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Concept
Parkour
Summary
Parkour (paʁkuʁ) is an athletic training discipline or sport in which practitioners (called traceurs) attempt to get from point A to point B in the fastest and most efficient way possible, without assisting equipment and often while performing flips. With roots in military obstacle course training and martial arts, parkour includes flipping, running, climbing, swinging, vaulting, jumping, plyometrics, rolling, and quadrupedal movement—whatever is suitable for a given situation. Parkour is an activity that can be practiced alone or with others, and is usually carried out in urban spaces, though it can be done anywhere. It involves seeing one's environment in a new way, and envisioning the potential for navigating it by movement around, across, through, over and under its features.
Although a traceur may perform a flip as well as other aesthetic acrobatic movements, these are not essential to the discipline. Rather, they are central to freerunning, a discipline derived from parkour but emphasising artistry rather than efficiency.
The practice of similar movements had existed in communities around the world for centuries, notably in Africa and China, the latter tradition (qinggong) popularized by Hong Kong action cinema (notably Jackie Chan) during the 1970s to 1980s. Parkour as a type of movement was later established by David Belle when he and others founded the Yamakasi in the 1990s and initially called it l'art du déplacement. The discipline was popularised in the 1990s and 2000s through films, documentaries, video games, and advertisements.
The word parkour derives from parcours du combattant (obstacle course), the classic obstacle course method of military training proposed by Georges Hébert. Raymond Belle used the term "les parcours" to encompass all of his training including climbing, jumping, running, balancing, and the other methods he undertook in his personal athletic advancement. His son, David, further developed his father's methods and achieved success as a stuntman, and one day on a film set showed his 'Speed Air Man' video to Hubert Koundé.
Official source
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