UCF graduate directs documentary on Parkour movement

Imagine a world where people moved from place to place by walking on walls and soaring over fences; where people sat on ledges instead of in chairs and walked on buildings instead of sidewalks. This is kind of world that alumnus Cedric Dahl turned into a documentary called People In Motion.

Dahl, who graduated from UCF in 2007 with a degree in business and information systems, was working on a movie about people living in the city when he stumbled upon the parkour scene. In the movement-based sport, which also goes by the name of freerunning, athletes use momentum to walk on walls and sit on high ledges.

"They can move in a way that normally we would say, ‘That's not possible,' or, ‘There's no way to do that,'" Dahl said. "We can walk around, we can sit down and that's the only way we for us to move. These guys are like, ‘The world is our playground,' and they do what ever they want with it."

Parkour, founded by a French naval officer during World War I, is the art of moving from one place to another in the most efficient way possible, according to ParkourTrain.net. It's a sport that can benefit an athlete physically by working out every inch of his or her body and mentally by requiring the athlete to think on his or her feet. The sport can lead to an increase in confidence, according to an article by the Medical Daily Reporter.

Shane Farmer, the casting director for the film, said he was looking for people to represent that kind of energy and confidence through exposing their creative talent. And though this was a group that didn't obey society's rules and was sometimes ousted for it, Farmer said that the people he met were very accepting.

"From the instant I was there they made me feel welcome," Farmer said. "It's very easy to get into that group and expect that they're gonna shun you because you don't do what they do, and because you don't have their ability level. But these guys want everyone to be able to do it."

David Agajanian, one of the five athletes featured in the documentary, uses his experience in gymnastics to help with some of his stunts. He said the fear of the fall that often holds people back from parkour was erased by his years of competing. Even though he trains for the same movement as the other athletes, being the only gymnast has changed the way he views his obstacles

"I look at a lot of my apparatuses as a gymnast's apparatus," Agajanian said. "I see a tree branch, I see a high bar. I see grass, a see a gymnastic floor. I see a wall, I see a vault. I don't think anyone else is seeing that."

The parkour lifestyle definitely goes against what is expected in society, and Agajanian is fully aware of that. He blames his addiction to adrenaline for the risky behavior.

"A lot of things that scare me are appealing, I really enjoy scaring myself," Agajanian said.

There's more to parkour than the adrenaline that comes from stunts. Athletes say they tend to be happier when they interact with their surroundings through movement.

"You can get inner peace, wisdom and happiness just playing with the world around you," Dahl said. "Serotonin and dopamine, fundamental things that make you happy, you have a tremendously larger chance of getting those things by doing parkour."

Though the movie is set to premiere on Feb. 26 in San Diego, the crew behind this film hopes to show it at UCF in the near future. To view the trailer and pre-order a copy of the film, visit http://www.peopleinmotionmovie.com.