Parkour

Parkour, or more acurrately "Le Parkour" due to its french origins is a
street sport which has been described by some alternately as
"obstacle-coursing" or "the art of movement".

The idea is to move through the environment in a way that is as fluid,
aestheticaly pleasing and original as possible. Its proponents, called
traceurs, run, drop from heights, vault, flip and climb their way around
obstacles trying to chain a group of these individual elements into a
stylish whole.

Its founders including David Belle and Sebastien Foucan have built up their
skills over the last ten or more years so that they are capable of cat-like
agility and awesome physical feats. David Belle came to the public fore when
he starred in a short film for the BBC called "Rush Hour" where, among many
other tricks he leaps from one building across a gap of more than 9 metres
to land on a roof one storey below. Many people who saw the frenchman's
skills on television were shocked to later find out that absolutly no
special effects were employed to make the film and that the seemingly
death-defying leaps, climbs and drops were all performed for real without
wires or safety nets. Furthering the sport in the mainstream, Luc Besson
made a film called Yamakasi, named after the first clan of traceurs which
featured a group of young thieves who use their parkour skills to evade
capture however Belle and some of his associates were unhappy with their
portrayal as criminals and refused to endorse the project.

This has led to a division between Foucan and Belle with Foucan now
spreading word of the sport under the inferior name of free-running. No one
is doubting his skills however, after seeing his efforts in the channel4
program Jump London in which he and 2 other french traceurs made their way
across the rooftops of famous buildings in London.

Parkour or PK as it frequently referrred to by english speakers is non
competitive. There is no scoring, only aesthetic value and it's proponents
will encourage even beginners to develop their skill in the safest way
possible. It takes a significant amount of training and dedication to
emulate the feats of the stars of this "art of movement"

Most fans of the sport enjoy its current 'underground' nature and seek to
avoid the commercialisation that has consumed sports like skateboarding and
inline skating in recent years. Unlike these Parkour needs no specialist
equipment, requiring only some well cushioned running shoes and an open mind
and body. The sport continues to grow with traceurs and clans springing up
all over the world

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