Hi. I just recently joined the forums and have made a few posts but am finally getting around to writing an introduction.
Some non-parkour things about me:
I live in Rochester Hills, MI. I'm 33 and engaged to be married in October. I am currently looking for work in marketing, PR, or corporate training (I recently earned my MBA in Marketing) though I supplement my income as a professional entertainer. Skills include: magic, juggling, psychic entertainment, improv comedy, bullwhip, glass walking, stage combat, drums/percussion, acting, and a plethora of other talents. Other interests include: scuba diving, camping, backpacking, canoeing, rock climbing, writing, model railroading, pistol shooting, fencing, roleplaying games, anime, and more.
My parkour history:
I started doing parkour some time around 1982 though back then it was simply called, "kids playing". A neighborhood friend of mine had some steps leading down from his patio to a basement door and it was flanked on each side by cinder block walls, the tops of which were level with the patio floor. We used to get a running start and try to jump the gap. Well, Raiders of the Lost Ark had recently come out and I was inspired by Indiana Jones, especially the scene in the beginning when he's running from the giant ball and tries to jump the pit but doesn't quite get far enough and is hanging from the edge trying to pull himself up. So, while all my friends were jumping the patio gap, I purposely jumped short so I could catch the edge and pull myself up, just like Indy. Also, remember earlier in the movie when he's approaching the idol and he doesn't use the steps, instead bypassing them by hopping off the side? Well, any set of stairs I could do that to, I would. Up or down, didn't matter. So, I was doing Cat Leaps and Tic-Tacs before they even had names.
My next inspiration came from a 1985 movie, Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins, in which the protagonist is put through an obstacle course by a Korean martial arts expert. So, off to the playground I went to work on cat balance and precision jumps, long before they were called such.
In the early to mid 1990s, a high school friend and I got into rock climbing. Well, that combined with all the running and jumping around I did as a kid and I was pretty much doing parkour all around my high school. My friends all looked like monkeys or wannabe ninjas, but as a kid I had six years of ballet lessons so everything I did had a flow and grace to it. All of my movements were fluid and beautiful.
Over the next several years I got into stage combat and stunt performing. Inspired by Jackie Chan, I started incorporating my fluid movements into my choreography. By now, the term "parkour" had been coined and it was starting to show up in movies (most notably for me Casino Royale), and it piqued my interest. But, for the past three years I've been in grad school and hardly had any time to train.
Now that I have finally graduated though, I've decided to research this thing I've heard of called "parkour" and learn the proper way to do all the things I have been doing my whole life. Even though I have nearly three decades of experience, when I get my APK DVD in the mail I am going to start from scratch. I will pretend I know nothing and begin with the basics: stretching, warm-ups, and exercising; moving into conditioning, landing, and rolling; increasing my landing and rolling capabilities and working on vaults and wall climbs; training my balance and practicing precisions and larger vaults; slowly building over years until I am capable and proficient.
All of my other skills (especially drumming, stage combat, and bullwhip) have taught me the importance of rudiments and discipline and I will apply the same to parkour. I am looking forward to this journey.
