Here’s the next guest post I did for the BKoD blog tour. This one features parkour!
PARKOUR IN LUCID
In the second book in my BRIGHTEST KIND OF DARKNESS series, LUCID, the main character, Nara, meets a guy named Drystan and soon discovers among other things that he has a unique talent. He’s really good at parkour. What is parkour?
Here’s how Drystan explains it to Nara…
“Parkour is perceived as constant movement using natural motion. The technique is very physical, but it’s a way of evaluating and perceiving your environment around you in a strategic way, where you don’t let your mind or physical barriers stop you.” ~ Drystan in LUCID
When Nara asks Drystan why he wants to teach her parkour, he says that it’s all part of him helping her learn self-defense.
“…Defensively, if you can think at least two steps ahead of your pursuer, then your chances of getting away are much greater.” ~ Drystan in LUCID
And just like Drystan tells Nara that showing her parkour would be far easier than explaining it, I thought I’d share some visual examples with you.
PARKOUR
You know that opening chase scene in the 2006 remake of Casino Royale (with Daniel Craig)? See here: (it starts at 5.02 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJubOZLpp4A . That’s parkour being used in the movies.
Here’s a very well known traceur (the term for a parkour practitioner) in action, Damien Walters, doing all his great moves. Check them out and be entertained with his amazing flexibility! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMsdCsNz7L4
SLACKLINE
In LUCID, Drystan takes Nara up on the slackline to teach her to learn to control her balance, since learning parkour starts with controlling one’s balance. Do you remember the guy in the white toga/dress doing crazy bounces on a thin piece of line on stage during Madonna’s Super Bowl performance this past year? That was Andy Lewis on a slackline. He’s the world champion in his unusual sport. Here are a couple examples of tricklining (tricks/flips) done on a slackline.
Mike Payton on the slackline: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ycT_RBZ0tg&feature=player_embedded
Andy Lewis, Mike Payton and others on the Conan show doing the slackline: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hxC_T9UnmA
THE HISTORY OF PARKOUR
If you’re curious about the history of parkour (where it came from and how it has evolved over time), here are a couple of links with all the deets! http://www.parkourgenerations.com/article/parkour-history and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkour
I hope you found learning a bit more about parkour and slacklining interesting and that it has made you curious about LUCID! 🙂
