By Brendan Canfield

 Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have no obstacles? Moving through the environment with oneness of body mind and spirit with out fear?  Parkour translated from French literally means: the art of movement. And does exactly what is mentioned above. It is also sometimes called Free- running but the principle of free running is still based in parkour of getting from one place to another.  The discipline is moving fluidly in one’s environment in a direct path over obstacles to get somewhere while expressing one’s creativity in the movement.

 This subculture is usually found in urban environments and is somewhat similar to skateboarding and stunt work that people see in films and movies.  The Subculture’s goal and roots are freedom and strengthening of one’s body and mind to achieve greater potential.  The SLCPK is the local parkour subculture here in Utah.

Here in Utah, the SLCPK usually practices and trains at gyms to push their limits in relative safety to become more agile and fluid in this art. To use everywhere. The SLCPK also plans jams for it’s members at various places where there are a multiplicity of obstacles to train and work with. Ex: University of Utah, Galavan Center, SLCC Taylorsville, Skate Parks, ect…

La Dam du Lac (Parkour “Mecca”) Shortest Way Down Jump to Roll Image taken from Image taken from

Image taken from Image taken from

Image taken from Image taken from

 One might think that they are crazy stunt junkies. But they assure me and I believe that they know what they are doing.  The interactions that this culture has with the outside is varied.  The parkour community interacts with the outside world with citizens and when authorities are called from worried citizens to tell them about their culture. They are friendly and willing to help others perfect movement in this art if they are interested or who are participants in this art.  The participants known as “Traceurs or Traceuse” depends on gender. Even though the majority of the SLCPK are boys there are however a few girls that do this sport or so my informants tell me.

The transformations that parkour has had in Salt Lake City Utah has been very quick because the idea of parkour is adapting to the environment world wide. They have negotiated and diffused their innovation into main stream culture without much conflict. Apparently there was misunderstanding it slipped in with skateboarding culture but it wasn’t about fighting against norms but it was rather embracing of all things and was holistic. If there were any changes in the environment they would question it and would adapt very well to the changes. They fit into the local and national culture of being active in their environment and community and shares their wisdom with others much like empowered citizens in city council here in the US. I guess the masses of citizens are not very used to stunts preformed by everyday athletic people here in Utah, There is little people who would have the heart to stop them and are slowly but surely accepting them into the culture and most likely envy them. The gifts that the “Traceurs” would usually want are nothing too complicated. Usually they would think that a good pair of running shoes, or a flexible shirts and pants would be good gifts for them from family members. They tell me that freedom truth and wisdom are probably the best gifts they can have.

 Since the essence of parkour is about freedom of expression and efficiency it is mostly praticed by teenagers, and adults from  Parkour is about empowering individuals independent of race, sex, gender, beliefs, religion, age, or any orientation, and because of this, parkour has become an international culture in almost every right and through out countries world wide by itself.  Parkour is also about embracing what is real and what really matters: strong values and good beliefs of other people throughout their lives. They believe that all people are inherintly good and they believe that the world has blinded itself to think otherwise.  Traceurs tell me that they have great love for their families but are also interconnected though out their lives and they understand that the their lives are summed up by it’s parts and moments to the whole and they use this principle in every aspect of their lives in their communications with all people they meet and they live for and enjoy every small moment.

Most of these Traceurs in the SLCPK are Christian in nature but religious background has no real relevance in their interactions with others of different beliefs. The main thing that attracts them to this culture is the love of the freedom of movement and expression and the desire to push one’s self to the limit and to use these principals that this discipline teaches them in their everyday lives.

 Images taken from  wbhsweb.com  collegejolt.com  tantek.com  criticalterrain.files.wordpress.com  upload.wikimedia.org  sportsillustrated.cnn.com  Material taken from and based from field notes of Brendan Canfield interviewing David Fleming.  Used video for presentation  MiATFY Owned by glyphmedia. Posted January 10, Used video June 18, MiATFY