Parkour

File:Pksautdebras.jpg

A traceur performs an arm leap, which in french is called a saut de bras.

(Le) Parkour (sometimes abbreviated to PK) or l'art du déplacement (English: the art of displacement) is a physical art of French origin, the aim of which is to move from point A to point B as efficiently and quickly as possible, using principally the abilities of the human body. It is meant to help one overcome obstacles, which can be anything in the surrounding environment — from branches and rocks to rails and concrete walls — so parkour can be practiced in both rural and urban areas. Male parkour practitioners are recognized as traceurs and female as traceuses.

Overview

A Brazilian traceur performing a passe muraille.

The cultural phenomenon parkour is a physical activity which is difficult to categorize. It is not an extreme sport, but an art that resembles self-defense in the martial arts. According to the founder David Belle, the spirit of parkour is guided in part by the notions of "escape" and "reach," that is, the idea of using quick thinking with dexterity to get out of difficult situations. Thus, when faced with a hostile confrontation with a person, one will be able to speak, fight, or flee. As martial arts are a form of training for the fight, parkour is a form of training for the flight. Because of its difficulty to categorize, it is often said that parkour is in its own category: "parkour is parkour."

An important characteristic of parkour is efficiency. The basic meaning of this is that a traceur must not merely move as fast as he can, but move in a way that is the least energy-consuming and simultaneously the most direct. In addition, since parkour's unofficial motto is être et durer (to be and to last), efficiency also involves avoiding injuries, short and long-term.

Parkour is also known to have an influence on practitioner's thought process. Traceurs and traceuses experience a change in their critical thinking skills to help them overcome obstacles in everyday life, whether they be physical or mental boundaries.

Terminology

• The term parkour IPA: [/paʁ.'kuʁ/] was defined by David Belle and his friend, but not practitioner Hubert Koundé in 1998. It derives from parcours du combattant, the obstacle course method proposed by Georges Hébert and a classic of French military training. Koundé took the word parcours, replaced the "c" with a "k" to suggest aggressiveness, and removed the silent "s" as it opposed parkour's philosophy about efficiency.
• Traceur [tʁa.'sœʁ] is the substantive derived from the verb "tracer". Tracer normally means "to trace", or "to draw", but also translates as "to go fast".

History

Passement

Inspiration for parkour came from many sources, the foremost being the 'Natural Method of Physical Culture' developed by Georges Hébert in the early twentieth century. French soldiers in Vietnam were inspired by Hébert's work and created what is now known parcours du combattant. David Belle was introduced to the obstacle course training as well as Hébert's methode naturelle by his father, Raymond Belle, a French soldier who practiced the two disciplines. David Belle had participated in activities such as martial arts and gymnastics, and sought to apply his athletic prowess in a manner that would have practical use in life.

After moving to Lisses, David Belle continued his journey with others. "From then on we developed," says Sébastien Foucan in Jump London, "And really the whole town was there for us; there for parkour. You just have to look, you just have to think, like children." This, as he describes, is "the vision of parkour."

Over the years as dedicated practitioners improved their skills, their moves continued to grow in magnitude, so that building-to-building jumps and drops of over a story became common in media portrayals, often leaving people with a slanted view on the nature of parkour. In fact, ground-based movement is much more common than anything involving rooftops.

The journey of parkour from the Parisian suburbs to its current status as a widely practiced activity outside of France created splits among the originators. The founders of parkour started out in a group named the Yamakasi, but later separated due to disagreements over what David Belle referred to as "prostitution of the art," the production of a feature film starring the Yamakasi in 2001. Sébastien Foucan, David Belle, were amongst those who split at this point. The name 'Yamakasi' is taken from Lingala, a language spoken in the Congo, and means strong spirit, strong body, strong man.

Philosophy

Our aim is to take our art to the world and make people understand what it is to move.

David Belle, BBC News.

This is a main part of the physical art that most of the “non-traceurs” have not seen or heard about, yet according to the founding fathers of the physical art it is an integral part of parkour, in the words of David Belle and originally by Brendan Eiznekcem:

“I want to live and share what I have learned, not just write it in a book that will make it a dead activity and we don’t want the sport to die”.

It is as much as a part of truly learning the physical art as well as being able to master the movements, it gives you the ability to “overcome your fears and pains and reapply this to life” as you must be able to control your mind in order to master the art of parkour.

Andreas Kalteis, an Austrian traceur, has stated in documentary Parkour Journeys:

"To understand the philosophy of parkour takes quite a while, because you have to get used to it first. While you still have to try to actually do the movements, you will not feel much about the philosophy. But when you're able to move in your own way, then you start to see how parkour changes other things in your life; and you approach problems — for example in your job — differently, because you have been trained to overcome obstacles. This sudden realization comes at a different time to different people: some get it very early, some get it very late. You can't really say 'it takes two months to realize what parkour is'. So, now, I don't say 'I do parkour', but 'I live parkour', because its philosophy has become my life, my way to do everything."

Another philosophy's aspect is its freedom. It is often said that parkour can be practiced by anyone, at anytime, anywhere in the world. This freedom has made it a powerful cultural force in Europe, with its influence spreading around the world.

Rivalry-free

On May 1, 2007 a campaign was started by Erwan (Hebertiste), TK17 and Parkour.NET portal to preserve parkour's philosophy against sport competition and rivalry. Defenders argue that competition pushes people to fight against others for the satisfaction of a crowd and/or the benefits of a few businesspeople by changing its mindset. Parkour is unique and cannot be a competitive sport if it ignores its altruistic core to self development. If parkour becomes a sport, it will be hard to seriously teach and spread parkour as a non-competitive activity. And a new sport will be spread that may be called parkour, but that won't hold its philosophy's essence anymore.

Movements

Saut de précision

There are fewer predefined movements in parkour than gymnastics and other extreme sports, in that parkour is not made up of a list of appropriate "moves". Each obstacle a traceur faces presents a unique challenge on how they can overcome it effectively, which depends on their body type, speed and angle of approach, the physical make-up of the obstacle, etc. Parkour is about training the body and mind to be able to react to those obstacles appropriately with a technique that works; many times that technique cannot and need not be classified and given a name. In many cases effective parkour techniques depend upon rapid redistribution of body weight (as the name would suggest) and by utilizing momentum to perform seemingly impossible or difficult body maneuvers at speed. Absorption and redistribution of energy is also an important factor, such as body rolls when landing which reduce impact forces on the legs and spinal column, allowing a traceur to jump from greater heights than those often considered sensible in other forms of acrobatics and gymnastics. According to David Belle, you want to move in such a way that will help you gain the most ground as if escaping or chasing toward someone/something. Also, wherever you go, you must be able to get back, if you go from A to B, you need to be able to get back from B to A, but not necessarily with the same movements or passements. Despite this, there are many basic techniques that are emphasized to beginners for their versatility and effectiveness.

Most important are good jumping and landing techniques. The roll, used to limit impact after a drop and to carry one's momentum onward, is often stressed as the most important technique to learn. Many traceurs develop joint problems from too many large drops and rolling incorrectly.

Basic movements

The basic movements defined on parkour are:

Synonym		Description
French	English
Atterrissage or réception	Landing	Bending the knees when toes make contact with ground (never land flat footed; always land on toes and ball of your foot).
Équilibre	Balance	Walking or crawling along the crest of an obstacle; literally "balance."
Équilibre de chat	Cat balance	Quadrupedal movement along the crest of an obstacle.
Franchissement [fʁɑ̃.ʃis.mɑ̃]	Underbar, jump through	Jumping or swinging through a gap between obstacles; literally "to cross" or "to break through."
Lâché [la.ʃe]	Dismount, swinging jump	Hanging drop; lacher literally meaning "to let go." To hang or swing (on a bar, on a wall, on a branch) and let go, dropping to the ground or to hang from another object.
Passe muraille [pas my.ʁaɪ]	Pop vault, wall hop	Overcoming a wall, usually by use of a kick off the wall to transform forward momentum into upward momentum. A passe muraille with two hand touches, for instance one touch on the top of a wall and another grabbing the top of the railing of the wall, is called a "Dyno".
Passement [pas.mɑ̃]	Vault	General term of overcoming an obstacle by vaulting.
Demitour [dəmi tuʁ]	Turn vault	A vault involving a 180° turn; literally "half turn." This move is used to place yourself hanging from the other side of an object in order to shorten a drop or prepare for a jump.
	Reverse vault	A vault involving a 360° rotation such that the traceur's back faces forward as they pass the obstacle. The purpose of the rotation is ease of technique in the case of otherwise awkward body position or loss of momentum prior to the vault.
Planche [plɑ̃ʃ]	Muscle up or climb-up	To get from a hanging position (wall, rail, branch, arm jump, etc) into a position where your upper body is above the obstacle, supported by the arms. This then allows for you to climb up onto the obstacle and continue.
Roulade [ʁu.lad]	Roll	A forward roll where the hands, arms and diagonal of the back contact the ground. Used primarily to transfer the momentum/energy from jumps.
Saut de bras [so d bra]	Arm jump, cat leap	To land on the side of an obstacle in a hanging/crouched position, the hands gripping the top edge, holding the body, ready to perform a planche.
Saut de chat [so d ʃa]	Cat jump/pass, (king) kong vault	To dive forward over an obstacle so that the body becomes horizontal, push off with the hands and tuck the legs, such that the body is brought back to a vertical position, ready to land.
Saut de fond [so d fɔ̃]	Drop	Literally 'jump to the ground' / 'jump to the floor'. To jump down, or drop down from something.
Saut de détente [so də de.tɑ̃:t]	Gap jump	To jump from one place/object to another, over a gap/distance. This technique is most often followed with a roll.
Saut de précision [so d presiziɔ̃]	Precision jump	Static jump from one object to a precise spot on another object.
Tic tac [tik tak]	Tic tac	To kick off a wall in order to overcome another obstacle or gain height to grab something.

These movements are a basic foundation. Parkour is an art which requires adaption, to attain efficiency, so practitioners should never limit themselves to some specific movements.

Equipment

Parkour affords great freedom and minimal cost to be practiced, but the following accessories are recommended:

• Athletic shoe
• Light T-shirt, sleeveless shirt or crop top
• Light pants or light shorts
• Comfortable underwear

All equipment or accessories are optional — it being possible to practice with gloves to half-naked and barefooted.

Free running

Main article: Free running

Another saut de bras.

Free running is a term the meaning of which was once identical to parkour, but is currently often confused and erroneously used as a replacement for the term parkour. After David Belle and Sébastien Foucan went separate ways, free running evolved into an art that emphasized aesthetics, and regards the grace and beauty of the movement as more important than efficiency. While traceurs practice parkour in order to improve their ability to overcome obstacles faster and in the most natural manner, free runners practice and employ a broader array of movements that are not always necessary in order to overcome obstacles.
The meaning of the different philosophical approaches to movement can be summed up by the following two quotes:
Experienced free runner Jerome Ben Aoues explains in the documentary Jump London that

"the most important element is the harmony between you and the obstacle; the movement has to be elegant... If you manage to pass over the fence elegantly — that's beautiful, rather than saying 'I jumped the lot.' What's the point in that?"

David Belle and/or PAWA team emphasized the division between parkour and free running by stating:

Understand that this art has been created by few soldiers in Vietnam to escape or reach: and this is the spirit I'd like parkour to keep. You have to make the difference between what is useful and what is not in emergency situations. Then you'll know what is parkour and what is not. So if you do acrobatics things on the street with no other goal than showing off, please don't say it's parkour. Acrobatics existed long time ago before parkour.

— David Belle and/or PAWA team.

In popular culture

File:David Belle.jpg

David Belle in a chase sequence from District 13.

Main article: Parkour in popular culture

Parkour has appeared in various television advertisements, news reports and entertainment pieces, often combined with other forms of acrobatics also called free running, street stunts and tricking.

The most notable appearances have been the narrative films:

• Yamakasi
• District 13
• Casino Royale

Parkour documentaries include

• Jump London
• Jump Britain

See also

• Buildering — the act of climbing the outside of buildings and other urban structures. The word is a portmanteau combining the word "building" with the climbing term "bouldering".
• Georges Hébert — early proponent of the obstacle course, inspiration to Belle's family.
• Fitness trail — a fitness training attributed to Georges Hébert.
• Free climbing — a style of climbing using no artificial aids to make progress.
• Tricking — a sport with roots in different forms of martial arts and gymnastics, often mistaken for parkour by the media and public.
• Street stunts — "Urban gymnastics" an activity usually practiced both by free runners and tricksters.
• Yamakasi — a group founded by David Belle 3 years before parkour with emphasis on style, fluidity and freedom. It is also a 2001 movie.
• Urban exploration — Parkour can be considered a sub-section of urban exploration.

External links

• Parkour.NET - International Parkour community
• AmericanParkour.com - American Parkour and Freerunning Hub
• Urban Heroes - Freerunning / Parkour Athletes for media jobs.