Remember back in the 80’s, when no self-respecting action movie could come out without ninjas? We have reached that golden point again, my friends — only now instead of black-clad Asian stereotypes kicking Michael Dudikoff in his blow-dried head, we’ve got a French style of street acrobatics known as Parkour.  It involves sprinting, scrambling up walls, vaulting over obstacles, and generally looking like a complete bad-ass. (See CASINO ROYALE, LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD, the DISTRICT B-13 flicks… even the space-smurfs in AVATAR are doing it.)

Now if you, like me, are more of an “armchair bad-ass” and don’t want to risk breaking your spine while leaping over the bike-rack outside Taco Bell, The Los Angeles School of Gymnastics has the perfect thing for you: Thursday Night “Intro to Parkour” Classes — where a ridiculously skilled instructor will teach you basic rolls, vaults, and climbs, and the floor is made of nice, cushy padding for when you fall.  There is no size, skill, or experience level requirement (I’ve taken the class before, and was given nothing but warm encouragement and great coaching, despite most of my maneuvers looking like something from “Kung Fu Panda” before the panda learns kung-fu.)

You never know; this time next year, you could be making a dazzling escape down a set of scaffolding while taunting Bruce Willis. Register by emailing pkcali@gmail.com.

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WHAT: Parkour Lessons
WHEN: Every Thursday, 8:15 pm – 9:45 pm
WHERE: LA School of Gymnastics
$$$: $15 per class

This entry was posted on Monday, February 22nd, 2010 at 7:41 pm and is filed under adventure, calendar, health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.