Projectile Personalities

Bounding across various obstacles and from one roof to the next, a group of young men push their bodies to the limit. Seemingly in a trance of movement, they spring and somersault in an almost supernatural style, using those obstacles as platforms from which to leap, rebound, vault and run.

Parkour was conceived in France in the 1980s, and to perform this extreme sport one flows across obstacles like water. Parkour practitioners regard the entire city as a huge training ground, and they challenge high walls and the tops of buildings with their agile acrobatics.

Like participants in another urban sport, free-running, Parkour players aim to pass each obstacle and reach a destination by physical power and surefootedness. The “mobile art” does not require any apparatus, or special training. The human body is the only piece of equipment.

Parkour was first practiced by French soldiers and began to be seen in Great Britain in 2002. The physical street art was displayed in the French movie Banlieue 13 and lead actor David Belle was thus popularly considered to be the form’s creator.

In China’s larger cities, today Parkour teams display their extreme skill by leaping onto roofs and vaulting over walls. The largest team in the nation is known as Racing Tribe, while the leading team in Beijing is the Beijing PK Society.

“No matter where I am, as long as I’m faced with an obstacle, I just want to conquer it in a cool way,” says a newcomer of a Beijing Parkour club. His club now has 40-plus members, and they lease facilities at their own expense for regular training. Although the members range from 15 to 35 in age and vary in physical proficiency, each is constantly challenged with unfamiliar movements as they strive to reach new heights.

Parkour devotees practice. (Image: China Pictorial)The outfits are simple: T-shirt, light running shoes and sport pants. In addition to physical strength, coordination and vaulting skills, a Parkour practitioner also must be courageous and not lacking in self-confidence.

Parkour combines nearly all free movements, including running, leaping, climbing, vaulting and rolling. Walls, windows, trees, rocks, and ditches may trigger a series of movements and “bodies will play as free as water.” Parkour is not just an athletic art, but also a lifestyle. Its more serious devotees say they extend their spirit beyond bounds as they run, jump, climb and roll.