Is Parkour an extreme sport or just rebellious fun? City Times investigates the philosophy that embodies freedom of movement and mind

HE EXAMINES THE path before him, warming his palms together in anticipation. He sways back and forth synching deep momentous breaths. He becomes motionless, but then lunges with the momentum of a bullet. He comes to the wall, clamps his hands on the target and springs his body vertically until he vaults over to the other side. Welcome to the world of Parkour.

It is a world without limits or rules, a philosophy that embodies freedom of movement and mind. It is a beautiful art form and its notoriety is growing the world over.

The heart of Parkour is controversial yet enlightening. It will leave you dumbfounded yet seeing so clearly. Is this an extreme sport or just rebellious fun? In many ways, Parkour is a means of reclaiming what it means to be a human being. It teaches us to move using the natural methods that we should have learned from infancy. It teaches us to touch the world and interact with it, instead of being sheltered by it. So why is the fascination growing?

We have all seen Parkour in one form or another, from extreme movie stunts to urban art. It is defined as an activity with the aim of moving from one point to another as efficiently and quickly as possible, using principally the abilities of the human body. The essential characteristic of Parkour is fluidity- the ability to overcome an obstacle by using the least amount of time and space. In truth, it is about transforming mundane physical movements into beauty.

Founded by David Belle and Sebastian Foucan in France, it swept Europe to become a global phenomenon. The difficulty was categorising it, and ensuring that it would never become a competitive sport. For Parkour practitioners, the beauty lies in its free form, non-rivalry, and non-commercialisation.

Unlike other physical activities, Parkour is not practiced in traditional venues. There is no portal for followers, only the raw, urban landscape. From walls, tree limbs, rooftops, railings, stairs, and balconies, the art remains undefined and thus has caused controversy and confusion for authorities.

With its popularity growing exponentially transcending all languages and cultures, it has only begun to take root in Arabia. Due to the growing expat population in places like the UAE, many residents have brought this philosophy to the streets of Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and the desert sands.

21-year-old South African native Steve Smuts runs one of the most popular Parkour websites in the Middle East (www.uaeparkour.moonfruit.com). He has helped organise training sessions in Abu Dhabi, and has seen group participation explode in recent months. Under the hot sun nestled in the capitols corniche, everything around him becomes an obstacle. “I think I started the way most people have after watching the videos and hearing the buzz,” he said. “I was really looking for something to quit smoking.”

Encompassing what is a wide misconception of Parkour, many still believe that it requires no training, endurance, or stamina. But after studying its history and roots, Smuts knew he would have to be in peak physical condition to even begin to attempt the daring moves. While it got him to put down the smokes, its effect has been far more profound.

“It helps with obstacles in life as well,” he claimed. “It really boosts your self confidence and focus.”

Focus being the operative word, Parkour followers - or ‘Traceurs’ - must examine every possible scenario before attempting to move forward with a stunt. Everything must be accounted for, from wind speed to the stability of the object. Although the sport has no limits, it forces the Traceur to define his obstacle.

“Some guys start Parkour and think they can jump from a 2-storey building and not hurt themselves,” he says as he prepares his next jump.

But what inspires people to risk injury in order to perfect a state of motion? What has attracted kids and adults alike to push their bodies to the limits of movement?

“If you look at a gap between buildings and your two stories up, something inside of you is saying ‘don’t do it because it’s dangerous’, but you just learn not to listen to that little voice because you know your body can get you there. Your mind is telling you it can’t but your body says it can,” he said.

Still, many public officials have lauded the sport for its inherent danger to body and property.

“Parkour can be dangerous,” Steve explained, “but just like anything else in life that might be dangerous we try to take steps to keep ourselves safe.”

“Parkour is all about conditioning your body to move more fluidly through the environment,” he continued, “Parkour is only dangerous if you rush your training and try things your body isn't ready for. The founder of the art, David Belle, has been doing it for over 18 years. He can drop from almost two storey heights because he has practiced smaller drops hundreds of thousands of times, his technique is flawless and his body is used to the shocks.”

Bouncing off the walls might break our bones, but it poses little threat to our overall health. It is when the most daring of stunts are attempted that life hangs in the balance.

For all the notoriety Parkour has gained in recent decades, it has gained infamy when things go terribly wrong. When Chris Fu, an American student and avid Traceur, died in 2006 after falling from a tower, investigators weren’t sure if it was a suicide or accident. But a closer look into Fu’s background suggested that Parkour was most likely the cause of his death.

Still, the phenomenon rages on with a growing number of Middle Eastern youth vying to condition their bodies for the sport, no matter what the risk. Smuts, who has been promoting Parkour since he began nine months ago, feels that injury is normal in any physical activity.

“I've injured myself lots of times,” he said, “mainly small cuts and lots of bruises. My hands are always covered in tiny little cuts from holding on to sharp ledges. I've never broken anything from doing Parkour and I don't intend to.”

“Any injuries that happen are all relative. Everybody falls, even founder David Belle. We treat injuries carefully. Twisted ankles, cuts and bruises, they all happen now and again, but we try to avoid them by training and knowing what can go wrong with any specific action,” he continued.

With more and more extreme sports on the rise across the Middle East, many local youth continue to look for ways to push the social limits of their environment.

“As long as the community grows I'm happy. I don't want people to say, ‘Oh yeah, there was a Parkour scene in the UAE, but it died as fast as it started.’”

Parkour's unofficial motto is être et durer which means ‘to be and to last.’ This motto is fueling something powerful happening in the urban landscapes of cities all over the world. It is an unconventional way of viewing the world, and overcoming it as well. Some people see barriers, but for those in the world of Parkour, they only see a challenge.

kadry@khaleejtimes.com