London, And really the whole town was there for us; You just have to lo ok, you just have to think, like children. According to Foucan, the start of the big jumps was around the age of f ifteen. Over the years as dedicated practicioners improved their skills, their moves continued to grow in magnitude, so that building-to-buildin g jumps and drops of over a story became common in media portrayals, oft en leaving people with a slanted view on the nature of Parkour. In fact, ground-based movement is much more common than anything involving rooft ops. The journey of parkour from the Parisian suburbs to its current status as a widely practiced activity outside of France saw splits occur among th e originators. The founders of Parkour started out in a group named the Yamakasi, but later separated due to disagreements. The name 'Yamakasi' is taken from a Lingala word meaning 'strong spirit, strong body, strong man'. Lingala is commonly spoken in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
extreme sports, in that parkour is about unlimited movement ove r obstacles; the ability to improvise is as important as being able to r eplicate previously practiced moves. Despite this, there are many standard "basic" movements that many traceur s practice. The roll, used to limit impact after a drop and to flow easily into the next movement, is often stressed as the most important move to learn. Vaults are used to clear solid obstacles and come in many forms. Some rec ognised types of vaults add only technical skill (and hence sometimes ae sthetic value) to a move and often not functionality, even sacrificing f unctionality for a more impressive look. These tend to be looked down on , as they are inefficient movement and thus not truly Parkour. Many vaul ts are maximally functional to certain situations, but learning specific vaults is not as worthwhile as learning to improvise and adapt to diffe ring situations. For clearing gaps a number of methods are generally used; each is depende nt on the particular obstacle in question, and as with the vaults a good improvisation technique aids free runners far more than a pre-learned c ollection of techniques. Tricks, such as flips, are a topic of much debate amongst traceurs. Many agree that since these disrupt the fluidity of a run they cannot be clas sed as parkour, others argue that parkour is about being free to move ho w one wishes and try to incorporate certain tricks into their style of m ovement. David Belle has since released a statement declaring in no uncertain term s that Parkour is about efficient movement, and therefore flips and tric ks are (in almost all cases) not Parkour. Jumping over one gap is not parkour by itself, but combining a number of jumps into one fluid combination is parkour.
edit Danger Danger is always present when practicing Parkour, but it has been said th at the discipline is "only as dangerous as you make it." The risk of inj ury is obviously at a maximum if the traceur is going beyond his abiliti es, attempting overly difficult maneuvers for show, or is tired and losi ng focus. The danger is minimised by checking the surroundings for any l oose objects regularly, and progressing at a reasonable rate. However, m any young teenagers forget that traceurs such as David Belle have been p ractising for close to twenty years. They want to immediately perform th e same kind of moves as the traceurs they see in videos. In August 2005, a UK teenager, Alex Leatherbarrow (14) died after trying to jump a two-metre gap between two buildings. He and a friend had just seen some traceurs at a local skate park and decided to try Parkour. Whi le his friend made the jump successfully, Alex slipped while standing on the edge of the building and eyeing up the gap, later dying of his inju ries. The global Parkour community was incredibly saddened by the traged y, which highlighted the inherent danger in untrained Traceurs attemptin g to replicate the large roof-gaps they see on TV, which are almost alwa ys set up purely for the media.
Luc Besson made a feature film, Yamakasi - Les samoura des temps modernes (Yamakasi - the modern Samurai), feat uring members of the original Yamakasi. The film tells the (fictional) t ale of a group of young thieves who use their parkour skills to evade ca pture, while stealing money to fund the healthcare of a child that was i njured copying their Parkour training.
David Belle leaping across London's rooftops from his office to home, i n an attempt to catch his favourite BBC program. The piece generated a g reat deal of discussion, particularly after it was revealed that no spec ial effects or wires were used.
Somerset House and the Tate and Saatchi galleries amongst them. It is pe rhaps worth noting that David Belle received no mention in Jump London, despite often being accredited as the most important founder of parkour. Jump London was followed up by the sequel Jump Britain, once again feat uring Foucan and Ben Aoues, as well as several traceurs from the nascent British scene.
Warren Ellis, tells the story of a young traceur named Sita Patel who is tasked with the seemingly impossible task of crossing London in under twenty minutes to defuse a biological weapon. The issue , titled The Run, is a varied and detailed (and mostly believable) treat ment of the topic.
In addition to these examples, parkour has appeared in various television advertisements, news reports, and entertainment pieces, sometimes combi ned with other forms of stunts and acrobatics.
Many traceurs are interested not only in movements that allow them to cle ar obstacles, but movements that create visual flair as well. Whether th ese could be called parkour or not is a common subject for disagreement in the parkour community. The original ideal of parkour was solely bas...
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