Free running

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Free running is a physical art, in which participants (free runners) use the urban and rural areas to perform movements through its structures focused on freedom and beauty. 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 free running 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 comprises efficiency, whilst free running embodies complete freedom of movement — and includes many acrobatic manoeuvres. Although often the two are physically similar, the mindsets of each are vastly different.^[1] The founder Sébastien Foucan defines free running as a discipline to self development, following your own way.^[2]

Contents 1 Overview 2 History 3 Movements 4 In popular culture 4.1 Film 4.2 Video games 4.3 Music videos 4.4 Television 4.5 Literature 5 Controversy 6 References

[edit] Overview

Heavily influenced by Sébastien Foucan and inspired by the similar art of displacement (parkour) which was founded by Foucan's childhood colleague David Belle, free running embraces elements of tricking and street stunts, which are considered by the parkour community to be inefficient and not parkour. Initially, the term free running was used interchangeably with parkour. However, as free runners became interested in aesthetics as well as useful movement, the two became different disciplines. The term free running was created by Guillaume Pelletier and embraced by Foucan to describe his "way" of doing parkour.^[3] Foucan summarizes the goals of free running as using the environment to develop yourself and to always keep moving and not go backwards.

While free running and parkour share many common techniques, they have a fundamental difference in philosophy and intention. The aims of parkour are reach, the ability to quickly access areas that would otherwise be inaccessible, and escape, the ability to evade pursuers, which means the main intention is to clear their objects as efficiently as they can, while free running emphasizes self development by "following your way".^[3] Foucan frequently mentions "following your way" in interviews,^[4] and the Jump documentaries. He explains that everyone has their way of doing parkour and they shouldn't follow someone else's way of doing it, instead they should do it their way. Free running is commonly misinterpreted as being solely focused on aesthetics and the beauty of the certain vault, jump, etc. Although a lot of free runners choose to focus on aesthetics, that is just "their way", the goal however is still self development.

The easiest way to explain the differences between the two activities is that in parkour you try to get from A to B in the most efficient and natural way, which could be exercised in case of a real threat, whereas in free running you may employ movements of your choosing. You might also do certain movements solely for their aesthetic value and the challenge of execution. Free running is essentially complete freedom of movement.

[edit] History

Sébastien Foucan used the term "free running" to describe a form of physical exercise that he practised which was showcased in the Channel 4 documentaries Jump London and Jump Britain. The term has been in use since at least the early 1980s when it was used to describe a more adventurous form of jogging where the runner would incorporate a variety of movements transforming a jogging session into a more demanding, enjoyable and expressive physical experience. Jumping and tac-ing obstacles, rolling, and a variety of stretching movements would be used to break the regulated physical patterns of movement involved in basic running/jogging.

[edit] Movements

See also: List of flips

Moves specific to free running are not easy to define, as most free runners use a combination of street stunts and parkour techniques. Free running focuses on freedom and beauty of movements, so many parkour techniques, such as vaults, may be carried out in a more aesthetically pleasing way, despite the fact that it may decrease the efficiency of the move.

Street stunts tend to be performed on flat ground or off a height, whereas free running movements tend to involve the use of obstacles or the general idea of movement from one place to another.

Examples of movements which are more likely to be classed as free running moves than parkour or street stunts include:

• Reverse Vault - Instead of vaulting over a railing with a monkey vault, which may be the most efficient way, the athlete adds a 360 degree spin along the horizontal axis to make the movement more aesthetically pleasing, as well as increasing their coordination.

• Superman Frontflip - A frontflip is executed over a wall or other obstacle, usually with a large drop on the other side. It is referred to as a superman frontflip because the athlete is required to dive over the obstacle in a superman style position before initiating the tuck to make sure that they clear it.

• 360 Wallrun - This is similar to the wallrun parkour technique, in which the athlete runs at a tall wall and pushes against the wall with their foot to propel themselves up the wall. The only difference between this movement and the 360 wallrun is that a 360 degree spin is carried out after kicking off the wall and before grabbing the top of the wall..

[edit] In popular culture

See also: Parkour in popular culture

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2007)

[edit] Film

• The French film Taxi (1998), produced by Luc Besson, features the first on-screen appearance of free running/parkour.

• The French film Yamakasi (2001) is about a group of seven free-running specialists (the Yamakasi of the film's title) who resolve to use their skills in order to undertake some highly energetic burglaries as a way to raise money to save a kid.

• The 2003 documentary Jump London follows French free runners (Sébastien Foucan, Johann Vigroux and Jérôme Ben Aoues) as they demonstrate their skills on the landmarks of London.

• The French film Banlieue 13 (2004), produced by Luc Besson, features a large amount of free running, in addition to parkour.

• In the 2004 sequel to Yamakasi, Les Fils Du Vent, the Yamakasi move to Bangkok and battle the Yakuza and their Thai associates who are attempting to take over the city.

• In 2005 Jump Britain was produced as a follow-up to Jump London. The free runners from the original documentary were joined by those from the Urban Freeflow team.

• An action sequence near the beginning of the James Bond film Casino Royale (2006) features Sébastien Foucan being chased across a construction site, using free running to escape. (A few stunts were performed by a professional stuntman.)^[5]

• In the 2007 film Live Free or Die Hard, there are two scenes in the beginning and end of the movie where French actor, martial artist and traceur Cyril Rafaelli is shown using motions from both free running and parkour.

• In the 2008 film You Don't Mess with the Zohan, there are two free running sequences, one towards the beginning, and one towards the ending. These sequences include vaults and flips.

[edit] Video games

• In Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Legend and Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Anniversary, the Lara Croft character can perform various free running movements.

• Æon Flux has some free running movements.

• Core Design released a "free running" game, under the same name in 2007, for the platform PS2.

• Assassin's Creed, a game by developer Ubisoft Entertainment, features character movements and gameplay based on free running and parkour.

• In Activision's Tony Hawk's American Wasteland, the character has the ability to leave the skateboard and perform some limited free running techniques — although in the game they are referred to as parkour techniques. A character with a French accent teaches how to wallflip, climb up the wall, and do multiple flips.

• In Ninja Gaiden, Ryu Hayabusa performs some parkour movements and some free running.

• In Rayman DS, the Rayman character can perform several free running moves.

• Prince of Persia has extensive free running moves that are performed by the main character. These slowly evolved from parkour to free running over the course of the game sequels.

• In the zombie game Urban Dead, free running is a survivor skill that allows players to move between buildings without having to go outside, significantly lowering the chances of being attacked or being trapped outside.

• In Mirror's Edge, an upcoming game that is currently in development at Digital Illusions CE, the player character utilizes free running to navigate the environment.^[6]

[edit] Music videos

• Madonna has released a video for her song "Jump", which features parkour and free running extensively throughout.^[7] Also her music video "Hung Up" contains some clips of free running. For Madonna's Confessions tour, free running is heavily used for the choreography of the single "Jump". Madonna herself performs much of the free running choreography towards the end of the piece.

• David Guetta has released a music video for his song "Love Don't Let Me Go (Walking Away)", which features free running extensively throughout.

• Eric Prydz has released a video for his song "Proper Education", which features free runner Daniel Ilabaca.

• Fort Minor has a video for their song "Remember the Name" that features several fans free running.

• 3 Doors Down have a free runner prevent a car accident in the video "It's Not My Time."

[edit] Television

• In 2006, two free runners, John Kerr and Daniel Ilabaca, appeared on the British automotive show Top Gear. It featured a race between the free runners and a Peugeot 207.

• On Saturday 9 June 2007, the^[clarify] free runners appeared on Britain's Got Talent, and made it through to the next round with their free-running display.

• In 2007 an advert for The Friday Night Project featured two free runners from urban freeflow acting as stunt doubles for the hosts.

• In a 2007 Modern Marvels episode, "Sticky Stuff", free running is shown while the show features "Stealth Rubber".

• In a Heroes episode, one of the heroes learns how to do a free-running stunt to break into a house.

• A group of free runners performed at the 2007 Taurus World Stunt Awards.

• On January 16, 2008 free runner Chase Armitage played the stunt double for an actor on The Bill who used free running (or parkour) techniques to evade police officers. On January 19, he appeared on Harry Hill's TV Burp in which he performed as a stunt double for Harry Hill in a spoof of The Bill's chase scene.

• Free running founder Sébastien Foucan helped K-Swiss develop the Ariake, the first free-running and parkour shoe in a line of five models. He appears in a commercial for K-Swiss, free running.

• Free runner Levi Meuwenberg participated in the 2008 20th Ninja Warrior anniversary,making it to the third stage,where he was eliminated by the cliffhanger.

[edit] Literature

• In John Twelve Hawks' Book Two of the Fourth Realm trilogy, Dark River, free running and runners are featured as part of the story.

• In the William Gibson novel Spook Country, one of the main characters, a young Cuban named Tito, practices free running. He also had elements of Systema and a reference to the Orisha that mixed with the free walking mindset.

[edit] Controversy

There has been a clash between the parkour and free running communities over the use of different terms for the same vaults. The parkour community generally refers to the vaults by their French terms or the English translation while the free running community headed by the Urban Freeflow website have created new terms such as the "Kong", "Monkey", etc. For example, the vault where one jumps putting his legs between his arms is known in French as the "Saut de Cat", while the English translation is "Cat Jump". But the Urban Freeflow site has renamed this vault the "kong" vault.

Another contentious issue that may either begin to make a rift between the parkour and free running communities or may actually strengthen their bond is the idea of professional and amateur competition. From the start the parkour community has been always against the idea of serious competition as it violates the foundations of the philosophy of parkour. The free running community is not as strongly decided as a group as to its position on the matter although Sébastien Foucan's thoughts were revealed. He mentions in an interview with Urban Freeflow that he doesn't like competition and it's not "his way", but it may be someone else's "way".^[4] The conflict between free running and parkour occurred when the founder of parkour, David Belle, and his colleague Sébastien Foucan, split up and went their separate ways. David Belle mainly stuck to parkour as efficiency while Sébastien Foucan focused on the freedom of movement, self-development and aesthetic aspects of parkour thus making free running more popular. Although both activities may be defined differently, still there is a lot of discussion on what is free running and confusion in its definition.^[8]

[edit] References