First of all, I apologize if this has already been discussed. This news is about a month old, but I don't recall seeing anything about it on the main page or anywhere, and a lot of what's mentioned in this article hints at some pretty big stuff, so I thought I'd share it here.
My friend in Paris sent this clipping to me. It's dated June 12 and was featured in "Direct Matin" which is kind of a supplement type publication tied to the national dailies. The article basically points toward a trend in France for "legitimizing" parkour, which I think is really cool!
The article is about the Yamakasi, and a demonstration they did earlier that week. At the demonstration, the French Secretary of State for Sports was present and went on record saying "It really is a sport!" It also goes on to talk about how because of this, city planners are starting to keep "urban sports" more in mind as they develop cities. Even more exciting is that Evry has announced that in 2010 the first art du deplacement academy will be constructed in downtown Evry. There is also some talk of standardizing parkour at the national level, with certification programs, etc. (discussed mostly in the inset next to the photo)
Here is a link to the article. You will have to download it to read with Adobe Acrobat Reader.
http://directmatin.directmedia.fr/v1/Pages-Presse/Archives-Telechargement.aspxIf the link doesn't take you directly to the article, use the drop-down menu to choose archive #484. The article is on page 4 of the archive.
Here is my translation of the text (pardon its rough spots!):
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A "parkour" (French pun on
parcours which means obstacle course, where parkour got its name as you know... the pun in the headline makes amusing sense in French) for scaling walls
For the past 15 years, the Yamakasi have been investing in cities.
You have to pinch yourself to believe it. You'd think you were in a 3D, high-def video game. Like Mario Brothers or Sonic, adolescents jump from wall to wall, as if they had springs in their legs, shock absorbers in their thighs, and scotch tape for hands. Slippery walls, emptiness, concrete rooftops? Nothing gets in the way of their progression, the whole city becomes a huge playground. It was in Lisses, near Evry, about 15 years ago, that a group of about a dozen or so friends and cousins created this happy discipline. Since then, the Yamakasi, a Congolese term meaning "man who is strong in body and mind/spirit" have paved its way.
Luc Besson made a film of them, Madonna called on them to choreograph one of her shows, Cirque du Soleil for acrobatic numbers. Having become professionals, the Yamakasi are emulated the world over and, according to Chau Belle, one of its founders, "France counts about 50,000 practitioners." Wednesday, at a demonstration on the cathedral square in Evry, the Secretary of State for Sports, Bernard LaPorte, did not come back from it (?? not sure what this is; I think it might be an idiom meaning he really liked it ??). "It's really a sport!" remarked the former French rugby champion. "This is the first time I've ever seen this!" Astonishing! But where did the idea come from? "Naturally. You give a ball to some children, they'll run after it, they'll play with it. We do the same thing with walls, ramps, railings..." recalls Chau Belle. "Our family histories are complicated. I'm a child of post-war Vietnam, Guylain comes from Zaire... we grew up with the desire to become stronger and to push the limits of what's possible."
The art of movement in an urban environment, called "parkour" isn't just a performance sport/spectacle. It's also a philosophy. Its founders see in movement without obstacles an image of the construction of the self, freedom, going beyond. "Jump to evolve, and go farther, forward, always. The biggest danger is inertia." No longer to subject oneself to the city but to live with it and make it one's own. But today, a new phenomenon, it's the city that adapts. "We're going to see again/re-envision our urban environment," promises Francis Chouat, first lieutenant mayor of Evry. "More and more elected officials are aware of the development of urban sports," says Thomas Bencteux, consultant to the Urban Recreation Agency. "They are being counseled [working with consultants] on management of public spaces to favor the practice [of urban sports] without generating harm/damages/conflicts with the general public...we're looking at the choice of materials, the angles of slopes/ramps, the types of surfaces on the ground." Evry is going even farther. It will open, at the beginning of 2010, in the middle of downtown, the first academy for l'art du deplacement where international and local training courses will be organized. In a vast space equipped with scaffolding, vault boxes, and padded obstacles, children and adults, coached by the Yamakasi, can train risk-free before venturing out into the urban environment.
Caption above photo: The city as their playground, the Yamakasi, urban acrobats, met with Bernard LaPorte, Secretary of State for Sports. Here is the portrait of this athletic discipline that shapes the body and mind.
Inset next to photo: Tomorrow, an Olympic discipline? L'art du deplacement practiced by the Yamakasi, hip-hop, double-dutch, skateboarding, rollerblading, BMX... all these urban sports are expanding rapidly. The minister of sports, Bernard LaPorte, decided to get interested in them and will convene, next October, their first general conference. "75% of sports practice takes place outside of a league/sanctioned federation," he explained. "We want to analyze all these emerging sports, come up with a system, and a certification program. Notably, to secure/safeguard them. And why not, to make Olympic disciplines out of them. That will be the case with skateboarding in the London Games. Would anyone have imagined that several years ago?"
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Wow, huh?
