Obstacles don’t get in way of these athletes
Parkour enthusiasts jump at the chance to meet their idols at Toronto jam session
Watching a teenager run towards a wall, jump up and use his feet to propel himself into a spin, while another flips his body over a rail and another flings himself off a 19-foot ledge aren’t exactly typical sights at the gym. But then again, the Monkey Vault isn’t your typical gym.
On Wednesday, the indoor parkour facility in the Stockyards District hosted two of the world’s most celebrated athletes in the nascent sport, Americans Jesse La Flair and Cory DeMeyer.
The pair were in town promoting their documentary “From Here to There” and as part of the tour they host a jam in every city — basically an invitation for parkour enthusiasts to come and play. But what is parkour exactly?
“Parkour is fast and efficient movement — practising going over, under or through any obstacles that might be in your way while travelling from point A to point B,” said La Flair.
Picture scrambling over walls, leaping from building to building and jumping over ledges.
“I’ve been watching Jesse for a long time. He’s my idol,” said 13-year-old Ian Clarke, one of 50 or so participants to show up for the special session.
Clarke has been doing parkour for five years but this is his first time at a gym especially designed for the sport. He discovered parkour while watching “fails” on YouTube which eventually led him to La Flair’s YouTube channel.
His mom was less thrilled he shared his discovery with her.
“I was shocked when he first started showing me videos,” said Alison Clarke.
But she has seen him in action and now even takes videos of him practising at the park.
“I like that he’s doing something that he loves,” she said.
Following your passion is a big part of the message from DeMeyer and La Flair. The documentary tails the pair hopping across Europe on a shoestring budget to enter competitions on their first tour in 2013, eventually placing first and third in the most established freerunning competition, the Red Bull Art of Motion in Santorini, Greece.
Freerunning is a sport similar to parkour but the emphasis is on artistic expression, incorporating more difficult moves like flips and spins through a course.
La Flair, 29, discovered parkour 10 years ago after stumbling upon a group practising at his college, SUNY New Paltz. DeMeyer, 27, went to a workshop after watching a freerunning video five years ago. After his first session, he went home to his now-fiancée and told her: “This is what I want to be doing for the rest of my life.”
The discipline has been popularized in film and television, with one of the most recognizable performances being a scene in the 2006 James Bond film Casino Royale, where Daniel Craig chases Sebastian Foucan, the founder of freerunning. So it might not come as a surprise that part of how La Flair and DeMeyer make a living is as stuntmen. DeMeyer recently doubled for Elijah Wood in the upcoming film The Last Witch Hunter.
Coming from a martial arts background, DeMeyer loves the discipline of the sport.
“I like that freerunning has the same moral guidelines as martial arts but has more freedom within the movement,” said DeMeyer.
And that was the spirit of the jam session on Wednesday, which was less about instruction and more about “the discovery of movement,” said La Flair.
Monkey Vault, which has classes for children as young as six, is equipped with staircases that lead nowhere, blocks to jump on and over, and bars at all heights to fling oneself off of.
The crowd the event attracted is reflective of the sport — mostly boys and young men. La Flair acknowledges the gender imbalance in the sport, but points out there are women competing at high levels, including Luci “Steel” Romberg, who is on the same L.A.-based freerunning team as La Flair and DeMeyer.
Chloe Hau recently took up the sport and hopes more girls and women will too.
“I know it’s a little bit intimidating,” she said. “But everyone is so encouraging.
The 29-year-old is a crossfit trainer who started visiting Monkey Vault last December. “I got hooked — it’s just like being a kid again.”
Hau did gymnastics when she was a kid and has also played hockey and water polo. But she loves how parkour pushes her limits.
“There’s a new challenge everyday,” she said. “You’re always continuing to learn, you’re always growing.”