This week the finishing touches are being added to two independent documentaries featuring Parkour Generations Team Members Stephane, Johann, Forrest, Dan and Tracey. The works are intended to give a good insight into the history and core concepts of the art of movement, with one targeted as a DVD release. More details here when the release dates approach!

The Royal Parks Foundation, the charity for the eight Royal Parks, is launching a new half marathon on 12 October 2008, starting and ending in Hyde Park. This month the Parkour Generations team will be providing the action for the promotional material leading up to the October event, centred around a photo-shoot and a 90-second video edit showcasing parkour being used in a unique manner on certain iconic London landmarks... For more information on the new half-marathon event, click here.

This week sees us delivering introductory workshops at East Barnet School, The Compton School, Bales College and Bishop Douglass School in London as part of a sizeable expansion of our highly popular Schools Parkour Programme. At East Barnet School we will also be running an after school class on Mondays. For further information on workshops in schools, click here or contact us directly.

A new Portuguese website - entitled A2BFree - has just gone online and is now helping to serve the parkour community over there. Kick-started by Guilherme 'Intruso' Costa, who first met us at our last London seminar, Rendezvous II, the site hopes to give traceurs in Portugal a place to connect and exchange ideas. We wish them all the best, and hope to see the site go from strength to strength this year.

The first of the monthly 'Off the Wall' open training sessions happened today in London, and was a great success. With plenty of the team there to guide where needed, and people sharing knowledge and training tips, there was something for everyone. The day had a relaxed but busy atmosphere to it, was blessed with dry weather, and it was good to see diligent training going on amidst the fun and frolics. Good people, good times - Sunday March 30th will be the next one, so put it in your diaries now.. ;)

One of our new Academy students has written a few words on a significant moment in her training which occurred at an outdoor class last week, led by Johann Vigroux. It's worth sharing, we think, as this kind of development in a practitioner is exactly why we teach. Many thanks to Laura for her words, which you can read here.

Saturday February 23rd will see us holding the inaugural class of the Wiltshire Parkour Academy, the first regular class we will be running outside of London's hinterland. Tomorrow Stephane and Johann will be kick-starting the class and putting the Wiltshire regulars plus any and all who attend through their paces. We are very much looking forward to establishing this and to seeing it grow.

Tyson Cecka of the American Parkour community has just posted his write-up of our recent Training Day in New York's Central Park on the APK website. You can find the article here. Well worth a read if you missed out on the fun!

Some footage of the Training Day we recently ran in New York City has just gone online as participants begin sharing their experiences with the the world - this one follows some of the groups on the day, giving a small insight into how the event panned out without focussing on the action itself. We love these candid viewpoints from students and participants, and they can act as a great taster before our own Julie Angel releases her professional edit of the day's proceedings...

As of this month, Parkour Generations will be running an open training day on the last Sunday of every month in London, known as 'Off The Wall'. These jams will act as a supplement to the regular classes, and are open to all-comers regardless of experience or ability. The location will vary from month to month, and we stress that these are not structured classes - more of an opportunity to train with a wide range of people in a free and relaxed environment.

The Positive Futures workshops kick off again this week, beginning at the Avenues Sports Centre in Westminster today and continuing all week. Others of the Parkour Generations team will also be running a workshop for Wiltshire Alternative Youth Sports today in Salisbury, with the new Wiltshire Academy set to begin as a regular class this Saturday February 23rd. Tomorrow sees workshops happening for Positive Futures, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, and a new class beginning at Bales College in London. Busy times, as ever..!

Our New York contingent is returning home after a successful week working for Google/YouTube and training with traceurs from across the States. Over 100 people joined us from all over - coming from as far as Colorado, Texas, Seattle and even Canada - for some cold, hard training and brought with them a great spirit and good energy. We look forward to returning Stateside later this year, and thanks to everyone for making it such a fine day.

Today sees our first workshop for the Prince's Trust which will act as an introduction to a larger project we are developing for the charity.

Snowstorms and -5° hasn't put the ice on events in New York. We're expecting a good turn out for the training day at 11am on Thursday and the forecast is looking a little better. We'll definitely be hitting the streets, whatever the weather. It's looking very likely that we'll be training on Friday as well. Knew that trip to Finland would come in handy...

Monday morning sees Parkour Generations Team Members Dan, Stephane, Chris and Julie Angel flying out to New York to participate in Youtube's huge 'Upfront' Event on February 13th. Then on the 14th the team will be running an open Training Day in Central Park, sarting at 11am at Heckscher Playground. All are welcome to come along and join in, and we look forward to see the New York community fully represented.

Some sneak preview images of the forthcoming 'City Ladies' video edit by Julie Angel for Yahoo's Global City Beats film can be found now on the newspage of her website, here. This edit is the first ever piece created exclusively utilising female practitioners of parkour and is sure to make some serious waves once released.

A reminder that the February Girls' Jam will be held on Saturday 9th, and kicks off at 12 noon in central London. These training days are open to all women and provide a great place to learn from more experienced practitioners in an all-female environment. Anyone wishing to attend should email Tracey(at)parkourgenerations.com for more information.

This Sunday 10th and Monday 11th February will see us running some bespoke workshops at some of the London hotspots for a group of youngsters known as the Monkey Boys visiting from the north of England. Part of a Youth Group Programme, this kind of event is a fantastic way to open the eyes and minds of young people to the possibilities their everyday surroundings present and we are always happy to monkey around with them..!

Next week will see us starting regular classes for Bales College Secondary School in West London, the latest addition to our Schools Parkour Programme. Bales College is another school we will be managing as part of the Schools Partnership project with the City of Westminster, and with so many schools reaching out for us to teach this year should see vast growth of the discipline at a grass roots level. Quintin Kynaston, the pioneer school for this programme, is still going strong after two years of very successful regular classes.

With Stephane, Dan, Chris and Julie preparing to head out to New York next week to perform at the Youtube 'Upfront' Event on the 13th and then run an open training day in Central Park on the 14th, it seems the scene is not waiting around to get the action going... particularly among the women! Emulating our regular London Girl Jams, and encouraged by our own Tracey, several traceuses in New York have staged their very own women-only training day and it was such a success they plan to make it a monthly event.

Johann Vigroux has just returned to the UK from Brazil, and the seminar he gave out there last week was a huge success. With a big turnout by the Brazilian traceurs, plus some female practitioners, the event had some purpose-built structures for use under cover as well as some very interesting outdoor areas. Good skills on display all round, along with a solid approach to training and a good attitude from everyone involved. Thanks to Jean and Luiz for looking after Johann so well, and to Kalebe for teaching him how to surf..!

Julie Angel's new short film for Yahoo's Global City Beats featuring the female community of our Parkour Academy has been going extremely well, with the traceuses demonstrating some impressive fluidity and skill throughout. The filming continues today, with Julie hoping to finish the edit by the end of the month.

Outdoor Classes on Wednesdays and Fridays for March are now open for booking, either in person at the Academy sessions or by emailing dan (at) parkourgenerations.com. Kazuma's Advanced Class on Tuesday evenings can also be booked online - details found at the above link. The classes book up fast, so don't hang about..!

Later this month, on Saturday 23rd February, we will at last be kick-starting regular Academy classes in Wiltshire. The classes will run from 1-3pm on Saturdays, and all dates will soon be confirmed here on the site. The Calne Parkour guys have been behind this all the way, so a big thanks to them and we hope to see you all in class..!

We are currently planning to establish parkour workshop days in conjunction with Sport England's Sport Action Zone programme in London's Lambeth and Southwark areas, offering access to the discipline to the many schools thereabouts. Sport Action Zones were set up by Sport England in 2000 in response to recommendations from Central Government.