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News from July 2009
Next week, Friday 7th-Sunday 9th August, Team Members Blane and Seb will be running a seminar in Geneva, Switzerland, for our friends at Try N' Trace, the Swiss Parkour organisation. All details can be found at the link above, and after our last seminar there two years ago we are sure this one will be just as successful. Friday 31st of July 2009 
European Gathering: Denmark 3-7th August Stephane and Johann leave for Denmark this weekend to teach at next week's European Gathering organised by the Street Movement guys, alongside our partners the Yamakasi Founders at Majestic Force. Held in Copenhagen, the event is usually a very well run couple of days of seminars, and this year promises to be no exception. Friday 31st of July 2009 
Great Communities Day: Sat 1st August Tomorrow we will be running workshops all day at the CityWest Homes Great Communities Day, a City of Westminster event. The day is run every year in partnership with Lisson Green Tenants' & Residents' Association and Vital Regeneration, and is held on Lisson Green Estate in North West London. We will be there from 1-5pm, and participation is totally free. Come along and join in! For more details, hit the link above. Friday 31st of July 2009 
Pacific Northwest.. ahem, PARKOUR VISIONS The organisation formerly known as the Pacific Northwest Parkour Association, based in Seattle, USA, has just renamed itself Parkour Visions. Parkour Visions is a non-profit organization chartered by Northwest traceurs to further the goals of fostering collaboration among American parkour communities and supporting community projects that contribute to a healthier world. This includes coordinating and participating in cleanup and building/rebuilding efforts in public places, as well as bringing parkour to disadvantaged children in inner city areas. They are also the latest community to join in on One Great Leap, our global jam against climate change. Hit the link above to keep an eye on their progression. Friday 31st of July 2009 
London Paper Covers Women's Scene Yesterday the female members of the team and a few of the veteran female practitioners from the Academy spent the day shooting with The London Paper for a piece that will feature an article by Naomi Honey, a long-standing member of the London community. With the women's scene continuing to grow at speed this kind of coverage is long overdue and thoroughly deserved. Our Women's Classes are booked solid week in, week out, and we are very happy to see this vital part of the community thriving. To book a place on one of the classes, hit the link above. Friday 31st of July 2009 
This September, Parkour Generations and the Sandbag Climate Campaign are joining forces to organise a global parkour jam against climate change. It's called One Giant Leap. The event is designed to pressure governments to sign up to an ambitious global deal to tackle climate change at the end of this year. It’s our best chance yet of showing the world that parkour is a positive force in the local and global community. We’re hoping to make this the biggest international jam ever staged, and so far a whole host of parkour communities around the world have signed up to be part of the event, including Russia, Spain, Australia, USA, China, Egypt, Mexico, Spain, Kuwait, Indonesia, Singapore and more, with more joining the movement every day. One Giant Leap will take place on Saturday September 26th, and any community who wishes to get involved should contact us directly for further information and how to access the support necessary from Sandbag to make it happen. Together we can make a real difference, so lend your strength to the cause and drop us a line... Wednesday 29th of July 2009 
Films and Videos at Rendezvous IV One of the features of this year's annual international gathering in London, Rendezvous IV, will be the screening of a host of parkour action edits and favourite films on big screens at the Southbank Centre. These will play on loop throughout the event, including old classics as well as some shiny new films and interspersed with photographic slidehows dished up by Kiell himself. Of course, both Kiell and Julie Angel will be filming and shooting the whole event as well. Places are booking up fast, so to grab a spot for yourself hit the link above. Tuesday 28th of July 2009 
Now that the school terms have drawn to a close, our Summer programme of workshop courses commences in earnest. Today we have the first open sessions running for Westminster Summer University at Moberly Sports Centre and Camden Summer University held at Haverstock School, plus we begin the Positive Futures 'Edutain' course in central London for 8-13 year-olds, and later in the day continue the Marlborough College course in Wiltshire. All this before our own regular Monday Academy class tonight. For the next couple of months, almost every day will see these and similar courses running throughout London and the UK, so check our Events Calendar for more details and come along if nearby! Monday 27th of July 2009 
Off The Wall - Tomorrow! Sunday 26 July Reminder that tomorrow will see the monthly London Jam at Elephant and Castle. Come along to meet and train with others of all different abilities, beginner and veteran, from all around the country. Various Parkour Generations team members will also be on hand for any assistance or guidance you may want or require. We will be meeting outside the shopping centre exit of the elephant and castle tube station at 12:45pm, ready to move for 1pm. Come along and dive in! For more information email brian@parkourgenerations.com. Saturday 25th of July 2009 
Yesterday we opened up the booking limit on our weekly Women's Beginner Class, and the result was the biggest women's class to date - with 18 women from all over coming down to train! We had to draft in a couple more of our team to coach the session, but it was well worth it, with a great vibe and energy all round from all the participants. We are very happy to see the female scene expanding in this way, and much of it is due to the handful of long-term women practitioners in the UK who have been at the centre of this growth. We are sure it will continue to go from strength to strength. Friday 24th of July 2009 
As of next week we commence a whole host of summer workshops and courses with the City of Westminster, beginning with the Summer Camp at Moberly Sports Centre every day next week from 10am to 1pm, open to any and all between the ages of 8 and 25. On Tuesday 28th July Sky TV will be coming down to cover the day's teaching and interview some of the team for a news piece. News of the upcoming Westminster projects will be posted here as they unfold. Friday 24th of July 2009 
We frequently get asked during these tempestuous times whether the Outdoor Classes still run in bad weather... Recently Blane and Dan ran a class in the driving rain in London, which everyone loved and which resulted in Blane writing this Blog post. Training NEVER stops, no matter the conditions, and we encourage everyone to learn how to apply their training to any and all weather types. The aim in parkour is to be functional in any terrain, at any time - don't be a fairweather traceur: get out there and try it, and you might find you even like it... Friday 24th of July 2009 
Exuberant Animal Seminar in London At the end of August our friend Frank Forencich, founder of the Exuberant Animal training concept, will be delivering his first ever UK seminar for the Wild Fitness guys. Frank's book 'Way of the Owl' is a great read, and his approach to natural, functional, joyful exercise is very much in line with our holistic training in parkour. Click the links above to find out more. Friday 24th of July 2009 
A quick reminder that this weekend plays host to the London 2012 "Open Weekend" event. To collaborate with this celebration we are allowing our regular youth academy class held at westminster academy to be totally free to the public on Friday 24th July. This is open for anyone between the ages of 8 to 19. Friday 24th of July 2009 
Our monthly and very popular "Off the wall" Jam (Which is a birthday Jam this month!) will be held at Elephant and Castle on Sunday 26th July. Come along to meet and train with others of all different abilities, beginner and veteran, from all around the country. Various Parkour Generations team members will also be on hand for any assistance or guidance you may want or require. We will be meeting outside the shopping centre exit of the elephant and castle tube station at 12:45pm, ready to move for 1pm. For more information email brian@parkourgenerations.com. Thursday 23rd of July 2009 
So now that Rendezvous IV, London's annual international gathering for the global parkour community, has been announced for August 29/30, things are really beginning to gather momentum. Limited edition t-shirts and poster prints by Kiell will be available at the event as will a brand new DVD and our new Handbook. The event is booking up fast already, with people coming in from all over the world again... so click the link above and make sure you are involved. Wednesday 22nd of July 2009 
Parkour Generations is now officially a YouTube Partner, and our revamped YouTube page can be viewed here. We have a great relationship with YouTube, having performed live at their last two annual events in America, the most recent being the most watched event ever on the internet, with more viewers online that the Olympics had! Parkour has fast become one of the major sporting attractions amongst the online video viewing public, and YouTube have helped us raise the profile of the discipline in this way. We now look forward to an even healthier ongoing collaboration with YouTube, so hit the link above and come join us! Tuesday 21st of July 2009 
Stephane in Native Instruments Video Stephane has just finished shooting a fun little video for Native Instruments, the premier company developing innovative hardware and software for music production and performance for everyone from producers to musicians to DJs. The video was made for the latest USB DJ audio interface, called 'Audio 2 DJ', and can be seen HERE. Directed and produced by film-maker Julie Angel. Tuesday 21st of July 2009 
Pan-London Summer Uni Programme Next week the Summer University Programme commences across London, with over 35 boroughs running their own set of free activities for 8-25 year olds in the city. We begin with week-long parkour courses for Westminster and Camden on the 27th July, followed by Barnet the week after. We also deliver the AQA Accreditation Units 1 and 2 in Parkour at these courses, and they are great events for the local communities. Come along! Monday 20th of July 2009 
All Action Sports Show: Olympia From the 6-8th November this year we will be delivering our hugely successful workshop format at the All Action Sports Show, held at the incredible Olympia Exhibition Centre in London. The All Action Sports Show is the only non-niche sporting showcase for everyone, whether you’re new to sports or a long-term athlete; able-bodied or disabled; young or old. The aim of the event is to encourage participation in a wide range of sports across every community, and this year for the first time Parkour will feature prominently. More info on the event can be found at the above link, so put it in your diaries now ;) Monday 20th of July 2009 
Finally, Rendezvous IV is ready to go..! The annual international gathering of the most experienced practitioners in the world, bringing many of the founders and guiding lights in the discipline over to share their knowledge and experience with any and all who want to learn at some of London's most iconic hotspot training area, will for the first time ever be a summer event and is to be held over the weekend of 29/30 August. Again hosted in the grounds of the renowned Southbank Centre, expect two days of hard training, specific seminars, and special guests from all over the world, along with a number of extra features this time round... Places are limited and on a first come-first served basis, and all booking details can be found here. Not to be missed! Saturday 18th of July 2009 
Recently released in the UK, and due for worldwide release early next month, The Handbook of Parkour and Freerunning is now available in every major bookshop chain in the country and is being met with great reviews. Going some way to correcting a lot of the misconceptions of the discipline it stands as a perfect supplement to your training and a comprehensive introduction to parkour for those who want to know more about it. Click the link above to see it online at Amazon, and we will also be distributing the book right here on the website very soon. Friday 17th of July 2009 
Westminster Sessions: 16th July Today we are running special workshops for Westminster Sports Unit at Moberly Sports Centre, between 5-9pm. The sessions cater for young people, and will run alongside our regular Thursday night Academy Class and Women's Beginner Class. For more details on any of our classes and to book a place on one, click the links above to go to the Classes section of the site. Thursday 16th of July 2009 
Sportday 09: Westminster Demonstration This Friday, 17th June, is the City of Westminster Positive Future's Sportday 09 and we will be holding a live parkour exhbition event as part of the day. The event is hosted by the Westminster Academy Sports Centre in central London, and the parkour demonstration will run from 11.35-12.05am in front of a live audience of around 1000 people. For more information on the government's Positive Futures initiative, click the link above. Wednesday 15th of July 2009 
Today a new short film by Karen Palmer will be screened at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, a piece that stars several of the Parkour Generations Team in action and in words. As soon as the film is publicly available we will let you know here. Tuesday 14th of July 2009 
Today two new schools are joining our parkour workshop programme, Cardinal Wiseman School in Coventry and Marlborough College in Wiltshire. Lampton School in Hounslow also has us giving a workshop there this Wednesday, on top of all the regular schools which are still in term time for the next week or so. As the term draws to a clsoe, the summer programme of workshops begins, and more details can be found on our events calendar for these. Monday 13th of July 2009 
Today Team Member Thomas ran an open seminar in Sau Paulo, Brazil, and will be there for the next few days. The seminar is organised by the guys at Parkour.com Brazil - we have done several such seminars in Brazil over the last couple of years and the scene there is doing really well, with some very serious and committed practitioners at the heart of it. Keep it up guys! Sunday 12th of July 2009 
Today was the 31st monthly Women's Jam in London, and it was once again blessed with amazing sunshine despite being framed by bouts of rain both before and after it..! Blane and Andy were on hand to assist, with Tracey and Annty giving shape to the proceedings. Great to see Naomi fit and jumping again too. For more info on our weekly Women's Beginner classes or the jams, contact Tracey on tracey(at)parkourgenerations.com. And look out for Tracey's review on the Team Blog soon.. Sunday 12th of July 2009 
Today a reporter from the Australian Sydney Herald newspaper is coming into town to prepare a piece on parkour and the work we are doing. He'll be put through his paces by Blane at one of our regular training spots to give him a taste of the discipline, so we wish him the best of luck.. ;) Sunday 12th of July 2009 
Saturday's day of workshops for the Scouts' Gilwell 24 event went very well, with great participation and enthusiasm from many of the 4,000 scouts at the festival. The sessions ran non-stop from 10am-6pm despite the occasional downpours, and there was a good vibe all day long with the Scouts showing a lot of spirit and guts to take on the challenges. Good to see some of the local traceurs joining in as well, we look forward to catching those guys at the next Off the Wall jam in London (last Sunday of this month). Sunday 12th of July 2009 
We're all over the place this weekend: Saturday we'll be at Gilwell 24, running a day of workshops for the Scouts. Sunday we'll be at two separate London festival - Westminster's Church Street Festival for young people and the Kilburn Grange Park Festival in Camden, delivering day-long workshops and demos at both events. Also on Sunday we'll be running a journalist from Australia's Sydney Herald newspaper through his paces, and of course the Women's Jam will be happening from 12pm onwards on the same day. Pick an event and come join us! Saturday 11th of July 2009 
Olympics Open Weekend: July 24-26 This month we are collaborating with London 2012's Open Weekend event by opening up our regular Youth Academy class to the public for free. The Youth Academy has always been free for young people who live in the Westminster Borough of London, and this will be extended to anyone between the ages of 8-19 on Friday 24th July. London 2012 Open Weekend celebrates art, culture, sport, and everything that makes up the London 2012 Games. Last year around 700,000 people enjoyed 655 events and this year promises to be bigger and better – a three-day celebration for the whole of the UK. So take this opportunity to join in, try something new, and be inspired by London 2012! Wednesday 08th of July 2009 
A quick reminder that the 31st monthly WOMENS JAM takes place this Sunday: Wednesday 08th of July 2009 
After a very minor and easy to fix issue with the new facebook username system, our friends over at facebook.com have sorted out our new shortened URL to our profile page. Tuesday 07th of July 2009 
Extras Wanted! July 9th Video Shoot This Thursday we will be shooting the end of a music video for a forthcoming DJ product, filming a party scene with our one and only Julie Angel on the roof of the Queen of Hoxton bar/club in East London. We need extras for the scene, who will be given free access to the roof garden area and free refreshments throughout the evening, which will have a real party vibe to it. You have to be over 21 to take part, and all details can be found HERE. So come along! Tuesday 07th of July 2009 
Gilwell 24: Scouts take up Parkour This Saturday a team of our coaches will be running a day of workshops for the Scouts' activity event, Gilwell 24. The event is open to all Explorer Scouts and Senior Section Guides, and consists of 24 long hard hours of fun and activities where half of the challenge is just keeping going until the bitter end. Just the way we like it..! Full details for the event can be found at the above link, and we will be on site at the Gilwell Park Activity Centre in Chingford, London, from 10am-6pm. Tuesday 07th of July 2009 
At 5.05pm today Dan will be talking on BBC Solent Radio about safety in parkour training and how important it is to approach the discipline in a methodical and gradual manner. Misunderstandings about the art are still rife with many thinking, wrongly, that it is unduly dangerous. Nothing could be further from the truth of course, and if practiced correctly parkour/freerunning will only make you fitter, stronger, healthier and safer all round. Tune in today online at the link above or on 96.1FM to listen to the DriveTime debate. Tuesday 07th of July 2009 
This week sees workshops happening at the usual 15 or so schools in the London area, along with one-hit sessions for Holloway Secondary and South Camden School, plus another workshop today for Westminster's Pupil Referral Unit. End of the week has us teaching and demonstrating at the Church Street Festival and the Kilburn Grange Festival, as well as running a workshop day for the Scouts on the weekend and giving a seminar in Brazil on the weekend. To get a full rundown of workshops this week, see our Events Calendar. A journalist from the Sydney Herald will be taken through his paces on Sunday, we are recording an interview piece for BBC Television today, and of course all our regular Academy Classes are in full flow the whole week. Business as usual... Monday 06th of July 2009 
The 6/7th July sees us running a 2-day workshop course for Boston Spa Sports College in Leeds, a school that has been described by OFSTED as 'an exemplary specialist sports college'. We have no doubt the sixth-formers going through the course will be dedicated and diligent in their training, and the team of instructors is very much looking forward to the event. Sunday 05th of July 2009 
Parkour Film in Powerlab Showcase Team Members from Parkour Generations have been working with film-maker Karen Palmer to create a new shot film which will be showcased at London's Institute of Contemporary Arts this month as part of the PowerLab Showcase. 12 PowerLab participants will present their projects as 'works in progress', ranging from digital theatre, music, film, moving image to spoken word. The PowerLab Showcase is the result of a series of master classes and intensive labs for creative entrepreneurs and artists which have taken place over the last 9 months. PowerLab, produced by B3 Media, is part of Powerbrokers Advance funded by the Cultural Leadership Programme. The project was developed with support from Channel4, National Theatre, Tate and the Young Vic. We'll let you know when the final edit goes public, as always! Saturday 04th of July 2009 
This weekend a large number of the Parkour Generations Team will be running two days of demonstrations and workshops for the finals weekend of the London Youth Games at Crystal Palace on the 4th and 5th of July. The London Youth Games are a unique season of events at the heart of youth sport in the Capital, involving all 33 London Boroughs and 26 National Governing Bodies. The Games are free and open to all young people, aged between 7 and 17, living in or going to school in the Capital. In 2008 over 27,000 participants represented their local borough in 60 competitions across 30 sports. With parkour playing a more and more important role now in the physical education of young people in the country it's great to have the discipline represented at such a positive event. For more information on the games, click the link above. Thursday 02nd of July 2009 
Employment and Education Day Workshops All day today we are running workshops for young people at Moberly Sports Centre as part of the City of Westminster's Employment and Education Day. This summer sees a raft of workshops going on for Westminster all over the borough as they continue to be the principle pioneering local authority for the discipline and for making it accessible to young people in London. Thursday 02nd of July 2009 
This morning Dan will be talking on BBC Radio 4 from 9-10am, for the Midweek show with Libby Purves. Tune in to 92-95FM or listen online at the BBC Radio 4 website. Wednesday 01st of July 2009 |
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