Le Parkour (also called Parkour, PK) is a physical discipline of French origin in which participants attempt to pass obstacles in a smooth and rapid manner.

Parkour is said to be l'art du déplacement, or the art of moving (from A to B), consisting of uninterrupted forward motion over, under, around and through obstacles (both man-made and natural) in one's environment. Such movement may come in the form of running, jumping, climbing and other more complicated 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.[1]

According to founder David Belle, the "spirit" of parkour is guided in part by the notions of "escape" and "reach";[2] that is, the idea of using physical agility and quick thinking to get out of difficult situations, and to be able to go anywhere that one desires.[3] However, fluidity and beauty are also important considerations; for example, Sébastien Foucan speaks of being "fluid like water,"[4] a frequently used metaphor for the smooth passage of barriers through the use of parkour. Similarly, experienced traceur Jerome Ben Aoues explains in the documentary Jump London that:

The most important thing really 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?

To some people (particularly non-practitioners), parkour is an extreme sport, to others a discipline more comparable to martial arts, or both, some having likened parkour to the stunts and techniques of Hong Kong martial arts star Jackie Chan, whose fight and chase scenes take place in industrial or urban environments. Still others see it as an art form akin to dance: a way to encapsulate human movement in its most beautiful form. Parkour is often connected with the idea of freedom, in the form of the ability to overcome aspects of one's surroundings that tend to confine - for example, railings, staircases, or walls.[5] The practice of parkour requires considerable physical and mental dedication, and many adherents describe it as a "way of life."

Terminology
Practitioners of parkour are known as traceurs, a term of French origin. The names free running and free runner have been very frequently adopted by the English language media as a result of their use in the television documentary Jump London. Over time, free running has also been widely used by journalists to describe activity that is parkour-like, but that has often placed more emphasis on 'showy' moves that are not normally a feature 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 David Belle and others. Many people disagree with the concept of freestyle parkour and it has become a very controversial subject for traceurs.


History
Arguably, the essence of parkour has no origins. In the Jump London documentry 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 didn’t 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.”

Inspiration for parkour came from many sources, not least the ‘Natural Method of Physical Culture’ developed by George Hébert in the early twentieth century. David Belle was introduced to this method by his father Raymond Belle, a Vietnam soldier who practiced it. The word Parkour derives from “parcours du combattant”, the phrase referring to the obstacle courses of Hébert’s method. The younger 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.[6]

After moving to Lisses, Belle continued his journey with others.[7] “From then on we developed,” says Foucan in Jump London, “And really the whole town was there for us; there for free running. You just have to look, you just have to think, like children.” This, as he describes, is “the vision of Parkour.”

According to Foucan, the start of the “big jumps” was around the age of fifteen. 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 storey 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 saw splits occur among the 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.


Implementation
There are fewer predefined movements in parkour than gymnastics and other extreme sports, in that parkour is about unlimited movement over obstacles; the ability to improvise is as important as being able to replicate previously practiced moves.

Despite this, there are many standard "basic" movements that many traceurs practice. Most important are good jumping and landing techniques. 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 recognised types of vaults add only technical skill (and hence sometimes aesthetic value) to a move and often not functionality, even sacrificing functionality for a more impressive look. These tend to be looked down on, as they are inefficient movement and thus not truly Parkour. Many vaults are maximally functional to certain situations, but learning specific vaults is not as worthwhile as learning to improvise and adapt to differing situations.

For clearing gaps a number of methods are generally used; each is dependent on the particular obstacle in question, and as with the vaults a good improvisation technique aids free runners far more than a pre-learned collection 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 classed as parkour, others argue that parkour is about being free to move how one wishes and try to incorporate certain tricks into their style of movement.

David Belle has since released a statement declaring in no uncertain terms that Parkour is about efficient movement, and therefore flips and tricks are (in almost all cases) not Parkour.

A movement by itself is not parkour unless it is used the right way. Vaulting a single rail could be considered parkour so long as it gets you somewhere faster than going around.


Danger
Danger is always present when practicing Parkour, but it has been said that the discipline is "only as dangerous as you make it." The risk of injury is obviously at a maximum if the traceur is going beyond his abilities, attempting overly difficult maneuvers for show, or is tired and losing focus. The danger is minimised by checking the surroundings for any loose objects regularly, and progressing at a reasonable rate. However, many young teenagers forget that traceurs such as David Belle have been practicing for close to twenty years. They want to immediately perform the same kind of moves as the traceurs they see in videos. They forget their limits and incur injuries.

In August 2005, a UK teenager, Alex Leatherbarrow (14) died after allegedly trying to jump a two-metre gap between two buildings. The global parkour community was incredibly saddened by the tragedy, which highlighted the inherent danger in untrained traceurs attempting to replicate the large roof-gap jumps they see on TV, which are almost always set up purely for the media. Predictably, the media were quick to raise concerns about the danger of the new free sport. However, later clarification from witnesses to the incident revealed that in fact the tragedy was not related to the practice of parkour.[citation needed]


Parkour in the Media
The Prince of Persia: Sands of Time trilogy seems to have Parkour as a basis for the many feats of acrobatics the Prince displays throughout

In 2001 French filmmaker Luc Besson made a feature film, Yamakasi - Les samouraï des temps modernes (Yamakasi - the modern Samurais), featuring members of the original Yamakasi. The film tells the (fictional) tale of a group of young thieves who use their parkour skills to evade capture, while stealing money to fund the healthcare of a child that was injured copying their parkour training. In 2004, Besson made Banlieue 13, another feature film involving parkour, starring David Belle.

The British public was first made aware of parkour on a large scale during 2002, via the BBC station trailer Rush Hour.[8] This depicted David Belle leaping across London's rooftops from his office to home, in an attempt to catch his favourite BBC program. The piece generated a great deal of discussion, particularly after it was revealed that no special effects or wires were used.

The biggest interest surge to date was created by the documentary Jump London, which explained some of the background to parkour and culminated with Sebastien Foucan and two other French traceurs (Johann Vigroux and Jerome Ben Aoues) demonstrating their parkour skills at many famous London locations - HMS Belfast, Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, Somerset House and the Tate and Saatchi galleries amongst them. It is perhaps 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 featuring Foucan and Ben Aoues, as well as several traceurs from Urban Freeflow, the leading group and central focus for the nascent British scene, which has since become the largest parkour community in the world.

Issue 6 of the limited series Global Frequency, written by noted comic book author 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) treatment of the topic. The series was published by Wildstorm Comics.

The CSI: NY episode "Tri-Borough" [9] involves a murdered traceur.

The pre-title sequence in the upcoming James Bond film, Casino Royale, has been confirmed as a roof-top chase that implements many aspects of Parkour. Sebastien Foucan has been hired to perform the stunts for the character that James Bond will be chasing. The scene will be filmed in Nassau, Bahamas, but the Bahamas have been confirmed as doubling for Madagascar.

In addition to these examples, parkour has appeared in various television advertisements, news reports, and entertainment pieces, sometimes combined with other forms of stunts and acrobatics. In particular, a series of Nike commercials [10] depicted traceurs clearing rooftop gaps and stairwells, ostensibly to show the benefit of wearing Nike shoes while performing such stunts.


Common debates in parkour

Tricks and acrobatics - are they parkour?
Many traceurs are interested not only in movements that allow them to clear obstacles, but movements that create visual flair as well. Whether these could be called parkour or not is a common subject for disagreement in the parkour community. The original ideal of parkour was solely based on the speed and continuation of movement from point A to point B. While one creates art with the individual movements of one's body between two obstacles, the art loses its meaning when the aim of swift, effective movement is relegated to a secondary concern. This utilitarian attitude has no patience with "hardcore" and dangerous movements executed as an end in themselves.

The most commonly discussed movement is flipping, the basic move on which others under question are based. As a flip tends to break flow rather than add to it, many would argue it is not parkour. Others suggest that a flip can be implemented into a run while remaining flowing and if this is done then it is parkour.

A common argument in favour of any movement being included under the banner of parkour is that since parkour is about being free to move how one wants, anything can be classed as parkour. This can be and has been applied to everything from acrobatics to stopping dead in a run. This argument can be criticized by taking it to its logical conclusion - if people can move how they wish and call it parkour, is hopping in a circle included?

Many participants argue that although performing acrobatic tricks is an art form in its own right it is not parkour. According to them, parkour should only consist of optimal movements for clearing obstacles in a flowing manner.

The originators of the discipline have however both stated in interviews that, although they do flips because they are fun, they do not consider flips to be a part of parkour.


Purpose-built training areas
Parkour was created as a way of being free in one's environment, a method of flowing movement over whatever obstacles one encounters. As the aim is to be able to fluently move over any obstacle, not to perform certain tricks or movements, the idea of a place specifically built for parkour is controversial.

One frequent argument against parkour parks is that to practice parkour in a park would not be true to the philosophy behind parkour; that is, one would not be moving over obstacles designed to restrict or obstacles that naturally restrict movement. Put another way, parkour is about adapting movement to an arbitrary environment, not about generating artificial obstacles and then conquering them. Another suggestion against such parks is that if a parkour park is built then officialdom may be less lenient of allowing people to practice in public places.

Those in favour of parks suggest that they would be excellent ways to practice movement in relative safety and security without the risk of getting into trouble. These parks would provide places where new free runners could learn techniques more safely than in the street, amongst more experienced practitioners of parkour. At a parkour park one could meet other free runners, adding to the social element many enjoy in parkour. The park would be used for practicing movement and improving techniques, but not for the actual performance of parkour; this would remain in the usual outdoor environment. A great training area is one where one can express oneself freely without police intervention.

This debate mirrors the discussion around climbing walls, with some sportsmen using a climbing wall simply to train for actual rock climbing and others practicing their sport solely on the wall.


Commercialisation and growth
The changing of parkour, particularly its continuing growth into a mainstream activity, evokes polar reactions amongst members of the parkour community. The two differing opinions are that this growth will either see parkour blossom, or result in the death of its true meaning at the hands of corporate exploitation. The most heated proponents tend to be those of the latter opinion, as they argue a case for defence and action and consider that the art they hold dear as being under attack.

Those wary of the popularisation of parkour also cite the idea that parkour becoming larger might destroy the community feel they attribute to being part of what separates parkour from other activities and makes it special. They also voice fears that increased growth may cause people to be attracted to the art as poseurs: those who associate themselves with an art or style purely for the image to be gained from it.

There may also be a segment who, following popular trends, support the commercial development of parkour, failing to reason the arguments or research the likely consequences for themselves. Many would argue that those in support of the commercial development of parkour tend to be those involved in the sport fleetingly, and who are concerned more with the image associated with parkour than the activity itself. There is an increasingly large population of traceurs with well-reasoned arguments who consider that the development of parkour is proceeding too quickly and in a negative direction. David Belle himself is known to have expressed concern at the activities of those involved in the commercial development of parkour.

Some of those opposed suggest that large companies may attempt to make parkour-specific equipment, which might be fashionable amongst 'wannabe free runners'. They argue that since complying with trends (many people using the same equipment and clothing or trying to learn the latest cool moves or tricks, for example) actually detracts from the freedom from social expectations inspired by parkour, it is a negative thing.

The other side of the argument is that since no one is forced to comply with any societal pressures any trends in parkour won't affect those practicing for their own personal enjoyment or for the 'true' philosophy. In reality many of the participants in parkour are teenagers, are very subject to peer and media pressures, and are likely to be influenced to trade in their perfectly adequate existing footwear and clothing in favour of heavily branded 'PK trainers' and clothing merchandise.

Many comparisons for the growth of parkour are made with other extreme sports in the debate, most often skateboarding. These comparisons originate from both viewpoints, generally offering an alternative perspective on the same ideas. Those against growth often imply that skateboarding is bad for being commercialised, implying that corporations are interested only in money and not the sport itself. Those supportive of the growth counter-argue that increased money in a sport is actually positive and that large companies supply equipment that would otherwise be unavailable, while consumers retain the option of whether to buy it.

As parkour has a large teenage appeal base, it can be argued that societal pressures and interest in fashions and fads are very strong, thus profit will be gained from parkour. Almost every other sport and art, from football to music, has been exploited in this way. It could be argued that these still retain much of their special feeling for those that love them but few could argue that many such interests and pursuits have not been spoiled by commercialism.

The poseur argument is also used in the skateboarding comparison. That there are many poseur skaters is often repeated. The pro-growth argue that no number of poseurs trying to maintain a parkour image is going to have any effect on a true traceur practicing the art, thus this is irrelevant.

The counter-argument is that short-term traceurs are likely to be less passionate and less respectful of the art form. The significant increase in the number of traceurs would also be an issue. These two factors could easily combine to develop a poor reputation for the participants of parkour and lead to restrictions on parkour-like activity through widespread application of anti-climb paint, increased and increasingly restrictive security personnel and other similar measures (as is already being seen at some areas of London previously popular with traceurs, but over-exploited by a few).

Most recently, as featured in the sequel documentary to Jump London, Jump Britain, computer game developers Core Design have been in the process of creating a parkour video game. For many, this could be construed as the beginning of a frenzy of media exploitation of parkour, and indeed the concept of the game seems utterly opposed or oblivious to the actual principles and motives behind the movement.


Freestyle Parkour
Freestyle Parkour (or FRPK), created by the British group Urban Freeflow, is an umbrella term developed to allow individual practitioners to add their own creativity and interpretation to the movements found in Parkour. The stated reason for its creation was to delete all restrictions in favour of absolute freedom of movement.

FRPK is no longer the official practice of Urban Freeflow and the UF team now practice Parkour.