Written: Oct. 29, 2016
Breathe Parkour is a quickly expanding brand name across Alberta and offers a space for people to discover the freedom of movement once again.
The Breathe Parkour Space in northeast Calgary provides equipment and structures built specifically for the purpose of developing the skills of traversal and acrobatics.
“It’s very real,” said Josh Dohy, 19, an instructor at Breathe, “There’s not a whole lot of cushion [and] replicates urban environments very well.”
The franchise started as Breathe Parkour Magazine in 2011 by Matt Talbot, who was influenced by snowboarding magazines he read at the time.
With the closure of No Limits in January of 2014, the only parkour facility in Calgary at the time, Talbot took this opportunity to fill the void by building the Breathe Parkour space, opening a brief two months later in March 2014.
The construction of the grounds was completed in under a month, built by hand from founding Breathe instructors and community members from No Limits alike.
There are now two Breathe Parkour Spaces, one in Calgary and one in Lethbridge as of April 2015, with a third planned for construction in southern Calgary.
As well as being a publicly open playground, Breathe also offers classes taught by instructors such as Dohy in an eight-tier system.
“[The] progressions that it offers,” said Dohy, “that’s a really stand out thing here.”
Students start learning the basics such as rolling, jumping and vaulting over objects before proceeding to the more advanced acrobatics and techniques.
“It’s not impossible,” said Jim Sinclair, 26, program director at Breathe, “This isn’t the movies, you can do this.”
Sinclair has been teaching parkour for eight years now and was previously an instructor at No Limits.
Sinclair preforming a “webster” flip.
Parkour may seem like an intimidating activity, but Sinclair assures that everyone is capable of some form of parkour.
“My parkour is not the same as someone else’s,” Sinclair says, “and that’s the beautiful thing about it.”
The age demographic is vast, with Sinclair’s oldest student being 66 years old, though there is a large concentration in the age range of six years old to 15 years old.
The facility incorporates games into the teaching sessions in order to ensure students are having fun and avoid discouraging those that do not pick up on movements so quickly.
“Everyone learns at their own pace” Sinclair said, “If you’re not having fun in our classes than we are doing something wrong.”
As described by Sinclair, many attendants that experience explosive progression find a high attachment rate to the activity.
“Its like healthy heroin,” Sinclair said, “you get so addicted in such a good way.”
The lack of a competitive aspect brings a greater focus of self-growth to the activity.
“There is not an opposing team,” said Sinclair, “It’s just you and an inanimate object.”
That should not imply however that parkour is not a social activity, as the community can be a driving force for many of the athletes.
“Parkour has been integral in my development as a person” said Dohy, speaking about the community assisting him to come out of his shell and become more outgoing.
The question of whether or not parkour qualifies as a sport is often raised, as there is no goal or victors to the activity.
“Parkour is the simplest expression of life you can have,” said Sinclair when posed with this question and what parkour means to him, “At the end of the day it’s whatever you want it to be.”
Breathe Parkour plans to release a new line of clothing before the end of the year and has ambitions for new “electronic movement based” merchandise that was not ready to be detailed at this time.