CABOT — The young man takes deep breath, runs and then leaps onto the mini-trampoline.

His body soars up and out, twisting in midair and then tucking into a somersault. He sticks the landing, arms raised.

But this wasn't the end of a gymnastics routine at the London Olympics. It was the beginning of a parkour practice taking place in the social hall of Haven I at Concordia Lutheran Ministries, 112 Marwood Road.

The three young men in attendance are members of the Steel City Freerunners, practitioners of the fast-growing activity which centers on efficient movement around obstacles using vaulting, rolling, running, climbing and leaping.

Parkour can be done anywhere — walls, streets, scaffolding — and doesn't require any special equipment other than a pair of sneakers.

Concordia Lutheran Ministries is hosting a free live performance and demonstration by the Freerunners at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

Steve Digirolamo, 20, of Natrona Heights, one of the founders of the Freerunners, looks forward to sharing his enthusiasm for parkour with an audience.

“It's not exactly a sport,” he said. “The easiest way to describe it is the art of movement. You are expressing yourself in a physical form.”

“I got into this more or less by acccident, and it became a part of my life,” Digirolamo said.

The Penn State business major been practicing parkour for more than three years. A gymnastics coach, Digirolamo sometimes practices at Jewart's Gym in Allison Park, but he prefers the outdoors.

“Every day I go to the city, find obstacles and try to move through them,” he said.

A second parkour practitioner, Grayson Hixon, 18, of Saxonburg, also prefers the outside.

“Steve got me into this. He said 'Come to the gym where we train and try it out.'”

“It's a way I can express my artistic side,” Hixon said. “I can't draw or paint, but I can express myself through movement.”

“My favorite is the parkour end of it, outside on the streets doing the jumps, doing it smooth and fast.”

Digirolamo said Tuesday's show will be more informational and have more of a circus theme than a purely parkour event.

For the upcoming demonstration, Digirolamo said, “We're going to be showing more than parkour. There are going to be handstands, acrobatics. We're bringing in trampolines. There will be pogo stick backflips.”

Those will be done by Brady Wegener, 18, of Butler,

He said he will be bringing some circus skills into play.

“I'm the class clown but I don't paint my face,” Wegener said. “I will be juggling clubs and knives and walking on a ball.”

“He gives us a break, too,” said Digirolamo “because it's hard to be that physical that long.”

Tuesday's demonstration was arranged by Donna Heintz, event coordinator at Haven I.

“One of our residents here, Walter Scott, has a daughter in Florida (Arlene Thomas) who got involved in parkour in Florida. She brought it to my attention. It's going on on a lot of college campuses.”

“They're setting up to see if it's going to work inside. Can't depend on the weather,” said Heintz, who after Digirolamo's and Hixon's first few leaps wondered if the room's ceiling lamps would survive intact.

Digirolamo said there were about 200 parkour practitioners in Western Pennsylvania.

He said parkour started out as French military training and then the originator's son David Belle's parkour feats started turning up on You Tube and in the movies.

“Originally, parkour was moving through things as fast as possible, but now there's some gymnastics and martial arts skills involved,” said Digirolamo.

Digirolamo said the big parkour competition is the Red Bull Art of Motion event, scored similarly to gymnastics events. The last one was in Detroit earlier this year.

<B>WHAT: </B>Parkour demonstration by members of the Steel City Freerunners<B>WHEN: </B>7 p.m. Tuesday<B>WHERE: </B>Concordia social hall in Haven I, Concordia Lutheran Ministries, 112 Marwood Road, Cabot.<B>INFO: </B>Donna Heintz, activities coordinator, at 724-352-1571, Ext. 8251