Ask any traceur or traceuse and they’ll tell you the same thing: parkour isn’t just a sport, it’s a lifestyle. Traceurs (male) and traceuses (female) are practitioners of parkour, which is quick and efficient movements between obstacles.

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Since being developed in France in the late 1980s, the discipline has become widely popular across the world and the UAE is no exception. Look no further than the nation’s capital where UAEParkour, a community of parkour, free-running, tricking and stunt work practitioners, hone their craft.

After being formed in 2006, UAEParkour’s original members have mostly moved on, including founder Steve Smuts. The community is now headed by Stephen Moss, a 35-year-old qualified coach hailing from the UK, and 19-year-old Jordanian Iyad Al Mrouj, along with a core of 10 members. If you regularly roam Abu Dhabi and have yet to see anyone perform death-defying stunts like those in the parkour chase of Casino Royale, understand there’s a lot more to the method than scaling buildings.

“People always see the crazy jumps and think these guys have just gone for it, but you don’t see the hours building up to that jump. You start with small stuff and keep perfecting it until you can land the jump perfectly every time,” Moss said.

“You build it up to the next level and eventually when you find yourself atop a building and there’s a gap you know you can jump over, the idea is you’ve done it so many times that it’s a calculated risk and you know you can do it.”

Moss, who has been in the UAE now for three years, got into parkour after seeing a documentary called Jump London, released in 2003. “Loads of people in the UK started straight after that documentary because they were inspired by it,” Moss said. “I was in the countryside and there was nowhere to do it, but a few years later I moved to London and started taking part in the classes.

“It’s something I was doing as a kid anyways. I tried team sports and liked football, but I was never really that good at them. Parkour just seemed like it would suit me better so I tried it and it did.”

Moss has a Level 2 ADAPT (Art du Deplacement and Parkour Teaching) Coaching Certificate, as well as being a Level 2 Gym Instructor, but believes fitness or athleticism aren’t prerequisites for doing parkour.

“It can be done by anybody because it’s what you make it,” Moss said. “It doesn’t have to be the big jumps. It can be small, tiny movements that link together. You could practice a jump all day long if you wanted to and you’d still be doing parkour.”

Though parkour competitions exist globally, there currently aren’t any in the region. Instead, UAEParkour often hold performances in which they bring obstacles and do flips, for example at mall events or promotional events like photo shoots and advertisements.

Anyone who is interested in being a part of the community can do so by attending weekly ‘jams’ or adult classes.

Jams are unstructured gatherings where practitioners train together, held every Friday at the Corniche. For those wanting more structured sessions to learn technique, adult indoor classes for ages 16 and up take place every Tuesday at The British School Al Khubairat.

Check out UAEParkour’s Meetup page at www.meetup.com/ UAEParkour to keep up to date when the community gets together.

What: UAEParkour
Founded: 2006
Geared towards: Parkour enthusiasts
When & where: Jams every Friday at the Corniche, Abu Dhabi and adult indoor classes every Tuesday at The British School Al Khubairat
Contact & info: Visit www. uaeparkour.com and www. meetup.com/UAEParkour for more information