For new media artist Ali Kadhim, the internet is the natural place to expose his great passion – the French art of urban movement known as parkour. In 2007, Ali received an Emerging Producers in Community (EPIC) grant from the Australia Council to work at ICE for a year.
Workshops
While at ICE, Ali has been running weekly parkour workshops in Fairfield. Each week between five and 15 young participants gathered to learn the physical and mental skills required for parkour. They formed a diverse group from Chinese, Vietnamese, Assyrian, Indian and Italian backgrounds.
A one-off event was also held in Kingswood Park for 20 young people. Parkour workshops were combined with breakdancing and krump (freestyle dance) techniques to deliver a high-energy event.
All the parkour events have been carefully documented using photographs and film.
Ali Kadhim in PYT’s City Quest: Live video game performance in Fairfield. Photo Chris Michaels.
The website
The parkroar website, due to be launched in August, will feature all the videos and photos created during the project as well as info about any upcoming parkour workshops in western sydney and also any upcoming performances and projects from the team ‘9lives’.
The site will serve as a link for people wanting to learn more about parkour and freerunning as well as other urban artforms such as breakdancing, martial arts and tricking.
The movie
Ali is currently working with filmmaker Johhny Tran to make a film about parkour. Participants from the Fairfield workshops will be involved in the film and will learn about the basics of filmmaking as well as acting and scripting for a film.
Ali Kadhim in PYT’s City Quest: Live video game performance in Fairfield. Photo Chris Michaels.
Ali uses the facilities at Switch for the project, which involves running workshops in film production, parkour and web development for young people in Sydney’s West.
Links
Ali Kadhim is supported by the Australia Council for the Arts through the Emerging Producers in Community program (EPIC). The Kingswood Park Workshops were supported by Penrith City Council.
RELATED NEWS ARTICLES
Parkroar: the website | 12 August 2008
Krump and Parkour Presentation | 23 January 2008
Parkour and Urban Dance: Workshop Presentation | 5 January 2008
A fresh new media talent brings parkour online | 1 January 2008
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