The art of forward motion in spite of obstacles.

Sound crazy?

Introducing the international discipline, sport and/or hobby known as Parkour [Paar-koor].

It’s a French phenomena that has made its way into quite a bit of American media lately. Parkour expert  Sebastian Foucan was recently featured in the 007 film Casino Royale, utilizing his skill to escape a pursuing agent.

NBC’s television show The Office, whose Michael, Dwight, and Andy characters are always quick to adopt the latest cultural fad, recently featured Parkour being practiced throughout the office to hilarious results.

Parkour is also featured in recent video games, including Mirror’s Edge.

If you’ve watched any of the above clips, you probably have a general idea of the concept of Parkour. But what really, is it?

If you’re one of the unlucky ones who don’t know about this specific type of French philosophy – or as Americans would like to call it, a sport – you’re missing out on all the high flying, wall-climbing, back-flipping, aerial madness of the French phenomenon that is Parkour.

Parkour, or l’art du deplacement, slowly developed in the late 1980s on the streets of Lisses, France when then 15-year-old David Belle began to draw inspiration from French physical education expert, Georges Herbert’s concept of the “Natural Method.”

The Natural Method believes in using only the body and its surroundings for physical development so that you can be a more useful member of society. This method was later utilized in military training and includes running, jumping, leaping, climbing and walking on all fours like an animal. Many of the future moves would even have animal names: The Kong Vault, the Monkey Vault, and the Cat Leap for instance.

Using what he learned from the Natural Method, Belle developed Parkour with a few friends. Although there is some debate about whether American Lawrence Halprin (a well-known architect of buildings created specifically for Parkour) or Belle is the true genius of the phenomenon, Belle’s agility and speed made him the leader of the movement. His talent was captured in the BBC promotional Parkour film, “Rush Hour.” A positive movement based around being a philosophy “that allow one to overcome their obstacles to get from point A to point B in the most efficient way using the possibility of human body,” Parkour slowly but surely jumped its way into the social consciousness.

Although there’s no real literature on the “How To’s” of Parkour, with Web sites like UrbanFreeflow.com and AmericanParkour.com, it hasn’t been too difficult for the philosophy/sport to cross country lines and pervade a multitude of cultures.

“The fact that no equipment other than a pair of trainers and an open mind are needed makes it [Parkour] all instantly accessible,” the director of Urban Freeflow said.

Parkour has especially been flooding into Russia and on the East Coast of the US, the Washington Examiner has highlighted its ever-increasing popularity in Maryland.

Official competitions have yet to be held, however – Parkour purists actually cringe at the idea of holding formal competitions. Many believe its unnecessary as true competition already exists within the free-running community: friends push and challenge one another naturally; and members of the same crew feed off each others energy.

But, it may not be long before official Parkour competitions begin… as the sport/discipline/hobby/philosophy continues to gain exposure through mass and alternative media, you can be sure its movement will perpetually continue forward.

The True/False Film Festival – one of the biggest event that goes on in Columbia, Missouri (the home of EuroKulture) – used Parkour in its promotion of the 2008 event.

Contributors: Michael Amantea and Victoria Uwumarogie