Topic outline

  • 1 - WHAT IS ЯAPKOUR?


    1.1 - ЯAPKOUR and youth values. Resilience and self-esteem.

    Both Rap and Parkour offer interesting material for the design of pedagogical programs aimed at developing resilience and improving the urban environment of young people, with the general aim of inducing healthy life changes within these populations.

    This is an opportunity to work with an integrated approach as it directly influences the overall social and personal development of young people.

    As far as resilience is concerned, the ЯAPKOUR programme offers complementary contributions to the development of healthy lifestyles:

    • On a physical level, Parkour offers a comprehensive training method that includes strength development, aerobics, and motor control;
    • Psychologically, if Parkour aims to push the practitioner out of their comfort zone by achieving various goals, it has an impact on the commitment and motivation of the individual, so as to increase self-esteem. In addition, creativity allows the individual to make ideas more flexible and adaptable to new situations that require a change of perspective;
    • Rap allows emotional expression through music, which helps manage fears and reduce anxiety of youth-related problems;
    • Both develop constancy to achieve their goals through work and perseverance by putting together artistic and physical performances. They are an excellent way to learn to take pleasure from your efforts;
    • Both optimally develop group awareness, cooperation and peer support, which is a key aspect of resilience through emotional support, awareness and empathy;
    • Both offer the opportunity to build group identities based on healthy and respectful values as alternatives to those associated with criminal or transgressive behaviour;
    • Both encourage positive leadership in both boys and girls in order to develop healthy educational synergies in their reference communities, helping others in difficult situations;
    • They encourage sociality through alternative recreational activities, leading to healthier, more responsible and caring behaviours among peers;
    • They give strength to groups which, because of their specific characteristics, have little social voice, which has implications for the re-evaluation of stigmatised stages of life that require attention;
    • In general, they encourage independent and creative thinking in order to develop problem solving, since, in Rap as in Parkour, the design of new paths is at the centre of the practice, both through the conception of lyrics and music and through physical movement.

    Together, these two disciplines help young people develop their skills, face situations where they need to improve, and rely on themselves and others.

    In addition, they increase emotional management skills, helping the individual learn to manage general negativity: anxiety, nervousness, stress, fear, insecurity, etc. Through practice, experience turns into self-confidence.

    In addition to resilience skills and emotional management, Rap and Parkour can teach professional skills through Rap and Parkour-related projects: rappers can specialize in audiovisual professions (sound engineer, videographer, etc.),  while traceurs can pursue careers as qualified fitness instructors or urban planners. Learning to build projects related to their passions could also help young people improve their leadership and management skills.

    Therefore, through these two activities, practicioners can become artists and professionals in different sectors, while they learn the tools of image and video, physical preparation, urban planning, etc. In addition, with the latest technological advances and increased accessibility to digital cameras, making video clips is now part of rap and parkour culture.


    1.2 - ЯAPKOUR as a means of social transformation.

    Rap and Parkour (or ЯAPKOUR) are great tools for improving the lifestyles of young people in need.

    It helps them to enjoy the surrounding space and discover how a place once associated even with hatred, a prison for one's body and mind, can be loved as it is and made better through actions. More generally, it helps them to be involved in society and to be recognised by it; it allows them to model it as they wish.

    It also makes them part of a community of people who share similar values and interests. It is an opportunity to work in unison towards a common goal and to show oneself and others that they are worth more.

    Moreover, they learn about limits: whether they are legal limits, respect for others or even for themselves: what is possible? Can I go further without hurting myself or others? Can I practice or formulate things differently in order to push myself to the limits? Or do I just have to respect these limits?

    The educational proposal is linked to the objectives and contents of the project, establishing its bases around three thematic axes of work: Rap, Parkour and emotional resilience. Therefore, activities have been proposed to cover each theme.

    In addition, at the end of this section, a part will be dedicated to the reflection activities related to the training of participants as future guides or instructors of ЯAPKOUR, so that all the experience gained becomes an opportunity to reach young people.

    All this is to be addressed from a collective and more local perspective, therefore dynamic activities aimed at knowing and consolidating the group have been included in the program, as well as a reflection on today's youth, healthy lifestyles and social and cultural environments as well as other transversal themes that are interesting to develop the capacity for critical analysis, which characterizes rap.