Parkour (or '
le parkour'; '
freerunning'; '
pk' or '
pking') is the sport of fluid urban movement. Invented in 1988 in the Lisses suburb of Paris by a small
crew of
traceurs including the ledgendary David Belle and Sebastien Foucan who recently featured in the BBC documentary 'Jump London', the sport (or art) of pk is essentially a conbination of running, athletics and acrobatics in urban environments.
It includes such techniques as the
tic-tac (wall step/run);
kong (a form of vault); and
precision (two-foot to two-foot jump) among myriad others. Most watching
traceurs pk would describe their movements as series of of actobatic techniques fluidly integrated into a continuous run from A to B, past, over under and through any obstacles in their path. However, that would be during a
run (most of which are filmed, as with
skaters). Most often, if you saw
traceurs practicing they'd be honing individual components of their technique.
Certain individuals have chosen to explore alternative forms of
parkour, such as running through traffic or passing through crowds quicky, while others, such as
Team Ryouko or
Xyndicate have attempted to blend
pk's unique ideals with other forms of martial and athletic arts.
