Sports & Play
Toronto Urban Gymnastics
Call it what you like, Urban Gymnastics, Parkour, l'art du déplacement. These three athletes show off their skills in Toronto's jungle gym that's accessible to everyone. While this video is more a showcase of moves, it shows just how this sport is progressing.
Parkour has been gaining popularity all over the world. I see it as a natural reaction to living in an urban environment. Man has always interacted with his environment. And when that environment becomes walls, bridges and buildings, this is the natural progression.
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this is all cool stuff, but it's not parkour. fyi.
What is it then, Matt? (I don't know)
I think the headline described it better as "urban gymnastics." Or should we just call it urbnastics.
Incredible skill on display there, but Matt is correct that it isn't parkour. I saw gymnastics, tumbling, breakdancing, capoiera, and other martial arts. But without one person running up a wall or jumping through a railing (to over generalize it), it doesn't make the connection to what is typically considered Parkour. Watch the opening chase scene to Casino Royale and you'll see the difference. This in no way detracts from what these guys can do... that's mind blowing.
I agree. Call it urban gymnastics. These guys are skilled, but this sure isn't parkour. Some of the flips these guys use are also used in parkour, yes, but these guys aren't doing any free-running. And that free-runing is the core of parkour. These guys are more like street gymnasts I've seen in places like NYC, only without the crowd-pleasing banter.
CJM you sound confused. Parkour and freerun are two different things. There are no flips. Parkour is only movement required to get somewhere quickly.
House of the Rising Sun?
"There is a house in New Orleans..."
Totally odd choice of music for an action packed urban gymnastics video set in Toronto.
I'm glad and all we don't have to listen to the usual go-to Xtreme! corporate "punk" music or gangsta rap, but, c'mon!
That video is a wondeful example of 'Tricking'
A lot of the aspects and disciplines of 'Tricking' and 'Parkour' intertwine, but in application, they are very different.
Whereas Parkour focuses around flow and the efficiency of getting from point A to point B. Tricking, in full essence of the word, is the performance of tricks. Where Tricking and Parkour meets can often be found in many of the videos found online (beginning with those of David Belle from France a few years ago) where the application of parkour is showy, and reflects the traceur's personality in their movements.
Of course, like many things created by the public and analyzed by the public, theses definitions are not uncommonly disputed. However, what I have presented above is what is generally agreed upon within the parkour communities of Canada and many European Countries.