Parkour is the physical art of passing through obstacles in the smoothest way possible.

Developed in the suburbs of Paris, the discipline, sometimes called free running, has now firmly arrived in Brighton.

Brighton's Urban Playground is the UK's first purpose-designed parkour mobile training area. The structure is a series of cubes, stair-sets and rails, which can stand alone or be used to enhance existing locations.

It will be launched on Sunday with a dynamic performance on Brighton seafront. Fusing parkour with break dance and contemporary movement, the performance will celebrate the human body's relationship with the urban environment. The six dancers include JP Omari of Strictly Dance Fever fame, and it's directed by Prodigal Theatre's Miranda Henderson.

All performances will be accompanied by open workshops and presentations from some of the UK's top practitioners - members of Team Traceur, Team 101 and Brighton's own Seafront Freestyle community - the largest regular group meeting on the South Coast.

Originating in the suburb of Lisses, parkour takes its inspiration from the local architecture and the opportunities it offers for runs, leaps and vaults.

Obstacles can be anything in the environment, so parkour is often practised in urban areas because of many suitable public structures, such as buildings, rails, and walls.

It has become a global sport with a strong visual aesthetic, and features in the BBC's Rush Hour Trailer, a recent Top Gear, documentaries Jump London and Jump Britain, the new James Bond movie and Madonna's latest video.

Alister O'Loughlin of Brighton's Prodigal Theatre Company has been a free runner for several years and, while his home city offers plenty of runnable sites, he saw a need for something to help train the growing number of young people keen to learn.

"If councils can build skateboard parks, why not parkour parks? And better still, why not ones that can move around to different areas, taking the site to the people?"