Raymond Belle
A traceur performing a speed vault
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| Also known as | PK |
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| Focus | Obstacle passing |
| Country of origin | France |
| Creator | David Belle |
| Famous practitioners | |
| Descendant arts | Freerunning |
Parkour (French pronunciation: [paʁkuʁ]) is a training discipline using movement that developed from military obstacle course training. Practitioners aim to get from one point to another in a complex environment, without assistive equipment and in the fastest and most efficient way possible. Parkour includes running, climbing, , vaulting, jumping, rolling, quadrupedal movement, and other movements as deemed most suitable for the situation. Parkour's development from military training gives it some aspects of a non-combative martial art.
Parkour is an activity that can be practised alone or with others and is usually—but not exclusively—carried out in urban spaces. Parkour involves seeing one's environment in a new way, and imagining the potential for navigating it by movement around, across, through, over and under its features.
Parkour was developed in France, primarily by Raymond Belle, and further by his son David and the latter's group of friends, the self-styled Yamakasi, during the late 1980s. The discipline was popularised in the late 1990s and 2000s through films, documentaries, and advertisements featuring the Yamakasi.
The word parkour derives from parcours du combattant, the classic obstacle course method of military training proposed by Georges Hébert. Raymond Belle used the term "le parcours" to encompass all of his training including climbing, jumping, running, balancing, and the other methods he undertook in his personal athletic advancement. His son, David, further developed his father's methods and achieved success as a stuntman, and one day on a film set showed his 'Speed Air Man' video to Hubert Koundé. Koundé suggested he change the "c" of "parcours" to a "k" because it was stronger and more dynamic, and to remove the silent "s" for the same reason, forming "parkour".
A practitioner of parkour is called a traceur, with the feminine form being traceuse. They are nouns derived from the French verb , which normally means "to trace", as in "tracing a path", in reference to drawing. The verb tracer used familiarly means: "to buck up". The term traceur was originally the name of a parkour group headed by David Belle which included Sébastien Foucan and Stéphane Vigroux.
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