The Last week of my November Challenge was a difficult one. I have to admit it was Thanksgiving week and I ended up getting a nasty cold which kept me form training but gave me some time to think about the topic for the week. I decided I wanted to concentrate this week on the culture of parkour. I wanted to discover more of what it means to be a parkour practitioner and how the culture effects different aspects of the larger community.
Many people get into parkour because it is cool and exciting or they like the tricks or videos. There are very few kids that get into it because of the discipline of it, the training, or the community. I have been on a new mission as an instructor and here on-line to help a younger generation recognize some of the cultural aspects of parkour. I think that the cultural aspects require a level of knowledge and respect that many younger kids don't always recognize. In the classes I teach I have tried to make stretching time a time of thought and unity. Its a time I use to ask questions and get my students thinking about a variety of things whether it be on parkour or related to other aspects of life.
One huge part of the culture of the history of the discipline. Im not going to state the whole history here, there are just major points like who the founders were, and why they and others after them do parkour. The split of the meanings, and other major points since it has become a common use word and form of movement in our society.
Video making is a huge part of the culture of parkour. Since the beginning people have made video with the desire to share and explain parkour. As a consecuence of this Video watching is a big part of the culture of parkour. Pk would not have exploded without the use of the internet and many people know now what it is because they saw a youtube video. One phenomenon I see in this Youtube generation is the desire to become a celebrity of some kind. I fault myself for thinking this way too sometimes, wishing like many kids that I could have thousands of viewers on my channel like some of the Yutube channels I watch. What is the purpose of video making then.Laurent Piemontesi from PK GEN said once while he was here in SLC that video making can be a form of journal of your training. If you put effort into a video every 4 months or so you can track your progress and be able to share that with others. Its a great way to just share with the wider community.
We can see a great example of Pro video making with some of the big channels like Storror, Farang and others. These teams use videos to entertain an audience. The meaning and form of the videos change in this sense. The quality of these videos has gotten better and better over the years. I really enjoy these videos from the big teams for the quality and the performances they are, but at the same time I recognize good videos coming from smaller channels too.
Exploration in parkour is part of our culture. Their are many ways we explore whether it be: in an environment, of your own body, or of your mind. Exploration is the major way we push and progress, how we lean and challenge ourselves and others as we train. Im glad that pk athletes are more aware and thoughtfull when it comes to how we do fitness, with stretching and conditioning. Athletes are willing to explore our bodies and strengthen them. Many Athletes also become aware of what they intake into the body, whether it be healthy foods or not partaking in harmful substances.
Jamming is another huge part of the culture of parkour. The opportunity to go and jam is many athletes first exposure to doing parkour. There are 2 kinds of jams in a sense, the small jam with a small group of friends, and the community jams with other people from the area. Jamming is a great wasy to meet other and talk parkour stuff. I think its through jams that we obtain knowledge of the culture of parkour. I think one of the best ways to learn is to meet up and participate with others in the sport. As you meet up talk about parkour and what it means you come to understand it more. There are many different views on the sport but I believe that it is good to have a grandeur perspective as a whole with others input. Everyone will in turn give a part of their own experiences to the collective knowledge. It is in Jamming that there is a huge social aspect to the discipline of parkour.
Community Jams wouldn't be possible without the community of practitioners to fuel them. Most communities are fueled through the internet with people that are willing to get together and meet in real life. there are two kinds of communities, the internet community, and the local community. The internet community is where we spent time talking about parkour and sharing videos and other stuff. However the internet community would not be as rich without the local communities we have developed. the local guys are the ones you participate in the activity of parkour. One thin that has come to my attention in our sport is the friendliness of everyone. We are very willing to meet other guys who do parkour. I myself make an effort to meet new guys at jams. Also when I see someone doing parkour when I am out I'm more likely to go up to them and introduce myself and get to know them. I hope that we continue to have a friendly attitude no matter how large the community gets.
In thinking about what elements make up the culture of parkour I have learned a few things I could change and should probably keep doing. I just hope that over time the parkour culture will become much more rich with tons of great stuff. Time will only tell, I believe that parkour already has some great cultural things to it.
Eric Higgins
