FAQ
Posted by misterparkour on December 3, 2007Frequently Asked Questions
What is Parkour?
Parkour is a discipline founded in France by David Belle in the 1990’s. In some places Parkour has been defined as the “fluidity and efficiency of human movement.” Others have given it a more explicative definition by saying it is, “The art of moving effectively through the environment using only the human body to overcome obstacles,” and/or “Moving from one point to another as smoothly, efficiently and quickly as possible using the abilities of the human body.”
Although these definitions are all true and accurately reflect Parkour in a performance environment, David usually explains Parkour with a much different focus. Says David about his art:
“Parkour is a method of training which allows us to overcome obstacles, both in the urban and natural environments….It’s a weapon in disguise. We train… and when one day we encounter a problem, we know that we are able to use it…It can be the art of flight, of the chase, of helping someone with a problem, or something ordinary.”
“Parkour is firstly about the useful side, to teach people how to trust themselves, to learn to be careful.”
“The philosophy [of Parkour] is always to advance, never to stop. If some time you have problems, like in life, if you have an obstacle you must always continue forward…Parkour begins when you find an obstacle in front of you and have to utilize your body to surpass it.”
Since Parkour’s foundation more than a decade ago, the discipline has spread around the world and now has communities, delegations, and committed practitioners in virtually every country.
Where did Parkour come from?
The founding of Parkour is credited to David Belle who started the discipline in 1988 in Lisses, France. David developed Parkour to the level we see it today, and in the process took human movement and the limit of athletic capabilities to previously unimaginable levels. Nevertheless, David gives much credit for the development of Parkour to his father Raymond Belle and frequently stresses the athletic superiority of Raymond to himself. In multiple interviews and statements he has referenced his father and other French soldiers in Vietnam. Some of these quotes are included below:
“Understand that this art has been created by few soldiers in Vietnam to escape or reach.”
-David Belle
“I was interested in the story of my father. People always said, “Your father did this and that he saved people,” and I wanted to know why – what he was doing? He explained to me, ‘that is Parkour.’ I asked – ‘what is Parkour?’ and he told me that in Vietnam there are different kinds of Parkour. The more he told me the more I wanted to experience that myself because he did that too.”
-David Belle (http://www.misterparkour.com/?p=71)
David: “[My father] gave the meaning of movement to me. I mean, before all this; I’ve done athletics, gymnastics, and I was moving to have a good physical condition without knowing what it could be of use to me. So when he started to talk to me about Parkour and how that developed his physical capacities, I started to understand.”
Guy: But what was Parkour to your father ?
David: Parkour is a method of training the physical capacities to overcome life’s obstacles, so in case you have a problem; you are able to protect yourself, your family…
Guy: So it’s “Parcours du combattant”?
David: It’s like “Parcours du combattant” but…
Guy: But more urban…?
David: …to a greater extent, more urban… It’s more about the continuity of surpassing yourself, and not feeling suffocated by the walls around us…
Guy: To use the city instead of letting her navigating us?
David: That’s it.
-Video Link Coming Soon
What is the difference between Parkour and Freerunning?
Freerunning as defined by the founder of Freerunning, Sébastien Foucan, on www.foucan.com.
“Freerunning is the art of expressing yourself in your environment, with no limitations.
It’s about being beautiful it’s about feeling and being connected.
Deeply influenced by martial arts, the philosophy behind it is to unify body, spirit and environment.
It can be compared to moving like an animal or being fluid like water.”
Explanations from other website:
“The same fundamental movements as Parkour but with the emphasis being on aesthetics, fun, and creativity.”
-UrbanFreeflow.com
“Free Running was meant to start out an anglicized term for Parkour. It was first suggested to Sébastien Foucan during the filming of Jump London. Free Running has grown to be descriptive of a sort of “cousin” activity to Parkour - Free Running is more expressive and creative in nature, with moves such as acrobatics, flips, and spins added for flair, creativity, or just because someone wants to. The main difference then between Parkour and Free Running is that Parkour is defined by purpose “get somewhere quickly and efficiently using the human body”, and Free Running is defined by the activity or art of moving through your environment however you want, moving your way, following your own path.”
-AmericanParkour.com
Are flips considered Parkour?
The definitions above provide a good explanation for this. However, in order to best answer this question we will quote David directly:
“[A flip] is not really a part of Parkour, but as I’ve done gymnastics I like to do it, it’s a pleasure.”
-David Belle (http://www.misterparkour.com/?p=36)
“…you see guys doing flips and completely useless things. [It] is a fanciful extension to what was created, however there’s no real useful goal to it. Parkour is firstly about the useful side, to teach people how to trust themselves, to learn to be careful; because some people may say “Woah they are crazy”; but we are way more thoughtful than someone who might fall down the stairs because they didn’t pay attention. That’s what it is to me. It’s a utility art where we learn to be careful; and then when you get comfortable, you see people doing flips and jumps in every direction…”
-David Belle
Because there are “no real useful goals” in flips, they are almost always considered not Parkour. In general when you are trying to determine if a certain move is Parkour it is best to think of a situation in which you are trying to run away/escape from someone/something. If a lion, for example, were chasing you, would you ever do a flip? Most likely not, although exceptions do exist. Even though flips are not Parkour, many Tracers, including David Belle, frequently perform them for the enjoyment as quoted above.
Why is Parkour always capitalized?
Not everyone chooses to capitalize Parkour but some sites including MisterParkour.com do. There is no definite rule that states whether or not Parkour should be either always capitalized, sometimes, or never. However, our explanation at MisterParkour.com is that the importance of the word Parkour makes it a proper noun so it must be capitalized. Another explanation exists as well. Although Parkour is known sometimes as a sport, most sports such as basketball, football, soccer etc are obviously not capitalized. However, more frequently than not Parkour is referred to as an art, discipline, or philosophy, and as such is often compared to martial arts such as Kung Fu and Tai Chi. Martial arts such as these are frequently capitalized so that is another reason why Parkour may also be treated as so.
Why is Tracer capitalized?
Tracer is capitalized for the same reasons for which Parkour is capitalized. Simply stated, we at MisterParkour.com view “Tracer” as a proper noun and so we capitalize it.
Why does MisterParkour.com spell a practitioner of Parkour “Tracer” while other websites spell it “Traceur”?
As you will notice when searching through Parkour literature, very few, if any, sites, news articles, forums, and website alike refer to practitioners of Parkour as “Tracer” without the “u.” Most, if not all, refer to one as a “Traceur.” MisterParkour.com may indeed be the only site in the world to do this. Our explanation, like our action of doing so, is unique but it is not without solid reasoning.
The term for a practitioner of Parkour is pronounced by Americans as a “Tray-sir.” In Britain, however, they pronounce a practitioner of Parkour as a “Tray-sewer.” In Britain, and especially England, Parkour has been popular and has been a part of youth culture for a longer period of time than in the U.S. This is probably the reason that the majority of the Parkour communities in the United States have adopted this habit. Nevertheless the inconsistency in spelling and pronunciation from American Parkour enthusiasts prevails. We at MisterParkour.com, on the other hand, accept neither the British spelling nor the pronunciation. The British have their own ways to spell and pronounce many words and as Americans we maintain our ways of spelling and speaking regardless. Some examples include “color” in the U.S. as compared to “colour” in England, and the English pronunciation of “aluminum” (ah-lue-mi-num in the U.S.) as opposed to “ah-lue-min-yum.” For more examples you can merely pick up an English textbook or watch the news from ‘across the pond.’ Although we at MisterParkor.com do not claim that theses language differences makes one form of English better than the other, we do believe that it is ridiculous to be an American and say “Tracer” and still spell the word as the British do with the extra “u.” So for the sake of consistency we spell it “Tracer.”
Furthermore, on Wikipedia it says:
“The term Parkour was defined by David Belle and his friend Hubert Koundé. It dervies from Parcours du Combattant, the classic obstacle course method of military training proposed by Georges Hébert. Hounde, who is not himself a Tracer, took the word parcours, replaced the ‘c’ with a ‘k’ ti suggest aggressiveness, and removed the silent ‘s’ as it opposed Parkour’s philosophy about efficiency.”
Although we at MisterParkour.com have been unable to verify the last part of this account, if it is indeed true that David and Hubert agreed to omit the ‘s’ of ‘parcours’ for “efficiency” purposes, then omitting the “u” from “Traceur” (because it is silent in USA English pronunciation) would be consistent with the philosophies of David Belle and Parkour.
If there are other questions about Parkour that you believe should be included on this page please let us know.