Every Friday afternoon, Ali Kadhim and his students get together in an abandoned parking lot behind a bowling centre on the outskirts of Sydney. For the next few hours, they vault over handrails, leap up walls, somersault off fences, and engage with the urban landscape with feline agility. They are practising their own brand of parkour: a combination of the dynamic movement of breakdancing, the grace of gymnastics and the discipline of martial arts.
Kadhim, 21, has been practising and spreading the word about parkour for over six years. In 2002 he caught a Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! segment on David Belle’s Yamakasi crew – parkour royalty for those in the know – and was hooked immediately.
Kadhim obtained funding from the Australia Council for the Arts through the Emerging Producers in Community (EPIC) program and created Parkroar. The project has allowed him to conduct free workshops for the youth of Sydney’s western suburbs for almost two years. “I’m just trying to provide an outlet for young people and allow them to express themselves physically,” he says. In the past year, Kadhim and his group have also showcased their skills in numerous live performances and short films.
Developed by Parisian David Belle over a decade ago, parkour has infiltrated the mainstream and is getting bigger and bigger in Australia. Parkour Australia is a strong community of traceurs (parkour practitioners) with representatives all over the country, and the Australian Parkour Association holds regular classes in the eastern capitals, with attendees ranging from the mildly curious to hardcore enthusiasts. The association was formed in 2006 to promote the craft and prevent instructors from getting caught up in messy liability claims.
On the day we visit, one of Kadhim’s crew is nursing a fragile knee, and another sprains a calf muscle in the middle of a wall hop. The first aid kit is never far away at these sessions, and Kadhim doesn’t dodge the issue of safety. “Parkour can be dangerous,” he says, “but only when you don’t know your limits and try to push too quickly or too far. You need to be in control of your body.”
As for the increasing recognition of the sport, Kadhim is thrilled, but there’s something about regulating and conventionalising parkour that doesn’t appeal to him. “The instructors have uniforms,” he points out, as if that says it all. “It’s all so structured. I think I’d like to keep it street.”
Having said that, Kadhim does hold out hope on seeing a dedicated public facility in the future and has already approached the local council with a proposal. A parkour park would mean that parkour practitioners wouldn’t have to contend with glass shards on the asphalt – not to mention being eyed warily (and occasionally frisked) by the local police.
Until then, Kadhim’s free weekly workshops are sure to grow in popularity – two more dropped by to check it out that very day in fact. There’s no doubt that the crew will carry on honing their skills and, in every sense, going onward and upward.
Ali holds his free workshops outside AMF Bowling Centre, corner of Barbara Street and Railway Parade, Fairfield. Training starts at 6pm every Friday.
Ali Kadhim, Parkroar
www.parkroar.comParkour and Freerunning Australia
www.parkour.com.auAustralian Parkour Association (APA)
www.parkour.asn.auRhys James
APA Sydney Parkour Representative
0409 100 445
Sam Sinclair
APA Melbourne Parkour Representative
0450 281 488
Michael Kiting ‘Cimp’
APA Canberra Parkour Representative
Phone: 0421 716 057
Brisbane Parkour Representative
APA Shawn Forstpointner ‘Oz’
0434 544 382
By Darryn King
Photgraphs: Laura Parker