Parkour is a method of movement focused on moving around obstacles with speed and efficiency. Originally developed in France, the main purpose of the discipline is to teach participants how to move through their environment by vaulting, rolling, running, climbing and jumping. Traceurs (parkour practitioners) train to be able to identify and utilize alternate or the more efficient paths. Parkour can be practiced anywhere, but areas dense with obstacles offer many different training opportunities.
Overview
Two primary characteristics of parkour are efficiency and speed. Traceurs take the most direct path through an obstacle as rapidly as that route can be traversed safely. Developing one's level of spatial awareness is often used to aid development in these areas. Also, efficiency involves avoiding injuries, both short and long term. This idea embodying parkour's unofficial motto is
être et durer, meaning "to be and to last".
Dylan Baker, a famous traceur, says "Parkour also influences one's thought processes by enhancing self-confidence and critical thinking skills that allow one to overcome everyday physical and mental obstacles". A study by
Neuropsychiatrie de l'Enfance et de l'Adolescence (Neuropsychiatry of Childhood and Adolescence) in France reflects that traceurs seek more excitement and leadership situations than do
gymnastic practitionersGymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance. Internationally, all of the gymnastic sports are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique with each country having its own national governing body...
.
Terminology
The first terms used to describe this form of training were "l'art du déplacement" and "le parcours". The term "parkour" (paʁˈkuʁ) was coined by
Hubert KoundéHubert Koundé is a French actor and film director. Koundé is best known for his role as Hubert in the film La Haine by Mathieu Kassovitz. He is also the author of a play: "Cagoule: Valentine and Yamina," performed in 2003...
. It derives from "parcours du combattant", the classic obstacle course method of military training proposed by Georges Hébert.
A practitioner of parkour is called a "traceur" [tʁasœʁ], with the feminine form being "traceuse" [tʁasøz]. They are substantives derived from the French verb "tracer", which normally means "trace", or "trail" (as in "he escaped without a trace").
Historical precedents
In the film
Jump LondonJump London is a documentary first broadcast by Channel 4 about parkour and free running in September 2003, directed by Mike Christie and produced by Optomen Television. It later spawned a sequel, Jump Britain that first aired in January 2005...
,
Sébastien FoucanSébastien Foucan is a French actor of Guadeloupean descent. Along with David Belle he is considered one of the founders of parkour and is the creator of free running. He is known as a representative of, and ambassador for parkour and free running to many countries...
states that "Le Parkour has always existed, free running has always been there, the thing is that no one gave it a name, we didn’t put it in the box. It is an ancient art [...] The Neanderthals, to hunt, or to chase, or to move around, they had to practice the free run." The latter was also an inspiration for the famous on-foot chase scenes of
Hong KongHong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
stuntman, martial artist and actor
Jackie ChanJackie Chan, SBS, MBE is a Hong Kong actor, action choreographer, comedian, director, producer, martial artist, screenwriter, entrepreneur, singer and stunt performer. In his movies, he is known for his acrobatic fighting style, comic timing, use of improvised weapons, and innovative stunts...
. In Eastern martial arts such as
Ninjutsuor may be:*the arts associated with espionage and assassination in feudal Japan, see Ninja*modern schools of martial arts claiming to be based in these traditions, see Modern Schools of Ninjutsu*fictional depictions, see Ninja in popular culture...
and
Qing GongQinggong |title= Lian Gong Mi Jue: Secret Methods of Acquiring External and Internal Mastery|last= Timofeevich, etc all|first=|authorlink=|coauthors= Andrew Timofeevich, Jin Yi Ming, Guo Cui Ya|year= 2007|publisher= Lulu.com|location=|isbn= 184753371X...
, movements similar to those of Parkour have been taught for centuries and with a similar aim. In
Jump London, Foucan does acknowledge the influence of martial arts movies on the development of Parkour: "We also climbed onto the roof of our school. We pretended we were Ninja warriors".
Hébert's legacy
Before
World War IWorld War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, former naval officer Georges Hébert travelled throughout the world. During a visit to Africa, he was impressed by the physical development and skills of indigenous tribes that he met: He noted, "their bodies were splendid, flexible, nimble, skillful, enduring, and resistant but yet they had no other tutor in gymnastics but their lives in nature."
On May 8, 1902,
Saint-Pierre, MartiniqueSaint-Pierre is a town and commune of France's Caribbean overseas department of Martinique, founded in 1635 by Pierre Belain d'Esnambuc. Before the total destruction of Saint-Pierre in 1902 by a volcanic eruption, it was the most important city of Martinique culturally and economically, being known...
, where Hébert was stationed, suffered from a volcanic eruption of
Mount PeléeMount Pelée is an active volcano at the northern end of the island and French overseas department of Martinique in the Lesser Antilles island arc of the Caribbean. Its volcanic cone is composed of layers of volcanic ash and hardened lava....
. Hébert coordinated the escape and rescue of some 700 people. This experience had a profound effect on him, and reinforced his belief that athletic skill must be combined with courage and altruism. He eventually developed this ethos into his motto "être fort pour être utile" (" be strong to be useful"). Inspired by indigenous tribes, Hébert became a physical education tutor at the college of
ReimsReims , a city in the Champagne-Ardenne region of France, lies east-northeast of Paris. Founded by the Gauls, it became a major city during the period of the Roman Empire....
in France. He began to define the principles of his own system of physical education and to create various apparatuses and exercises to teach his "méthode naturelle" which he defined as: "Methodical, progressive and continuous action, from childhood to adulthood, that has as its objective: assuring integrated physical development; increasing organic resistances; emphasizing aptitudes across all genres of natural exercise and indispensable utilities (walking, running, jumping, quadrupedal movement, climbing, equilibrium (balancing), throwing, lifting, defending and swimming); developing one's energy and all other facets of action or virility such that all assets, both physical and virile, are mastered; one dominant moral idea: altruism."
Hébert set up a "méthode naturelle" session consisting of ten fundamental groups: walking, running, jumping, quadrupedal movement, climbing, balancing, throwing, lifting, self-defense, swimming, which are part of three main forces:
- Energetic or virile sense: energy, willpower, courage, coolness, and firmness
- Moral sense: benevolence, assistance, honor, and honesty
- Physical sense: muscles and breath
During World War I and World War II, Hébert's teaching continued to expand, becoming the standard system of French military education and training. Thus, Hébert was one of the proponents of "parcours", an obstacle course, developed by a Swiss architect, which is standard in the military training and led to the development of civilian
fitness trailA fitness trail consists of a path or course equipped with obstacles or stations distributed along its length for exercising the human body to promote good health. The course is designed to promote physical fitness training in the style attributed to Georges Hébert...
s and confidence courses. Also, French soldiers and firefighters developed their obstacle courses known as "parcours du combattant" and parcours SP".
Belle family
Raymond Belle was born in
VietnamVietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
, at the time part of
French IndochinaFrench Indochina was part of the French colonial empire in southeast Asia. A federation of the three Vietnamese regions, Tonkin , Annam , and Cochinchina , as well as Cambodia, was formed in 1887....
. His father died during the
First Indochina WarThe First Indochina War was fought in French Indochina from December 19, 1946, until August 1, 1954, between the French Union's French Far East...
and Raymond was separated from his mother during the division of Vietnam in 1954. He was taken by the French Army in Da Lat and received a military education and training that shaped his character. After the
Battle of Dien Bien PhuThe Battle of Dien Bien Phu was the climactic confrontation of the First Indochina War between the French Union's French Far East Expeditionary Corps and Viet Minh communist revolutionaries. The battle occurred between March and May 1954 and culminated in a comprehensive French defeat that...
, Raymond was repatriated to France and completed his military education in 1958. At age 19, his dedication to fitness helped him serve in Paris's regiment of "
sapeurs-pompiersThe fire service in France is known as Sapeurs-pompiers, except in Marseille, where naval "sailor-firefighters", marins-pompiers, provide fire and rescue services.There are two categories:...
" (the French fire service).
David participated in activities such as martial arts and gymnastics and sought to apply his athletic prowess for some practical purpose.
He trained extremely hard mostly to try to win the approval of his father (Raymond). At age 17, David left school seeking freedom and action. He continued to develop his strength and dexterity in order to be useful in life, as Raymond had advised him.
Development in Lisses
After moving to
LissesLisses is a commune in the Essonne department in Île-de-France in northern France.One of the main landmarks of the town is the Dame du Lac, a man-made architectural climbing structure in the Parc du Lac , which is commonly used to practice parkour on, but is currently closed to the public, due to...
, David Belle continued his journey with others who would later form the group the
YamakasiYamakasi are a French group of practitioners of parkour and other types of acrobatics. But, the term 'yamakasi' is also used to call a particular form of a performance in order to distinguish it from other similar activities mentioned above.-Overview:...
.
Sébastien FoucanSébastien Foucan is a French actor of Guadeloupean descent. Along with David Belle he is considered one of the founders of parkour and is the creator of free running. He is known as a representative of, and ambassador for parkour and free running to many countries...
noted in
Jump LondonJump London is a documentary first broadcast by Channel 4 about parkour and free running in September 2003, directed by Mike Christie and produced by Optomen Television. It later spawned a sequel, Jump Britain that first aired in January 2005...
"From then on we developed 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."
In 1997, Yann Hnautra, Charles Perriere, Chau Belle, David Belle, Laurent Piemontesi, Sébastien Foucan, Guylain Perriere, Malik Diouf and Williams Belle created the group Yamakasi, whose name comes from the Lingala language of
CongoThe Democratic Republic of the Congo is a state located in Central Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world...
, and means "strong spirit, strong body, strong man, endurance". After the musical show
Notre Dame de ParisNotre-Dame de Paris is a sung-through French-Canadian musical which debuted on 16 September 1998 in Paris. It is based upon the novel Notre-Dame de Paris by the French novelist Victor Hugo...
, Belle and Foucan split up due to money and disagreements over the definition of "l'art du déplacement", The film
YamakasiYamakasi - Les samouraïs des temps modernes is a 2001 French movie written by Luc Besson. It demonstrates the skills of the Yamakasi, a group of traceurs who battle against injustice in the Paris ghetto. They use parkour to steal from the rich in order to pay off medical bills for a kid injured...
(2001), and the French documentary
Génération Yamakasi were created without Belle and Foucan.
Philosophy and theories
According to Williams Belle, the philosophies and theories behind parkour are an integral aspect of the art, one that many non-practitioners have never been exposed to. Belle trains people because he wants "it to be alive" and for "people to use it". Châu Belle explains it is a "type of freedom" or "kind of expression"; that parkour is "only a state of mind" rather than a set of actions, and that it is about overcoming and adapting to mental and emotional obstacles as well as physical barriers.
A newer convention of parkour philosophy has been the idea of "human reclamation". Andy (Animus of Parkour North America) clarifies it as "a means of reclaiming what it means to be a human being. It teaches us to move using the natural methods that we should have learned from infancy. It teaches us to touch the world and interact with it, instead of being sheltered by it.""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."
A point has been made about the similarities between the martial arts philosophy of
Bruce LeeBruce Lee was a Chinese American, Hong Kong actor, martial arts instructor, philosopher, film director, film producer, screenwriter, and founder of the Jeet Kune Do martial arts movement...
and Parkour. In an interview with
The New Yorker, David Belle acknowledges the influence of Lee's thinking: "There’s a quote by Bruce Lee that’s my motto: ‘There are no limits. There are plateaus, but you must not stay there, you must go beyond them. A man must constantly exceed his level.’ If you’re not better than you were the day before, then what are you doing—what’s the point?".
Non-rivalry
A campaign was started on 1 May 2007 by Parkour.NET portal to preserve parkour's philosophy against sport competition and rivalry. In the words of Erwan LeCorre: "Competition pushes people to fight against others for the satisfaction of a crowd and/or the benefits of a few business people by changing its mindset. Parkour is unique and cannot be a competitive sport unless it ignores its altruistic core of 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 philosophical essence anymore." According to LeCorre, those who truly practice Parkour have the same mind aspect of each other, therefore it brings people to work together rather than compete, it allows them to be united internationally and forget the social and economical problems which separated them globally, ultimately leading one giant community working and growing together.
Freerunning
Freerunning 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. The term freerunning was coined during the filming of
Jump LondonJump London is a documentary first broadcast by Channel 4 about parkour and free running in September 2003, directed by Mike Christie and produced by Optomen Television. It later spawned a sequel, Jump Britain that first aired in January 2005...
, as a way to present parkour to the English-speaking world. Parkour's emphasis on efficiency distinguishes it from the similar practice of freerunning, which places more emphasis on freedom of movement and creativity.
The man who coined the phrase,
Sébastien FoucanSébastien Foucan is a French actor of Guadeloupean descent. Along with David Belle he is considered one of the founders of parkour and is the creator of free running. He is known as a representative of, and ambassador for parkour and free running to many countries...
, defines freerunning as a discipline for self development, of following your own way . His dissatisfaction with the limited creativity and self-expression in Parkour was the motivation for Sebastian Foucan to develop a similar yet distinct art of movement that became known as freerunning. He notes "Understand that this form of art has been created by few soldiers in Vietnam to escape or reach: and this is the spirit we'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 a long time ago before parkour."
When questions are raised between the differences of parkour and freerunning, the
YamakasiYamakasi are a French group of practitioners of parkour and other types of acrobatics. But, the term 'yamakasi' is also used to call a particular form of a performance in order to distinguish it from other similar activities mentioned above.-Overview:...
group deny the differences and say: "parkour, l'art du deplacement, free running, the art of movement... they are all the same thing. They are all movement and they all came from the same place, the same nine guys originally. The only thing that differs is each individual's way of moving".
Military training
After the attention that parkour received following the 2006 film
Casino RoyaleCasino Royale is the twenty-first film in the James Bond film series and the first to star Daniel Craig as fictional MI6 agent James Bond...
, militaries from different countries began looking for ways to incorporate parkour into training. The British Royal Marines hired parkour athletes to train their members. Colorado Parkour began a project to introduce parkour into the U.S. military and parkour is slowly being introduced into the
United States Marine CorpsThe United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
.
Criticism
Parkour is not widely practiced in dedicated public facilities such as skateparks. Although efforts are being made to create places for it, most Traceurs do not like the idea as it is contradictory to the philosophy of freedom. Traceurs practice parkour in urban areas such as gyms, parks, playgrounds, offices, and abandoned structures. Concerns have been raised regarding trespassing, damage of property, and the practice in inappropriate places. However, most traceurs will take care of their training spots and will remove themselves quickly and quietly from a public place if asked. The Magpie Youth Centre free running club in
Glen ParvaGlen Parva is a civil parish in Leicestershire with a population of over 5,000. To the north it runs into Aylestone, and to the east Eyres Monsell and South Wigston...
, Leicester has raised 40,000 Euros to build a free running park/training utility on the park opposite the youth center.
Concerns have been raised by law enforcement and fire and rescue teams of the risk in jumping off high buildings. They argue that practitioners are needlessly risking damage to both themselves and rooftops by practicing at height, with police forces calling for practitioners to stay off the rooftops. Some figures within the parkour community agree that this sort of behaviour is not to be encouraged.
American traceur Mark Toorock says that injuries are rare "because participants rely not on what they can't control – wheels or the icy surfaces of snowboarding and skiing – but their own hands and feet," but Lanier Johnson, executive director of the
American Sports Medicine InstituteAmerican Sports Medicine Institute located in Birmingham, Alabama was founded in 1986 by Dr. James Andrews and Dr. Lawrence Lemak with original funding from HealthSouth Corporation...
, notes that many of the injuries are not reported. Even when injuries do occur, many members in the parkour community encourage pursuing the most scientifically sound method to recovery and future prevention.
Movements
There are fewer pre-defined movements in parkour than in gymnastics, as there is no list of "moves". Each obstacle a traceur faces presents a unique challenge, committed tracuers tend to shy away from defining movement. The ability to overcome the challenge depends on multiple factors, for example, on body type, speed, angle of approach, the physical make-up of the obstacle. Parkour is about training the body and mind to react to those obstacles appropriately with a technique that is effective. Often that technique cannot and need not be classified and given a name. In many cases effective parkour techniques depend on fast redistribution of body weight and the use of momentum to perform seemingly difficult or impossible body maneuvers at great speed. Absorption and redistribution of energy is also an important factor, such as
body rollsA parachute landing fall is a safety technique that allows a parachutist to land safely and without injury. The technique is performed by paratroopers and novice recreational parachutists when using round parachutes deployed by static line....
when landing which reduce impact forces on the legs and
spineIn human anatomy, the vertebral column is a column usually consisting of 24 articulating vertebrae, and 9 fused vertebrae in the sacrum and the coccyx. It is situated in the dorsal aspect of the torso, separated by intervertebral discs...
, allowing a traceur to jump from greater heights than those often considered sensible in other forms of acrobatics and gymnastics.
According to David Belle, the practice is to move in such a way that will help you gain the most ground as if escaping or chasing something. Also, 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 versatile and effective techniques that are emphasized for beginners. 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.
Basic movements
Some movements defined in parkour are:
| Synonym |
Description |
| French |
French pronouncation |
English |
| Atterrissage |
[ateʁisaʒ] |
Landing |
Bending the knees when toes make contact with ground (never land flat footed; always land on toes and ball of your foot, or whole footed). |
| réception |
[ʁesɛpsjɔ̃] |
| Équilibre |
[ekilibʁ] |
Balance |
Walking along the crest of an obstacle; literally "balance." |
| Équilibre de chat |
|
Cat Crawl |
Quadrupedal movement along the crest of an obstacle. |
| Franchissement |
[fʁɑ̃ʃismɑ̃]Z |
Underbar |
Jumping or swinging through a gap between obstacles; literally "to cross" or "to break through." |
| Lâché |
[lɑʃe] |
Lache |
Hanging drop; lâcher 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. This can refer to almost all hanging/swinging type movements. |
| swing |
| Passe muraille |
[pas myʁaj] |
Pop vault, wall hop, Wallpass, wallrun |
Overcoming a tall structure, usually by use of a step off the wall to transform forward momentum into upward momentum, then using the arms to climb onto and over the object. |
|
Dyno (shortened from "Dynamic", opposite to "Static") |
This movement comes from climbing terminology, and encompasses leaping from a position similar to an armjump, then grabbing an obstacle usually higher than the initial starting place, often used for an overhang. This movement is used when a simpler movement is not possible. |
| Passement |
[pasmɑ̃] |
Vault In the discipline of parkour, a vault is any type of movement that involves jumping or leaping over an obstacle while putting weight on it with one's hands. Parkour vaults enable the practitioner to quickly and efficiently pass over railings, tables, walls, and platforms.There are many types of...
, Pass |
To move over an object with one's hand(s) on an object to ease the movement. |
| Demitour |
[dəmi tuʁ] |
Turn vault |
A vault or dropping movement involving a 180° turn; literally "half turn." This move is often used to place yourself hanging from an object in order to shorten a drop or prepare for a jump. |
| Turn Down |
| Passement |
|
Speed vault |
To overcome an obstacle by jumping side-ways first, then placing one hand on the obstacle to self-right your body and continue running. |
|
|
Thief |
To overcome an obstacle by using a one-handed vault, then using the other hand at the end of the vault to push oneself forwards in order to finish the move. |
| Lazy vault |
| Saut de chat |
[sod ʃa] |
Cat pass/jump, monkey vault |
The saut de chat involves diving forward over an obstacle so that the body becomes horizontal, pushing off with the hands and tucking the legs, such that the body is brought back to a vertical position, ready to land. |
| Passement assis |
Dash vault |
This vault involves using the hands to move oneself forwards at the end of the vault. One uses both hands to overcome an obstacle by jumping feet first over the obstacle and pushing off with the hands at the end. Visually, this might seem similar to the saut de chat, but reversed. Allegedly David Belle has questioned the effectiveness of this movement. |
| Saut de chat inversé |
Reverse vault |
A vault involving a 180° 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. |
|
|
Kash vault |
This vault is a combination of two vaults; the cat pass and the dash vault. After pushing off with the hands in a cat pass, the body continues past vertical over the object until the feet are leading the body. The kash vault is then finished by pushing off the object at the end, as in a dash vault. |
| Planche |
[plɑ̃ʃ] |
Muscle-upA pull-up is an upper body compound pulling exercise where the body is suspended by the arms, gripping something, and pulled up with muscular effort...
|
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. |
| climb-up |
| Roulade |
[ʁulad] |
Roll |
A forward roll where the hands, arms and diagonal of the back contact the ground, often called breakfall. Used primarily to transfer the momentum/energy from jumps and to minimize impact, preventing a painful landing. It is similar to the basic kaiten or ukemi and it was taken from martial arts such as judois a modern martial art and combat sport created in Japan in 1882 by Jigoro Kano. Its most prominent feature is its competitive element, where the object is to either throw or takedown one's opponent to the ground, immobilize or otherwise subdue one's opponent with a grappling maneuver, or force an...
, ninjutsuor may be:*the arts associated with espionage and assassination in feudal Japan, see Ninja*modern schools of martial arts claiming to be based in these traditions, see Modern Schools of Ninjutsu*fictional depictions, see Ninja in popular culture...
, jujutsuJujutsu , also known as jujitsu, ju-jitsu, or Japanese jiu-jitsu, is a Japanese martial art and a method of close combat for defeating an armed and armored opponent in which one uses no weapon, or only a short weapon....
, hapkidoHapkido is a dynamic and also eclectic Korean martial art. It is a form of self-defense that employs joint locks, techniques of other martial arts, as well as kicks, punches, and other striking attacks...
and aikidois a Japanese martial art developed by Morihei Ueshiba as a synthesis of his martial studies, philosophy, and religious beliefs. Aikido is often translated as "the Way of unifying life energy" or as "the Way of harmonious spirit." Ueshiba's goal was to create an art that practitioners could use to...
. |
| Saut de bras |
[sodbra] |
Arm jump |
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 muscle-up. |
| cat leap |
| cat grab |
| Saut de fond |
[sodfɔ̃] |
Drop |
Literally 'jump to the ground' / 'jump to the floor'. To jump down, or drop down from something. |
| Saut de détente |
[sodə detɑ̃t] |
Gap jump, running 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 |
Static or moving jump from one object to a precise spot on another object. This term can refer to any form of jumping however. Often abbreviated to "pre" |
| précision |
[presiziɔ̃] |
| Saut de mur |
|
Wall Jump |
To step off a wall in order to overcome another obstacle or gain height to grab something |
| Tic-Tac |
| Saut de rotation |
|
Rotary jump |
Similar to a cat pass, the person dives and then rotates their lower body around the obstacle. Used for shorter to medium obstacles. For people that have trouble with cat pass. |
| Rotary vault |
|
|
Side vault |
A vault where the person is parallel to the obstacle and places one hand on the obstacle. When performing the vault, the person's back should be facing down. |
Accessories
There is no equipment required, although practitioners normally train wearing light casual clothing:
- Light upper body garment—such as T-shirt, sleeveless shirt or crop top if anything is worn on the upper body.
- Light lower body garment—usually sweatpants, some wear tracksuit bottoms or light shorts.
Comfortable running shoes, that are generally light, with good grip, and flexibility are encouraged. Many traceurs think cheaper and easier to replace shoes are much more practical. More experienced traceurs with stronger feet tend to train barefoot, which is the best way to feel the environment. Various sport shoes manufacturers around the world started offering parkour-specific products. Some parkour practitioners use sweat-bands for forearm protection. Some use thin athletic gloves to protect the hands; those who do not, preferring to "feel their environment" directly, develop thick callouses.
Since parkour is closely related to "méthode naturelle", practitioners sometimes train barefooted to be able to move efficiently without depending on their gear. Some traceurs also use the lightweight "Feiyue" martial arts shoes. David Belle notes: "bare feet are the best shoes!"
Popular culture
A number of films incorporate parkour; a few documentaries have also been written and filmed about parkour. After including parkour moves in a chase sequence in the film
Taxi 2Taxi 2 is a French film directed by Gérard Krawczyk and released in 2000. It is a sequel to Taxi written by Luc Besson and directed by Gérard Pirès in 1998. It was followed by Taxi 3 in 2003.-Plot:...
, French producer Luc BessonLuc Besson is a French film director, writer, and producer. He is the creator of EuropaCorp film company. He has been involved with over 50 films, spanning 26 years, as writer, director, and/or producer.-Early life:...
produced a feature film, YamakasiYamakasi - Les samouraïs des temps modernes is a 2001 French movie written by Luc Besson. It demonstrates the skills of the Yamakasi, a group of traceurs who battle against injustice in the Paris ghetto. They use parkour to steal from the rich in order to pay off medical bills for a kid injured...
, featuring members of the original YamakasiYamakasi are a French group of practitioners of parkour and other types of acrobatics. But, the term 'yamakasi' is also used to call a particular form of a performance in order to distinguish it from other similar activities mentioned above.-Overview:...
group. In 2004, Besson wrote Banlieue 13District 13 is a 2004 French action film directed by Pierre Morel and written and produced by Luc Besson. It has also been released as District B13 and Barrio 13 It has also been known as B13 on French posters used to advertise the film.The film is notable for its depiction of parkour in a number...
, another feature film involving parkour, starring David BelleDavid Belle is well known as the founder of Parkour. Belle founded Parkour based on his training and the teachings from his father Raymond Belle. The discipline has since spread around the world and now has adherents in virtually every country...
and Cyril RaffaelliCyril Raffaelli is a French traceur, martial artist and stuntman.-Biography:Utilizing shotokan karate and wushu, Raffaelli has been a regular in films with Luc Besson and David Belle, the latter being a friend of his.-Filmography:...
; English-dubbed and -subtitled versions were released in 2006 as District B-13
in North America and the UK. The film Casino RoyaleCasino Royale is the twenty-first film in the James Bond film series and the first to star Daniel Craig as fictional MI6 agent James Bond...
features Sébastien Foucan in a chase taking place early in the movie that implements free running. Casino Royale's
release sparked a renewed media interest in parkour and related disciplines and a large amount of recent mainstream parkour coverage dates to around Casino Royales release. Along with
The Bourne Ultimatum,
Casino Royale is credited with starting a new wave of parkour-inspired stunts in Western film and television. Parkour is featured prominently in the film
Breaking and EnteringGabriel Yared and Underworld collaborated on the film's original music score.-External links:* at TIFF, by Andrea Miller /CANOE Live...
, in which two of the characters employ parkour techniques to
burgleBurglary is a crime, the essence of which is illicit entry into a building for the purposes of committing an offense. Usually that offense will be theft, but most jurisdictions specify others which fall within the ambit of burglary...
an office in
Kings CrossKing's Cross is an area of London partly in the London Borough of Camden and partly in the London Borough of Islington. It is an inner-city district located 2.5 miles north of Charing Cross. The area formerly had a reputation for being a red light district and run-down. However, rapid regeneration...
. Dastan, in the film "
Prince of Persia: The Sands of TimePrince of Persia: The Sands of Time is a 2010 sword-and-sorcery action film written by Jordan Mechner, Boaz Yakin, Doug Miro, and Carlo Bernard; directed by Mike Newell; produced by Jerry Bruckheimer; and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures...
" uses parkour; David Belle was hired as parkour choreographer for the film and appears in the DVD and Blu-ray featurettes.
Aamir KhanAamir Hussain Khan is an Indian film actor, director and producer who has established himself as one of the leading actors of Hindi cinema....
also learnt parkour techniques for his role in the movie Dhoom 3 in 2011.
Jump LondonJump London is a documentary first broadcast by Channel 4 about parkour and free running in September 2003, directed by Mike Christie and produced by Optomen Television. It later spawned a sequel, Jump Britain that first aired in January 2005...
is a documentary which explained some of the background to parkour and culminated with
Sébastien FoucanSébastien Foucan is a French actor of Guadeloupean descent. Along with David Belle he is considered one of the founders of parkour and is the creator of free running. He is known as a representative of, and ambassador for parkour and free running to many countries...
, Johann Vigroux, and
Jérôme Ben AouesJérôme Ben Aoues has been practising parkour since he met Sébastien Foucan, almost immediately after the creation of the popular movement art parkour...
demonstrating their parkour skills.
David BelleDavid Belle is well known as the founder of Parkour. Belle founded Parkour based on his training and the teachings from his father Raymond Belle. The discipline has since spread around the world and now has adherents in virtually every country...
received no mention in
Jump London.
Jump London was followed up by the sequel
Jump BritainJump Britain is a 2005 documentary about free running. Directed by Mike Christie and produced by Carbon Media, it is a sequel to Channel 4's Jump London...
, once again featuring Foucan and Ben Aoues.
My Playground, a documentary film by Kaspar Astrup Schröder, explores the way parkour and free running is changing the perception of urban space and how the spaces and buildings they are moving on are changing them.
The
webcomicWebcomics, online comics, or Internet comics are comics published on a website. While many are published exclusively on the web, others are also published in magazines, newspapers or often in self-published books....
Schlock MercenarySchlock Mercenary is a comedic webcomic written and drawn by Howard Tayler. It follows the tribulations of a star-travelling mercenary company in a satiric, mildly dystopian 31st-century space opera setting...
makes frequent reference to "Parkata Urbatsu" which is said to have grown "out of the ancient disciplines of parkour, urbobatics, and youtubing. It is a martial art that focuses on both pursuit and escape in developed environments, with an eye towards the aesthetic."
Only a few television programs or episodes have been dedicated to parkour. The Australian version of 60 Minutes aired a segment about parkour on September 16, 2007, which featured Sébastien Foucan and Stephane Vigroux. MTV's
Ultimate Parkour Challenge premiered as a one-hour special in October 2009 starring the athletes of the World Freerunning & Parkour Federation (WFPF). This was followed in May 2010 with a six episode series of the same name, also featuring top WFPF traceurs. The program format was a two-part weekly competition in different Southern California locations. First round was a "team video" round, the winners of which would advance to the Final Challenge for that week, either a speed or a skills challenge. The same competitors returned each week.
A number of video games include parkour as major gameplay elements. In the
Assassin's CreedAssassin's Creed is an award-winning historical third person, stealth action-adventure video game developed by Ubisoft for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows. The bulk of the game takes place during the Third Crusade, with the plot revolving around a sect known as the Secret Order of...
series of games, Altaïr and Ezio make heavy use of parkour, though it is named free running in the game.
CrackdownCrackdown is an open world, third-person shooter video game for the Xbox 360. It was released in North America on February 20, 2007, and worldwide by February 23, 2007. Crackdown was developed by Realtime Worlds, and distributed by Microsoft Game Studios. It was conceived by Realtime Worlds...
and
Crackdown 2Crackdown 2 is a sandbox-style third-person shooter video game developed by Ruffian Games and published by Microsoft Game Studios. It was released on Xbox 360 in July 2010 and is a direct sequel to the 2007 video game Crackdown.-Gameplay:...
include an emphasis on gripping and vaulting from ledges and protruding objects, which are designed to make players feel fully in control of their own movement, and by extension fully in control of their environment.
Tony Hawk's American WastelandTony Hawk's American Wasteland, abbreviated to THAW, is a video game that was released for the PS2, Xbox, Xbox 360, Nintendo GameCube and PC on October 18, 2005. Part of the Tony Hawk series, the game was developed by Neversoft and published by Activision.The PC version of the game was ported and...
allows the character to use several parkour techniques while not on the skateboard. In the game parkour is erroneously referred to as free running.
Mirror's EdgeMirror's Edge is a single-player first person action-adventure video game developed by EA Digital Illusions CE and published by Electronic Arts. The game was announced on July 10, 2007, and was released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in November 2008. A Microsoft Windows version was released...
s core gameplay consists of parkour techniques, and made movement itself the goal.
Tron Evolutions basic movements and combat were based on parkour and capoeira.
Prince of PersiaPrince of Persia is a platform game, originally developed by Jordan Mechner and released in 1989 for the Apple II, that represented a great leap forward in the quality of animation seen in video games....
incorporated elements of parkour, which were important when creating the film.
External links