A massive thanks to all that made it down to Sunday's Off The Wall yesterday, as well as the residents of Lewisham and Greenwich for having such an overwhelmingly positive attitude.
Yesterday we ran another highly successful workshop for the Wiltshire Alternative Youth Sports organisation, this one being held in Trowbridge and running all day as part of a sports festival. Highlight of the day was a 10 year old girl outdoing boys much older than her in the catleap training..! Thanks to Nick Thrower of WAYS for his continuing efforts to raise awareness of fitness and physicality among the young people of Wiltshire.
A reminder that this month's Off The Wall open gathering will be held on Sunday June 29th in Greenwich. Although not a very well documented spot, its renowned for its elevated walls which lead up to one of the clearest views of London. To get there, we'll be meeting slightly earlier than usual at Lewisham Station as part of the Jam will be taking the journey to the station itself. For those that wish to, there's a long stretch of road along the way that can be taken with minimal need to touch the ground at all.
Although there are newspaper and magazine articles happening all the time, every now and again a decent and truly positive one shows up..! The July issue of German style and sports publication Rausch Magazine features a long interview with Team Member Tracey, which touches on the simple truths of the discipline of parkour and the pure joy it can bring to all practitioners. Worth a look if you can get hold of a copy outside of Germany!
On Friday 27th June we are running workshops at Rotherfield Primary School and on Friday 4th July we are at Newington Green Primary as part of the Healthy Living Festivals, which aim to promote the many benefits of active and healthy lifestyles. Getting children involved in the discipline from a young age has proven to be extremely powerful in encouraging in them a positive and health-oriented mindset, and is something we are very much supportive of.
In July of this year we will be working closely with the renowned Sport Performance Assessment and Rehabilitation Centre at Roehampton University (SPARC) to carry out the first physiological tests into the effects and benefits of parkour training. Several of the Parkour Generations team will be involved in the tests, which will utilise the latest physical analysis equipment to measure all aspects of the traceur's profile during practise.
Due to Kazuma being away for the next two weeks, his Advanced Class on Tuesday evenings will not be running on the 1st or 8th of July. The class will recommence as usual on Tuesday 15th July, and anyone wishing to book a place should email Kazuma on Kazuma(at)parkourgenerations.com.
The new Friday Academy Class got off to a good start last week, and continues every Friday from 7.30-9.30pm at Moberly Sports Centre on Kilburn Lane. Taught by Forrest and Chris, the class is focussing on all the fundamental aspects of parkour training just as with the long-standing Monday night class. All are welcome, no need to book, just turn up and dive in..!
A very short commercial shot for Kodak featuring Dom and Tracey can now be seen on our YouTube Channel - filmed late last year in the freezing cold, the final edit was limited to a 30 second slot and so 95% of the action shot was left on the cutting room floor as so often happens with these projects..!
Yesterday's parkour workshops we ran at the annual Proactive Islington Festival of Sports in Arsenal's renowned Emirates Stadium in London were a great success, with high levels of engagement among the young people who attended the festival. The workshops, led by Coaches Peter and Yao, certainly struck a chord with the organisers and attendees and have once brough the discipline to a whole new audience.
The shoot for Canon at District 13 is now done, with Julie capturing some of the best action footage to date. Seb and Steph were both on top form, breaking massive new jumps at the famous location, and the finished edit should be something very special... We will let you know here first where and when the commercial can be seen.
Yesterday saw Channel 4's online tv show, Bite, covering our Women's Class, with presenter Ami boldly throwing herself into the training. The piece will air soon at the Channel 4 sitelink above. Huge thanks to all the students for allowing themselves to be filmed during the class!
This Saturday will see us running workshops from 1-3pm at the annual Proactive Islington Festival of Sports in Arsenal's renowned Emirates Stadium in London. Entry to the festival is totally free, and the entire event runs from 12-6 that day with lots of sports and activities going on. Please come on down and join in!
This week on June 19th and 20th we will be shooting a commercial for Canon and their 'Freecording' Campaign in District 13 of Paris, one of the most famous parkour spots in the world. Julie Angel will be directing and shooting the piece, with Seb and Stephane providing the action.
The latest in our 'Insights Into Training' series, Behind The Jump, is now online and can be seen on this website or on the Parkour Generations YouTube Channel. This episode focuses on one aspect of the simplest yet most beneficial conditioning exercises in parkour, quadrupedie, and looks at the benefits and method of practising it upon a railing. Simple, yet very effective.
This month's Off The Wall open gathering will be held on Sunday June 29th in Greenwich. Although not a very well documented spot, its renowned for its elevated walls which lead up to one of the clearest views of London. To get there, we'll be meeting slightly earlier than usual at Lewisham Station as part of the Jam will be taking the journey to the station itself. For those that wish to, there's a long stretch of road along the way that can be taken with minimal need to touch the ground at all.
This Saturday will see the first screening, in association with Westminster City Council, Futurecity and the London Festival of Architecture, of 'The Making of Traceurs: to trace, to draw, to go fast', a documentary by our own Julie Angel following the making of a series of artist's films by Layla Curtis. Curtis uses heat-seeking cameras to trace the navigation of the urban landscape by traceurs revealing an unconventional view of the city.
A couple of weeks ago we spent a day shooting a promotional video for Feral (UK) Ltd, an environmental awareness orgnaisation that makes ecologically sound clothing - while the shoot proper was going on we also managed to film some behind-the-scenes footage and talk to the director of Feral as well as the team members who were taking part. This candid edit can now be seen on our YouTube Channel here.
Filming for Behind The Jump Volume 5 has been ongoing this week and the last few shots are set to be done tomorrow - meaning this latest instalment in our 'Insights into Training' series will be released in the coming week and can be seen first on our official YouTube channel. Keep 'em peeled..!
We were recently approached by the inspirational Make-A-Wish Foundation® UK (Charity Registration No.(England & Wales) 295672 Charity Registration No.(Scotland) SC037479) regarding a young man from America living with Synovial Sarcoma whose dream is to learn parkour in the UK with Parkour Generations. Drake, only 17, will be coming all the way from the States to London between the 19-26 of July and will be cramming in as much training as is possible for that week..! We very much look forward to meeting him and helping him achieve this dream.
As of June 20th we will be opening up our Indoor Academy Class at Moberly Sports Centre on Friday nights as well as the regular Monday And Thursday sessions. On Thursdays we will be concentrating more on developing the fitness and physical attributes necessary for parkour, with the Mondays and Fridays touching on all aspects of parkour training.
Today sees another in the Positive Futures Workshops programme, with two of our team running a session for young people from 'at risk' areas in conjunction with Westminster Sports Unit. Positive Futures is a national partnership between Sport England, UK Anti-Drugs Co-ordination Unit and the Youth Justice Board. The project aims to use sport to reduce anti-social behavior, crime and drug misuse among 10 - 19 year olds from selected and disadvantaged neighborhoods.
This weekend saw us begin forging a relationship with the ethical clothing company Feral (UK) Ltd, starting with a shoot on the 7th Of June with Claire Cunden, Feral's director. The video will help promote their very worthwhile cause of providing a way for people to demonstrate care for nature while looking and feeling good too! Thanks to Stephane, Johann, Brian, Alex, James, Andy, Naomi, Peter, Chris and Dom who were happy and motivated to help. Video edit to come soon...
Volume 4 in our 'Insights Into Training' series, Behind The Jump, has just gone online and can now be seen on our YouTube channel here. This particular volume focuses on simple movement training, incorporating foot placement, precision, fluidity, speed, and touch. You can see all previous Volumes in our Videos Section.
Today has seen Johann, Dan and Kazuma in action all over central London for a new video edit commissioned by Austrian marketing agency, Draftfcb to create a piece that follows on from last year's City Gents project shot for Italian fashion company Il Ponte. As before this video is being directed and shot exclusively by our own Julie Angel, and is already looking to be another great action edit.
A reminder that this Sunday, June 8th, there will be a Women's Jam in London. These training days are open to any women of any level of ability for practise, learning, sharing knowledge and experience and are completely free to attend. Always great fun too! For more information email Tracey(at)parkourgenerations.com
On June 19th and 20th we will be shooting a commercial for Canon and their 'Freecording' Campaign in Distrcit 13 of Paris, one of the most famous parkour spots in the world. Julie Angel will be directing and shooting the piece, with Seb and Stephane providing the action. Should be a great piece and we are very excited about shooting in District 13 again...
Yesterday saw the beginning of a long roadtrip by three Parkour Generations Team Members - Thomas, Andy Day (aka Kiell) and Blane - across the continent from the little town of Tours in France to and around Italy. Travelling in Thomas' ancient yet trusty Citroen 2CV, the guys will be meeting up with parkour communities all around Italy as they travel to train and pass on their knowledge with Kiell capturing the whole trip for posterity on his camera as they go.
Tuesday 3rd June will see us running a day of workshops for Roehampton University's Festival event, which marks the beginning of a series of projects we will be engaging in over the summer with the university's Sport and Wellbeing Department. The workshops will run from 10-12 and from 2-4 tomorrow, and will be held on Froebel College grounds.
A new video by the Brazilian PKMAX group has just gone online, featuring Parkour Generations Team Member Thomas as he leads training at a seminar in Brazil and talks about how he got started in parkour and gives some advice for those keen to take up the discipline now. Click here to watch the video. Very well put together, with some sage words from Thomas des Bois..
This month the Women's Outdoor Classes, run by Tracey, Stephane and Kazuma, fall on Thursdays June 5th and 19th, and there are a couple of spaces still available for reservation. To book one of these spots, email Tracey on Tracey(at)parkourgenerations.com. As always, first come first served!
This month's GQ Magazine will be featuring an advertorial shot in Amsterdam with Stephane and Seb. The magazine goes on sale this week, June 5th, so be sure to pick up a copy.
