Freestyle walking
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The art of freestyle walking (loosely related to free running) is a means of self-expression and creative interaction with one's environment. Many of the practitioners of this art form excelled at the sport by freestyle walking to find more full involvement with their otherwise routine surroundings. Freestyle walkers use leaps and air moves, clever footwork, dance or any non-traditional walking movement.
Today, many practitioners view it as the act of rollerblading or skateboarding without the skates or board. Some participants use soap shoes with grind plates that allow the freestyle walker to grind or slide easily along surfaces such as curbs, ledges and bars. With the increase in popularity of soap shoes during the mid-late-1990s, many newcomers to freestyle walking mistakenly began to refer to the act of grinding using soap shoes as freestyle walking.
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[edit] Moves
Some basic examples of freestyle walking moves include:
- Stalls
- Craigy special
- Slides
- Swings
- Hangings
- Flips
- Spins
- Late Spins
- Vaults
- Jangles
- Alakazips
- Squirly Man
- Flying Squirrel
- Taps
- Oregon Twist
- Hops
- Grabs
- Smushy Face
- Rolls
- Signature Josh Voydik shuffle
- BXR Newb Combo
- Double Engine Half Peacepipe
[edit] Related arts
Related art forms are extreme walking and trail rushing, similar in motivation but including additional elements. Extreme walking normally involves any element of danger, whereas the related art of trail rushing is essentially freestyle walking on a trail. Both of these (as well as soaping) are considered to be subsections of the larger concept of freestyle walking.
Some consider a correlation between the urban art, or discipline, of parkour and freestyle walking, however there are considerable differences. Although there are seemingly similar physical movements, there is a considerable motivational difference which exists between the two sports. Parkour focuses on efficiency of movement and speed; freestyle walking focuses on more of a spontaneous/glorious movement style. There is more of a correlation between freestyle walking and free running, however, as both focus on aesthetic movements over efficiency.
Another derivitve of freestyle walking is freestyle coning, in which participants confine their "freestyling" to the area around a small traffic cone, often using the cone in the freestyle.
[edit] Equipment
The equipment needed for freestyle walking is nothing but an urban to sub-urban landscape and a person wanting to express themselves. To help with some of the more difficult moves, such as wall rides, a shoe may be made to give more grip while getting rid of some of the excess weight.
