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Freerunning is a form of urban acrobatics where participants, known as free runners, use the city and rural landscape to perform movements through its structures. It incorporates efficient movements from parkour, adds aesthetic vaults and other acrobatics, such as tricking and street stunts, creating an athletic and aesthetically pleasing way of moving. It is commonly practiced at gymnasiums and in urban areas that are cluttered with obstacles.
The term freerunning was coined during the filming of Jump London, as a way to present parkour to the English-speaking world. However, free running and parkour are separate, distinct concepts - a distinction which is often missed due to the aesthetic similarities. Parkour as a discipline emphasizes efficiency, whilst freerunning embodies complete freedom of movement - and includes many acrobatic maneuvers. Although the two are often physically similar, the mindsets of each are vastly different. The founder Sébastien Foucan defines freerunning as a discipline to self development, following your own way. Freerunning is more an art form or a lifestyle more than a sport (as there are no rules and a philosophy of non-competitiveness). It’s the art of movement. The philosophy behind freerunning is that it has the power to strengthen and enliven the mind. Through learning to overcome physical barriers, traceurs and traceuses (french for “Freerunners”) are said to be able to cope better with mental challenges and obstacles in everyday life. The pursuit of freerunning is spreading around the world. As with any activity that is not mainstream, people in smaller communities and rural areas often have difficulty finding others to practice with. In addition, as an activity expands, it can move away from its roots: in this case non-competitiveness, and an emphasis on mind-body awareness, creative spontaneity and the development of useful skills. Big thanks to the APE CONNECTION www.apeconnection.com |
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