Freerunning

For other uses, see the physical art.

Dash vault and wallspin.

Free running is a form of urban acrobatics in which participants, known as free runners, use the city and rural landscape to perform movements through its structures. It incorporates efficient movements from parkour, adds aesthetic vaults and other acrobatics, such as tricking and street stunts, creating an athletic and aesthetically pleasing way of moving. It is commonly practiced at gymnasiums and in urban areas that are cluttered with obstacles.

The term free running was coined during the filming of Jump London, as a way to present parkour to the English-speaking world. However, free running and parkour are separate, distinct concepts — a distinction which is often missed due to the aesthetic similarities. Parkour as a discipline emphasizes efficiency, whilst free running embodies complete freedom of movement — and includes many acrobatic maneuvers. Although often the two are physically similar, the mindsets of each are vastly different. The founder Sébastien Foucan defines free running as a discipline to self development, following your own way.

Overview

Heavily influenced by Tamlin Nugent and inspired by Parkour which was founded by David Belle and their childhood friends, Yann Hnautra, Laurent Piemontesi and Chau Belle Dinh, Free running embraces elements of tricking and street stunts, which are considered by the parkour community to be inefficient and not parkour (although certain communities believe otherwise). Initially, the term Freerunning was used interchangeably with parkour, it is not certain whether Freerunning was initially supposed to be different to Parkour. However, as free runners became interested in aesthetics as well as useful movement, the two became different disciplines. The term Freerunning was created by Guillaume Pelletier and embraced by Foucan to describe his "way" of doing parkour. Foucan summarizes the goals of Freerunning as using the environment to develop yourself and to always keep moving and not go backwards.

While Freerunning and parkour share many common techniques, they have a fundamental difference in philosophy and intention. The main aim of parkour is the ability to quickly access areas that would otherwise be inaccessible and the ability to escape pursuers, which means the main intention is to clear their objects as efficiently as they can, while Freerunning emphasizes self development by "following your way". Foucan frequently mentions "following your way" in interviews, and the Jump documentaries. He explains that everyone has their way of doing parkour and they shouldn't follow someone else's way of doing it, instead they should do it their way. Freerunning is commonly misinterpreted as being solely focused on aesthetics and the beauty of a certain vault, jump, etc. Although a lot of free runners choose to focus on aesthetics, that is just "their way", the goal however is still self development. In Freerunning you may employ movements of your choosing. You might also do certain movements solely for their aesthetic value and the challenge of execution. Freerunning is essentially complete freedom of movement.

However, it must be noted that not one of the founders and developers of the discipline, apart from Foucan, see two separate disciplines in parkour and freerunning. L'Art du deplacement, the original name, was practised by the founders in the same way as it is practised today by those same individuals. The discipline was not originally about 'moving from A to B' but rather was a way of testing oneself physically and mentally, to see if one was 'strong' (hence the Lingala term Yamakasi meaning 'strong man, strong spirit'). Parkour Generations, the largest global collective of first and second generation traceurs, explains in several articles and video interviews that while acrobatics is indeed a separate practice, Parkour, Freerunning and L'Art du Deplacement are all different names of this discipline.

Movements

See also: List of flips

Moves specific to free running are not easy to define, as most free runners use a combination of street stunts and parkour techniques. Free running focuses on freedom and beauty of movements, so many parkour techniques, such as vaults, may be carried out in a more aesthetically pleasing way, despite the fact that it may decrease the efficiency of the move.

Street stunts tend to be performed on flat ground or off a height, whereas free running movements tend to involve the use of obstacles or the general idea of movement from one place to another.

Examples of movements which are more likely to be classed as free running moves than parkour or street stunts include:

Movements

Name	Description
Reverse Vault	Instead of vaulting over a railing with a monkey vault, which may be the most efficient way, the athlete adds a 360 degree spin along the horizontal axis to make the movement more aesthetically pleasing, as well as increasing their coordination.
Superman Frontflip	A frontflip is executed over a wall or other obstacle, usually with a large drop on the other side. It is referred to as a superman frontflip because the athlete is required to dive over the obstacle in a superman style position before initiating the tuck to make sure that they clear it.
360 Wallrun	This is similar to the wallrun parkour technique, in which the athlete runs at a tall wall and pushes against the wall with their foot to propel themselves up the wall. The only difference between this movement and the 360 wallrun is that a 360 degree spin is carried out after kicking off the wall and before grabbing the top of the wall.

Controversy

Another contentious issue that may either begin to make a rift between the parkour and the free running communities or may actually strengthen their bond is the idea of professional and amateur competition. From the start the parkour community has been always against the idea of serious competition as it violates the foundations of the philosophy of parkour. Sebastien Foucan mentions in an interview that although they do hold competitions, he doesn't like competition, and it's not "his way", but it may be someone else's "way".

The perceived conflict between free running and parkour occurred when the term parkour was translated as freerunning for the English-speaking public, and the misconception arose that they were separate disciplines. The founders and developers of the discipline have never stated this is the case, and are now working to rectify this misunderstanding. Despite this, still there is a lot of discussion on what is free running and confusion in its definition.

Popular culture

Currently, there are several official Parkour associations, including: the Australian Parkour Association, the UK Parkour Association, the Pacific Northwest Parkour Association, and the Parkour Alliance. There are also several teaching associations, including the British Parkour Coaching Association.

See also: Parkour in popular culture

Film

• The French film Taxi (1998), produced by Luc Besson, features the first on-screen appearance of free running.
• The French film Yamakasi (2001) is about a group of seven free-running specialists (the Yamakasi of the film's title) who resolve to use their skills in order to undertake some highly energetic burglaries as a way to raise money to save a kid.
• The 2003 documentary Jump London follows French free runners (Sébastien Foucan, Johann Vigroux and Jérôme Ben Aoues) as they demonstrate their skills on the landmarks of London.
• The 2003 Thai film "Ong-Bak" starring Tony Jaa contains various scenes of free-running and parkour coupled with Muay Thai fighting.
• The French film Banlieue 13 (2004), produced by Luc Besson, features a large amount of free running, in addition to parkour.
• In the 2004 sequel to Yamakasi, Les Fils Du Vent, the Yamakasi move to Bangkok and battle the Yakuza and their Thai associates who are attempting to take over the city.
• In 2005 Jump Britain was produced as a follow-up to Jump London.
• In the 2007 film Blood & Chocolate, the fluid movement of the otherworldy characters in the film was depicted through free-running, one scene in the city and two in the forest.
• In the 2007 film Live Free or Die Hard, there are two scenes in the beginning and end of the movie where French actor, martial artist and traceur Cyril Rafaelli is shown using motions from both free running and parkour.
• In the 2008 Hindi film Love Story 2050, there is a scene where the hero incorporates free running and parkour moves to try and catch the heroine (Priyanka Chopra) moving in a bus.
• In the 2008 film You Don't Mess with the Zohan,there are two free running sequences, one towards the beginning, and one towards the ending. These sequences include vaults and flips performed by members of Team Tempest doubling Adam Sandler.
• The 2008 action film Wanted, features Free Running as well as Parkour during the intense action scenes.
• The 2008 comic book film Punisher: War Zone, features a trio in-league with the main villain who use free running as their primary means of transportation.
• The 2009 comedy Paul Blart: Mall Cop, features a group of criminals which uses free running, along with skateboarding and bicycle tricks as their way of quickly moving through the mall.

Video games

• In Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Legend, Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Anniversary, and Tomb Raider: Underworld Lara Croft (the main character) can perform various free running movements.
• Æon Flux has some free running movements.
• Core Design released a "free running" game, under the same name in 2007, for the PSP and Playstation 2.
• In Activision's Tony Hawk's American Wasteland, the character has the ability to leave the skateboard and perform some limited free running techniques — although in the game they are referred to as parkour techniques. A character with a French accent teaches how to wallflip, climb up the wall, and do multiple flips.
• In Ninja Gaiden, Ryu Hayabusa performs some parkour movements and some free running.
• In Rayman DS, the Rayman character can perform several free running moves.
• Prince of Persia has extensive free running moves that are performed by the main character. These slowly evolved from parkour to free running over the course of the game sequels.
• In the zombie game Urban Dead, free running is a survivor skill that allows players to move between buildings without having to go outside, significantly lowering the chances of being attacked or being trapped outside.
• In the action/adventure game Mirror's Edge, the main character, Faith is a runner. She uses moves that are involved in Parkour and Free Running.
• In the game Assassin's Creed Freerunning is used to escape from the guards.
• the game "damnation" features a limited set of freerunning tricks

Music videos

• Madonna has released a video for her song "Jump", which features parkour and free running extensively throughout. Also her music video "Hung Up" contains some clips of free running. For Madonna's Confessions tour, free running is heavily used for the choreography of the single "Jump".
• David Guetta has released a music video for his song "Love Don't Let Me Go (Walking Away)", which features free running extensively throughout.
• Eric Prydz has released a video for his song "Proper Education", which features free runner Daniel Ilabaca.
• Fort Minor has a video for their song "Remember the Name" that features several fans free running.
• 3 Doors Down has Gabriel Nunez, a free runner from team Tempest, prevent a car accident in the video "It's Not My Time."
• Bon Jovi has a teenager using elements of parkour and free running to get to a party in the video "It's My Life."

Television

• A commercial featuring traceur David Belle, was made for the BBC.
• In 2006, two free runners, John Kerr and Daniel Ilabaca, appeared on the British automotive show Top Gear. It featured a race between the free runners and a Peugeot 207.
• On Saturday 9 June 2007, free runners appeared on Britain's Got Talent, and made it through to the next round with their free-running display.
• In 2007 an advert for The Friday Night Project featured two free runners from urban freeflow acting as stunt doubles for the hosts.
• In a 2007 Modern Marvels episode, "Sticky Stuff", free running is shown while the show features "Stealth Rubber".
• In the Heroes episode Truth and Consequences, Monica Dawson learns with her adoptive muscle memory ability how to do some free-running stunts to break into a house. They used Team Tempest from Los Angeles to play the part.
• A group of free runners [Team Tempest & Friends] performed at the 2007 Taurus World Stunt Awards.
• On January 16, 2008 free runner Chase Armitage played the stunt double for an actor on The Bill who used free running (or parkour) techniques to evade police officers. On January 19, he appeared on Harry Hill's TV Burp in which he performed as a stunt double for Harry Hill in a spoof of The Bill's chase scene.
• Free running founder Sébastien Foucan helped K-Swiss develop the Ariake, the first free-running and parkour shoe in a line of five models. He appears in a commercial for K-Swiss, free running.
• Free runner Levi Meeuwenberg participated in the 2008 20th Ninja Warrior anniversary, becoming the last competitor standing until being eliminated by the cliff hanger in the third stage.
• "3Run" the expert Parkour and Free running team begin a fitness challenge in March 2009 documented on the online fitness channel-LA Muscle.TV. Watch their progress with the help of LA Muscle expert Ben Lauder Dykes on lamuscle.tv

Literature

• In two of John Twelve Hawks' books; Book One of the Fourth Realm Trilogy, The Traveler and Book Two of the Fourth Realm trilogy, Dark River, free running and runners are featured as part of the story.
• In the William Gibson novel Spook Country, one of the main characters, a young Cuban named Tito, practices free running. He also had elements of Systema and a reference to the Orisha that mixed with the free walking mindset.
• In the Terry Pratchett Discworld novel Pyramids, the main character is a trainee assassin who enjoys "edificing", which is the local name for free running.