Julie Angel is a filmmaker, author and photographer who documents the current ‘age of athletisiscm’ with a focus on Parkour, MovNat, buildering and much more. What’s buildering, you might be asking? I thought it was a typo at first, too, but Julie explains this small, but passionate, subculture as we get into the fascinating world of urban movement mavericks.
In this interview, Julie takes us back to the early beginnings of Parkour. In researching her Parkour-themed PhD thesis, she spent time on the streets getting to know the Yamakasi — the original group of Parkour practitioners — and got an up-close and personal look into the lives of these interesting characters who shaped the modern Parkour movement. To me, Parkour represents human wildness breaking free in domesticated landscapes — the human animal in movement across urban habitat. City dwellers, take note, this can be a unique way for you to utilize your environment for your natural movement practice! At the heart of Parkour, is a message of looking past the limitations of our environment, our innate, primal drive for sovereignty and embracing our intrinsic wildness.