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BOSTON - As public transit riders stream out from the MBTA stop at Government Center on a Sunday afternoon, seven young men and women dash up a slanted brick wall next to the subway stairs. They arc near the top to run sideways, across and back down with gravity-defying momentum. One leaps off early, flies through the air and lands on the paved ground, instantly tucking into a fluid roll that disperses the impact. They range in age from 13 to 26, wearing T-shirts, track pants and running shoes, and their unconventional motion is a sudden break in the monotony of pedestrian travel.
They are traceurs, practitioners of a physical discipline called Parkour. The term originates from the French word parcours, or "course" - as in obstacle course. To practice Parkour is to practice a philosophy of effective movement, finding creative paths through any environment and challenging expectations of the human body's capabilities.
Once completely unknown to mainstream public knowledge, Parkour has been popularized over the last few years through Internet videos, media exposure in ads and screen time in big action flicks like the latest James Bond movie, "Casino Royale." But popularity comes with a price; sensationalism surrounds the subject, as well as negative misconceptions and officials who prevent traceurs from practicing the discipline in public.
For the last several months, Boston traceurs have been barred from their usual training grounds around Northeastern University, shooed away by campus police whenever they are seen.
"[The officers are] obligated to ask people to refrain from participating in activities that might injure themselves or others," James Ferrier, Northeastern's associate director of public safety, told Northeastern News last October. "The university would be placed in a potentially liable situation if someone got hurt."
The portrayal of Parkour as an extreme sport or dangerous pastime is fueled by media spots featuring practitioners who bound from rooftop to rooftop and perform similar high-risk stunts. However, it's an incomplete picture of the discipline, which is far more commonly exercised at the ground level.
Darren Donahoe, 26, flows like water as he navigates a set of rails winding up the edge of a handicap-accessible ramp near Harvard Square. He grips the top bar with both hands and swings feet first through the narrow gap between the bar and a lower rung in a technique known as an "underbar." It's one of many fundamental movements traceurs learn in their progression through the discipline, a skill set that includes vaulting, rolling, climbing, balance, precision jumping and safe landings.
Parkour began around 15 years ago in the Parisian suburb of Lisses; local athlete David Belle is its most credited founder. Sebastien Foucan, a childhood friend of Belle's, later pioneered "free running," a more acrobatic school of the discipline that focuses on aesthetics over efficiency. Belle drew inspiration from his father, a French soldier in the Vietnam War who trained with his comrades in the "methode naturelle" developed by physical theorist George Hébert. The "natural method" consists of physical conditioning patterned after the skills utilized by prehistoric humans and indigenous people for survival.
Bring those maneuvers into the urban jungle, and you have the essence of Parkour. Where man-made structures contain us in cubicles, direct our traffic and herd us through predetermined routes, traceurs break free of barriers in their path and use them as a springboard for action. A concrete wall does not represent a dead-end, but merely an obstacle to overcome, a challenge to conquer.
"You're really problem solving, and learning obstacles have a way around them," said Mark Toorock, the 36-year-old founder of AmericanParkour.com. "That's something you can apply to other things in your life."
The spread of Parkour into an international movement has met mixed reactions from much of society. Some, like the spectators at Government Center, are dazzled by the remarkable feats of human ability and welcome their display in public spaces. Others are less thrilled, due to issues of danger and liability.
"It always seems the bad media outweighs the good, because that's what sticks in someone's mind," said Chris Levesque, 25, Northeastern alum and founder of the local group New England Parkour. "Someone gets injured, or portrayed as death-defying; it just takes a few bad articles to give us a negative representation."
For Levesque, Parkour means "being useful, training yourself so that you can be prepared in any situation and help other people."
One can imagine a firefighter needing to navigate a burning building as quickly as possible to save a person trapped inside. And for Jesse Woody, a certified CrossFit trainer from Virginia and father of two, the analogy is not far from reality.
Woody teaches Parkour techniques to emergency personnel, law enforcement, the Navy SEALs and Special Forces around the country. They have to operate under the kind of circumstances where it is genuinely useful, Woody said.
"Every single aspect of fitness can be trained through Parkour," he added. "Strength, balance, agility, coordination, commitment, confidence. It's the pinnacle of what the human body is capable of."
Woody is optimistic about the chances of Parkour gaining acceptance. "If law enforcement itself starts to realize the validity of an activity, they're less likely to kick people out," he said.
Parkour is still considered a relatively new movement, having become widely recognized only within the last few years. Its future is uncertain, faced with hurdles created by societal restrictions. But in the nimble mindset of traceurs, any difficulty thrown in their path is fair game for surmounting.
"My take on Parkour is that it's primal. It's instinctive. It's what humans were meant to do," said Toorock. "We've gotten so far away from the creatures that we're supposed to be: we don't eat right, exercise, play or think on our feet anymore. We are inquisitive, active, sociable beings. We need to challenge each other, pull each other along. That's why I do Parkour."
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