Urban Ninjas, Navy Seals Or Twisted Traceurs On Roosevelt Island?
You Tube Video of Twisted Traceurs Practicing On Roosevelt Island
What the heck is going on in this video?
Doing handstands down stairs, walking on the sides of walls, leaping over obstructions in a single bound! Have some form of Urban Ninjas or Navy Seals established a training camp here on Roosevelt Island? Maybe an audition for latest James Bond movie chase scene?
No, but the relatively new sport of Parkour has come to Roosevelt Island. What is Parkour? According to American Parkour:
... Parkour is an art of movement in which you train the body and mind to overcome obstacles. A parkour practitioner, called a traceur (male) or traceuse (female), uses their surroundings to improve their ability to move in space. By interacting with obstacles, be they urban architecture or the natural environment, the practitioner becomes more comfortable controlling his body and navigating any terrain.According to the NY Times, Parkour began in France during the early 1990's:
The meat of parkour is the discipline of daily training, physical and technical, to heighten the body’s natural movement elements such as strength, speed, balance, coordination, precision, power, and endurance...
... The idea was to travel across the urban landscape as gracefully, intelligently and dynamically as possible. The practitioners - "traceurs," from the French verb "tracer," meaning to trail - were supposed to adapt to their environment in order to manipulate it in creative ways. Sixteen years on, they can be seen pulling off anything from gutsy leaps from roof tops to sublime balancing acts on metal railings....and found a home in New York City and Roosevelt Island.
2 comments :
I always figured that Roosevelt Island would work well for parkour - it has that sort of geography. Not a lot of traffic, but a lot of pathways. I guess it makes sense.
That kid is phenominal!
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