Obsidian Gathering 2021

Feb 27–Feb 28, 2021, 10am – 2pm (PST) on Zoom

This online event was a series of four roundtable conversations on race, diversity, and inclusion in parkour. Each conversation featured various parkour personalities and was facilitated by Brian A. Prince.

Schedule

All times are Pacific Standard Time (PST). Convert to your time zone.

Saturday 2/27:

9:30am-10am: Welcome
10am-11:30am: "Parkour and Police"
12:30pm-2pm: "Parkour as a Profession"

Sunday 2/28:

10am-11:30am: "Intersectional Diversity and Inclusion—LGBTQ, Women, and Neurodiverse"
12:30pm-2pm: "A Non-American Experience"

Registration

Registration is now closed. Thank you to all who attended! The event was a great success. 98 people registered and more than 50 attended at the same time.

Altogether, 71 donors raised $3,030.24, more than 150% of our goal. Donations will be used to support future Obsidian Gatherings and related programs.

Speakers

David Ivey

David co-created Obsidian Gathering with Marquis back in 2017 to raise awareness of Black parkour athletes and our experiences. He's looking forward to talking about his interactions with the police during his 14 years of training Parkour! @davidafroivey

Georgia Munroe

Georgia is a coach, performance athlete, and stuntee in training, based in London. She has been training for 9 years and is a team member of Esprit Concrete, who works towards aiding individuals in gaining a deeper understanding of one’s physical, emotional, and psychological states through a combination of art du deplacement, parkour, and therapeutic method. @georgia_munroe_pk

Dan Dye

Dan is an athlete based out of Detroit, Michigan. He makes music and is also a community organizer in the local area. @danxdye

Darryl Stingley

Founder and Athlete of Sqvadron, Co-Owner of STR/KE MVMNT, 16 years doin' the damn thing in this Parkour shit. Black since day 1. @iamwavezilla

Luís Alkmim

Luís has been doing Parkour for 15 years and he still falls in love with it more every day. He was born in Brasil but grew up in Lisbon and has experienced life through Parkour in many different ways. Currently, he hosts a Podcast called Swapping Shoes which is part of the Arch Club, a Lisbon-based PK Culture project. Luís is excited to join the Obsidian Gathering 2021. @luisalkmim

Howard Cosmonaut Palmer

Howard started parkour in 2007 as a way to bring awareness to an individual in the world that shapes around him. Today as the owner of Parkour's Black Equity on Instagram, he continues to help shine the light on black people as artists and movers around the world. @blackstranaut

Louiseanne Wong

Louiseanne Wong is a dancer, movement artist, choreographer, and coach with Esprit Concrete. She sees her movement practice of Art du Deplacement, Dance, and Circus as a way of self-discovery, exploring topics such as authenticity, identity, and heritage. @louiseannewong

Photo by Jordan White // Instagram @jordanthejumper // Twitter @jordantkwhite // Facebook @jordanwhiteedits

Marlon Johnson

Marlon has been practicing and coaching parkour since 2012. He is the Parkour program director of Woodward PA and has recently transitioned into a career as a real estate investor. He is the host of the Into The Mind Podcast. @mindsetmarlon

Film submission

Along with sharing ideas and experiences of parkour athletes from diverse backgrounds, we’d also like the chance to share your parkour movement and creativity. Before each conversation session, we will be sharing submitted videos from various members of the parkour community. We will only have a few spaces for sharing and all are welcome to submit!

Submission guidelines:

Deadline for submission: Feb 22nd
Newer videos encouraged but not required
2-6 minutes long
No advertising
Suggested subject matter: creative, throwdown, thoughtful, story, show your city, community highlight, music video

Submit Film

About the Event

In 2017, David Ivey and Marquis Johnson created the parkour event “Obsidian Gathering,” the first Black Pride parkour jam with David hosting the first event in Washington D.C. Given all of the global events that have happened since then and especially during 2020, now more than ever is the time to come together as a community and give people a chance to share their experiences and listen to those of others.

Brian A. Prince, facilitator and co-organizer