Parkour jumps the pond

As the sun sets over a brisk IU campus, junior Geoff Stewart begins his ascent over his next obstacle: the red, loopy statue outside the IU Art Museum.\nThe fading light casts eerie shadows on his determined face as he mounts the statue and clambers down on the other side, finishing the stunt with a forward roll. While this is just a normal occurrence in Stewart's daily life, a group of passers-by stops in its tracks after seeing Stewart's stunt.\nBut staring is something he is used to.\nA participant of Le Parkour, or a "traceur," Stewart has been finding his own way to maneuver around obstacles for a year. He first learned of the sport after it was featured in a Nike shoe commercial and decided to research the philosophy before practicing.\nLe Parkour -- a term derived from the French word "parcours" which translates as "course" -- is a physical discipline based on the idea of finding a creative way to move around obstacles. It involves a series of complicated moves, unique to each participant, to get from point A to point B in the most efficient way possible.\n"A lot of people say that you're supposed to be like water," Stewart said. "When you meet an obstacle, you form your way around it instead of fighting your way through it."\nLe Parkour was founded in France by David Belle in the 1980s and is steadily making its way into cultures around the globe. Belle's inspiration, Stewart said, stemmed from Vietnamese military training. After combining many of the moves Vietnamese soldiers practiced, and also taking cues from a similar sport called "free running," Belle created Le Parkour.\nWhile there are dozens of moves for traceurs to implement into their own style, Le Parkour is widely acknowledged as an individual art form. \n"It's an expression of self," Stewart said. "It's poetry in motion in a forward progression." \nThe best way to improve, Stewart added, is to try new stunts and find what works.\nMost of the moves involve climbing, jumping or rolling. While the names of many of the moves are self-explanatory, they range from the "cat balance" to "quadrupedal movement," according to www.parkour.net. The wall climb involves overcoming a wall, usually by kicking off the wall and transforming "forward momentum into upward momentum." The cat balance, on the other hand, involves balancing on a ledge while engaging in forward movement. \nAlthough Le Parkour may seem extreme and dangerous, Stewart said he's never been concerned about getting hurt.\n"It just comes with the territory -- you get used to it," he said.\nStewart said Le Parkour is steadily growing in popularity. With room to be expressive and creative, it appeals to many people; already there have been more than a dozen movies that feature the art of Le Parkour. And the sport has also appeared in video games, TV shows and music videos.\nWith the likelihood of an outbreak of Le Parkour on America's horizon, don't be surprised if the next time you walk to class, you spy another student climbing over a bench, scaling a sign or rolling through a hedge.\nAfter all, in the eyes of a traceur, rolling through a bush is far more efficient -- and fun -- than walking around it.