PARKOUR FOR THE COURSE
You've seen them in the movies, now professional traceurs have arrived in Bangkok too
If you thought Bangkok’s potholes were an obstacle course in themselves, brace yourself for something a little harder, with the arrival of the first Asian base of French Parkour Generations. Now set up and running in the City of Angels, the company held a press conference and a mini showcase at Bed Supperclub on Sukhumvit Soi 11 earlier this week.
The physical discipline stunt act focuses on efficient movement around obstacles. Developed in France by David Belle, the main purpose of the discipline is to teach participants how to move through their environment by vaulting, rolling, running, climbing, and jumping wearing no equipment, just light clothing.
In practice, parkour focuses on developing the fundamental attributes required for the movements as well as creative vision. It’s a way of training one’s body and mind in order to be as completely functional, effective and liberated as possible in the physical realm, and a way of thinking based on rigorous self-discipline, autonomous action and self-will. Beyond this simple explanation, however, parkour is a discipline of self-improvement on all levels, an art that reveals to the practitioner his or her own physical and mental limits and simultaneously offers a method to surpass them.
For the last decade, Parkour has been a fast-growing discipline attracting millions of new practitioners (or traceurs as they are known) from all around the world and coming from any kind of background and social classes. Today’s fastest growing sport is by now a familiar sight as it regularly features in big Hollywood production such as “Casino Royale”, “Harry Potter”, “Twilight”, “Pirates of the Caribbean” and many others or is often seen in major advertising campaigns for international brands of all descriptions.
After the attention that parkour received following the 2004 film “District 13” and “Casino Royale” in 2006, military forces around the world began looking for ways to incorporate parkour into training. The British Royal Marines hired parkour athletes to train their members while Colorado Parkour began a project to introduce parkour into the US military.
Parkour Generations was set up in 2007 and represents today the largest collective of the world's most experienced professional traceurs. Working around the world for over a decade, the founding members of Parkour Generations came together to create a vehicle to transmit the incredibly strong benefits of this amazing art form.
Parkour Generations seeks to offer stunt and entertainment services for events, films and commercials, as well as training in professional parkour arts. Check them out at ParkourGenerations.com.
