I spent my first full day in DC visiting the Urban Evolution gym and training with the guys there. The setup of the gym there was by far one of
the coolest ones that I’ve seen in my travels, from the brilliant graffiti that
adorned the walls to the sheer amount of “stuff” that was packed into the
gym. The set-up included a number of
elements that I hadn’t seen in other gyms, some of them, like the warped wall
or the “ladder” were easily recognizable from American Ninja Warrior, while
others, like the “floating platform” hanging from the ceiling in the middle of
the gym, seemed like something directly out of some little kid’s dreams of an
ideal play-space. I spent a lot of time
talking with Salil, the owner of the gym, about his company, his roots in the
DC parkour scene, and his plans for the future of Urban Evolution. It was really interesting to hear about the
growth of a parkour scene in my own country and I was surprised by how similar
it seemed to the stories I’d heard in other countries, despite my country’s
penchant for commercialist exploitation of just about anything.
The view from the "floating" platform.
The balance beam suspended 10 feet off the ground and attached to the floating platform.
No gym is complete without lots of scaffolding.
Ninja Warrior ladder at the left.
I stayed at the gym for most of the day to get an idea of
the way things worked at the gym. This
allowed me to see some of the parkour classes that were run at the gym as well
as the other classes that were offered there like aerial arts, breakdance, and
jujitsu. One of the most appealing elements
of the gym was the versatility that it offered, with the capability to host
parkour jams, American Ninja Warrior contests, obstacles course challenges, circus
classes, breakdance jams, and all manner of other events- all while also
providing a safe and challenging place to train that could be manipulated and
changed to ensure that there were always fresh challenges.
The office- any place with that big a nerf arsenal is fine by me (either side of the door).
While my experience over the past year and a half had
prepared me for it, I have to admit that I was somewhat surprised to find that
the “parkour politics” in the USA are just as lively and divided as they are in
the other countries that I had visited.
Similar to the situation in nearly every major metropolitan area that
I’ve visited, DC has different “factions” that operate within the same
city. However, I was happy to learn that
unlike some cities I’ve visited, the grudges didn’t seem to extend past the
original participants (as in nearly every case, the founding generation), and
on the whole the DC parkour community seemed pretty cohesive. That being said, my visit only allowed me to
scratch the surface of the scene there, so I’ll have to leave future observations
for another time. I also didn’t have
time to check out any of the outdoor spots in DC, which is probably my biggest
regret from the trip, but inevitable since I was only spending two and a half
days there. Guess I’ll just have to come
back…
Upon leaving Charlotte I headed north to Washington D.C. Since I hadn’t been to the nation’s capital
since I a school trip when I was 11, I did some preliminary research on the parkour scene in the city,
and found that there were a few groups in the region, two of which had set up parkour gyms in the DC metro
area. In order to check them both out
and to remain as objective as possible, I set up my visit so as
to be able to spend at least a day with each group.
Since I’d spent almost a year and a half traveling around
studying parkour in countries all around the world but had never really
explored the sport’s development in my own country I decided to remedy this
upon my return to the USA. Less
than a week after my return to the US in October I headed south on an American “East-Coast mini-tour”.
The first stop was to Charleston , South Carolina to reunite
with my old teammates from the Davidson Track and Cross-Country teams and to
attend the Southern Conference Cross-Country Championships to cheer on our new generation,
who narrowly missed the conference championship. After looking in vain for a parkour scene in
the city I headed north to Charlotte, North Carolina to meet up with the guys from Charlotte Parkour.
I had visited the Charlotte parkour guys
during the summer and was happy to see that some of the guys that I first met
in 2008 at a 1-day “workshop” that they hosted for Davidson students were still
training and going strong. I was also
pleasantly surprised to find that the UNC Charlotte campus is a great place to
train and the American university habit of building large, grandiose buildings
with lots of handicap access ramps and “useless” architectural elements makes
for great training areas.
North Carolina itself seems to have a pretty well-established parkour scene, with regular jams and meetings across the state. Their site has been active for a few years now and is a good resource for both people looking to get into the sport as well as more experienced practionners looking for people to train with. For more info, check out http://www.ncparkour.com/
Toward the end of my stay in London I had the opportunity to
help out as a member of the “event staff” for the Men’s Health “Survival of the
Fittest” races that I competed in last year.
Unfortunately I was only able to participate in the first two events due
to my return flight to the USA, but they were still a lot of fun. The experience also gave me a whole new
appreciation for the events themselves and the massive amount of work that went
into their preparation and set-up.
Cardiff Bay, beautiful as usual. Photos courtesy of Mark MacKenzie.
The start of the set-up.
Photo courtesy of Mark MacKenzie.
On my first day the powers-that-be made the
mistake of leaving us for a while with no orders and lots of mats. Then they were surprised to find us all hot
and sweaty when they came back…
Too much free time and fun toys.
Photo courtesy of Mark MacKenzie.
Mats + free time = ...
Photo courtesy of Mark MacKenzie.
Hard at work the day before the race.
Photo courtesy of Mark MacKenzie.
Mixing mud for the race in Nottingham.
Photo courtesy of Mark MacKenzie.
Making sure the platforms were solid in Nottingham.
Photo courtesy of Mark MacKenzie.
In both Cardiff and Nottingham I ended up hopping into the
race at the last moment, and both times, despite the lack of sleep and the long
hours of manual labor late into the nights preceding the event, the irregular
meals, and general lack of preparation, I managed to do pretty well, winning my
heat/wave both times and placing within the top 10 overall. While this has made me reevaluate many of the
“pre-race rituals” that I’ve sworn by over the past 10 years of competitive
running, it has also made me realize that perhaps the parkour training here has
been a bit more than the “standard” training that I’d taken it for…
Cardiff - Race photos from the exorbitantly priced MH SOTF site .
Cardiff -
Race photos from the exorbitantly priced MH SOTF site.
Nottingham -
Race photos from the exorbitantly priced MH SOTF site.
Nottingham -
Race photos from the exorbitantly priced MH SOTF site.
After what seemed like far too little time in Paris I
returned to London, where the rest of my trip seemed to pass in a blur of
teaching and training. I had numerous
opportunities to build on my instructing experience, and since the London
community is so well established and welcoming, pretty much any time I was in
the mood for training there was at least one person, usually more, that were
willing to join me.
I spent the first few weeks of my stay bouncing around from
one person’s floor, couch, or guest bed to another, and found that although I
didn’t have much privacy or space to call my own, I didn’t miss it much nor
find it to be much of a sacrifice.
During the first few weeks in London I met a young filmmaker
who was putting together a documentary on parkour and asked to interview me for
the project. After the interview she came
with me to one of my favorite training spots to get some more footage of me interacting with
the urban environment. Below are some of
the still shots from the day.
This is old news now but I thought it would be appropriate to
highlight what seems to be a growing trend in the UK, the construction of
parkour parks by municipalities to give encouragement to local youth who are
being active, responsible, and positive members of their communities. Hopefully this trend will spread to other
countries as well.
In addition to having a chance to reconnect with old friends
and get some “quality training time” with the Yamakasi, my other reason for
visiting Paris was to check out the World Wild Souls, aka 2WS, store that opened last fall.
I first learned about
the launch of the brand when I visited in June 2010 for the ADD
Experience. It was there that I was
introduced to the two main people behind the effort, Daniel Toti and Stéphane De
Maintenant, and got a glimpse of the efforts and plans underway.
World Wild Souls, also known as 2WS is something that has
been in “in the pipes” for a quite a while now.
Actually, if one looks closely, the logo and name can be seen on some of
the clothing and media items used by the Yamakasi in some of the earliest
videos (this is from quite a few years ago, notice the cut of the shirts and the logo on the back)
It wasn’t until a few years ago when Daniel, a veteran of
the Parisian fashion industry, and Stéphane, with an extensive business
background, came in contact with the Yamakasi and plans for the clothing went
beyond a small, custom-made line of clothing to something larger. The official launch of the brand occurred in
October of 2010 and since then it has been making steady progress in becoming
recognized in France and throughout the parkour community. After nearly a year of hearing about the
brand and everything going on in Paris I decided to pay a visit to check things
out during my trip to Paris.
The 2WS store is located on a small street in Paris near the
fashion district of Les Halles on Rue Jean-Jacques. While the street that is located on is not
exactly a main thoroughfare, there is a constant stream of people coming into
the store, usually from within the extended “family” of the Yamakasi or the
staff at 2WS.
The shop itself is an awesome combination of French fashion
with the Yamak feel and is decorated in a combination of scaffolding and wood
that fits nicely with the clothing and with the Yamak themselves. While the decorations are simple, they also
fit well with the clothing and with the moving decoration of the traceurs that
can be found wandering in and out of the store at most times.
The store front, the street is a bit quiet but there seems to be a constant stream of friends and visitors passing through.
The entry.
After a quick tour of the building and the labyrinth of
caves and storerooms down below (almost an extension of the Parisian catacombs)
I met with Daniel, Antoine (one of the managers at the store and the younger
brother of Tony Thich) to talk logistics and about the potential pairing of my
travels with the development of 2WS.
The clothing is pretty awesome and I was fortunate enough to
receive a number of the items to wear on my travels. While many of the items are inspired by the
Yamakasi and parkour movements, the clothing is not by any means
parkour-only. The brand is more designed
for movement in general, and many of the items are also designed for use in
dance, yoga, pilates, capoeira, martial arts, and any number of other movement-based
practices.
The interior of the store.
The decor has been kept simple, but anyone that has trained with the Yamak or seen them perform can understand the choice of the scaffolding.
Some local traceurs and Laurent who happened to be at the store for an event.
All of the items are made from 100% cotton, although the
feel to the cloth is very different from the standard cotton gear that one
often finds in the US or Europe. The
symbol on the back of many of the items, known as a “chesu”, is New Caledonian
in origin and symbolizes the Yamakasi spirit of “esprit fort, corps fort”
(“strong mind, strong body” in English).
The chésu, the symbol of the brand.
In the year since the launch the brand has grown a lot and
been featured in a number of fashion-related events in Paris.
The guys performing at the Fall 2011 fashion show by Jean-Paul Gaultier (in the middle). Photo courtesy of 2WS.
In addition to heading back to London with a few items to
wear on my travels, I also came back with the title of “Global Brand Representative” for the
brand, with the task of promoting the brand as well as the history and ideas of
the Yamakasi roots as I travel. While
this isn’t really any different what I’ve been doing in the past, it has given
me a unique opportunity to use some of my marketing experience while working
for a company and ideology that I strongly believe in. And of course I get to wear and test out some pretty awesome clothing in the process.
For more information on the brand and the clothing, check
out the newly refurbished site below.
I graduated from Davidson College in 2010 and was given an extraordinary opportunity through the Watson Fellowship to travel around the world for a year while studying the discipline of parkour (aka freerunning or l'art du déplacement.)
After completing my Watson year in August 2011, I decided to continue my travels and research to see where they take me.
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