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David Belle Parkour
David Belle Parkour
PARKOUR
Interview with the Founder of the Discipline
by Sabine Gros La Faige
"If two paths open up before you, always choose the most
difficult one."
FOREWORD
At first sight, no one is more down to earth and rooted than David.
Except maybe a tree. Precision, concision of words, of feelings. Each
sentence is carefully thought and precisely targeted before being spoken.
Nothing is left off to chance. He weighs each word as if to stand on it,
like an edge, a steel pole or a ledge.
He needs that confidence to express himself, to go forward< to fly.
Once all the data he can rely on is listed in his mind, hell follow you
anywhere. His trust is absolute. In you. In him. In elements. But the most
impressive feature of this young man so deep-rooted in his surroundings
is when he leaves behind the pedestrian world.
Watching him flirt with gravity is something totally amazing. He plays
with void, strokes concrete, flies on wind. He can come up with as many
stories in mid-air as a ballet dancer on an opera floor.
I felt the same kind of freedom when scuba-diving, where non-gravity
allows you to plunge headfirst down underwater cliffs and make a turn
on your fingertip.
His training is often long, and no one really knows what goes on in his
mind. But when he is ready, the action starts and its pure grace, sporting
with everything including your eyesight. In the editing room, there were
scenes I had to rewatch several times in slow motion to understand how
he had done it.
David has reached such a complete mastery not only of himself but also
of the elements around him that he is sometimes hard to reach. To him,
everything seems commonplace and useless. And he unwillingly makes
you weigh your words and actions as well. Your heart speeds up when
you have to tell him "You can rely on me", because you know it is
impossible to let him down. Down means death to him.
That may be the reason why he is more likely to trust a concrete edge
than a human being. Concrete never betrayed him. His trust is a great
honour, and I hope I deserved it.
We first met a few years ago. At the time, my crew and I had come
across the Yamakasi group and we were preparing a movie with them.
But a problem arose: the names Yamakasi and Parkour had both been
registered by an 8th man. I understood that this 8th man had originally
5
been part of the group but he had gone on and try his luck on his own
in the US, a few months before.
I offered to reinstate the 8th man in the group, but they all refused.
Apparently, they were mad at him for leaving the group. Jealousy.
Revenge. Nothing unusual. But truth was as I understood later on
while watching videos of this 8th man: he was much better and stronger
than them. His name was David Belle.
We organized a meeting between the Yamakasi, David, the producers
of the movie and myself.
David didnt say a word and let his representative do the talking.
Meanwhile, the Yamakasi were cackling like a bunch of chicken fighting
over an egg.
At the end of this messy meeting, I offered David a simple deal:
"David, let them do this movie with us and then, Ill make a movie with you,
alone. You have my word!"
He looked at me for a second and said, "OK." And yet, we had only
known each other for an hour or so. He swiftly left the room and I never
heard from him again until I introduced him to Cyril Raffaelli and the
project District 13.
On that day, he gave me his first smile.
In a world where the place is going to the dogs, where bank managers
play billions tossing a coin, where politics is all about media, where
bribing, drug use and cheating happen faster than the laws fighting
them, where earth itself is being worked out by our own treachery, it is
good to keep some points of reference.
David is one of them. He is a modern hero, who grew up between
concrete walls and is tracing for us a new way, the one we should never
have left: the way to human dignity.
Luc Besson
CONTENTS
Foreword
Introduction
10
The Start
15
Learning
21
First Steps
29
Gathering Pace
39
Danger
47
56
District 13 A Revelation
64
77
Thanks
87
INTRODUCTION
Why this book?
I cant talk about Parkour without talking about my father. Both are
indelibly linked. Raymond Belle is the foundation of it all of my life, of
the creation of Parkour and its development throughout the world.
Without him, there would be no David Belle and no Parkour. This book
is not only a tribute to him, but an explanation of what he passed down
on to me, all the philosophy of life that was at the core of this discipline
and is still guiding me today.
The aim of this book is not to give lessons and even less to put myself
forward. I just want people to understand Parkour as it should be. For
many, we are only "the guys jumping from rooftop to rooftop" whereas this
discipline is so much more than that. If we jump from one building to
another, its only because cities have been built; if we were living in
trees, we would just jump from tree to tree, our houses would be rocks
and we would jump from rock to rock. No matter where you are, no
matter your environment, Parkour is about going where your body can
take you, where your willpower leads you. Beyond the physical training
method, beyond the discipline of movement and crossing obstacles,
Parkour is an opening to a brand new world, a way to learn to know
yourself better, and a new way of life. Today I can see that many people
havent understood this quest for ones identity, ones true self, that
Parkour is about. Its not about jumping over obstacles in order to
become the best or hurt yourself and take risks to prove you exist. Even
if at the start there was a little bit of this in me, I soon learnt that excess
was useless. My father used to say, "Dont trigger negative things, dont try
and hurt yourself; life will give you enough opportunities to learn and know
about pain and suffering." I eventually understood that I didnt need to go
through what my father had gone through to be a respectable man. And
quite naturally I can respect others, even if they cant achieve half of
what I do in Parkour. Being a man is not about being the strongest, the
toughest, jumping farther or higher. My father always laid great stress
upon this: "Being a man is above all about keeping ones word. If you say
something, then just do it. Even the most menial of things." A man can be the
strongest in the world, if he doesnt keep his word, people around him
8
will eventually realize it and lose all form of respect for him. The young
have a hard time with this today: keeping their word. They promise
things, they like to brag, to show off, but these are just empty words.
When time comes to put words into action, they simply vanish.
Some traceurs* claimed the creation of Parkour and they sound like they
did it all by themselves. But when they are being interviewed about it,
they are unable to explain this discipline, to express its true meaning. But
there was the story of my father and everything he gave me. I, too, could
have said that I created this new discipline all by myself, I could have
said all kinds of crap, I could have lied and put a label on myself: David
Belle, Inventor of Parkour. But no. I didnt. My father went through terrible
things and his suffering brought me where I am today. I owe him this
respect, this gratitude. After too many years when I didnt really talk
about this very personal matter, Ive decided to tell the story of my
father and the true genesis of Parkour. I want to talk about it for
everyone whos interested in Parkour or would like to start practicing it;
all the young people who have so many questions about so many things
and do not necessarily have parents on their side to help them, or feel
lost the way I felt as a teenager.
Of course, my fathers story isnt an absolute reference far from it
and he is not the ultimate example to follow either. But the young can
look around them, in their own family, and there must be someone, a
role model, they can follow; someone true with real values who can lead
them through life. We all know someone in our relatives who went
through extraordinary things in his or her life and can teach us to remain
authentic and lead a good life. My father warned me about the pitfalls of
life and protected me against negative people. If I had paid attention
each time I was being told "Hey, kid, dont climb on this wall!", I would
never have become who I am today.
Raymond Belle was my father but also my mentor. It would probably
take ten books to talk about his whole life. I will never be as experienced
and charismatic as him but at least I am proud to tell his story here, and
pass on everything he taught me, word for word, without adding or
omitting.
* traceur: Parkour practitioner
about his life and experiences. Besides, he would never brag and he also
told me about his darker side, his weaknesses, his mistakes. He wasnt
trying to play the perfect father in front of his son. He never told me he
was the best or the strongest. Never.
Talking about what he went through in his youth, he told me a story
that really made a deep impression on me. As he was being shipped
back to France, he suffered from a testicular hernia and it got infected.
He had to undergo an operation right then and there, in the middle of
the ocean, on this boat full of refugees. He wasnt given any anaesthetics
only a piece of wood to bite. They opened up and cut. I think it deeply
affected him, both physically and psychologically, knowing the
consequences of such a removal for a man. He was sixteen at the time
and must have wondered if he would ever have children or even
survive. His strength also comes from that. He was physically
diminished but he wanted to show that it wouldnt prevent him from
living his life to the fullest, be stronger than others and go his own way.
He was respectful of his superiors, of the military hierarchy, but if he
believed something was wrong, he could oppose it, stubborn and
unmovable as a wall. When he started in the Fireman Squad, a superior
made him clean the bathrooms. He did it to show his boss he respected
him, but he also made him understand that he would never do it again.
No violence just his words and confidence< My father was a free
spirit, and he wanted his freedom to be respected. Sometimes, it
backfired. Like most former soldier children, he had troubles adapting,
drives he had to learn to control. I saw in him a man fighting his own
instincts all his life. He had accepted to be part of the system at some
point but, sometimes, the rebel within him was coming back to the
surface. For instance, he would refuse to pay his taxes. For him, it was
his money, a hard-earned money, and he didnt see why he should give
it back to the government. Compared to other fathers, mine was really
out of this world.
Once in France, did he try to get back in touch with his family, to go
back to Vietnam?
When in school in Dalat, two or three of his brothers managed to come
and visit him. They told him his father had been murdered. Then he
13
found himself an orphan for good. And what had happened to his father
toughened him up and he withdrew even more. On arrival in France, he
was placed in a foster family but he remained a loner. After a few years,
he was able to get in touch again with a few members of his family who
had sought refuge in France as well. Cousins told him that his mother
and brothers had also been brought back to France. He saw his mother
again five or six times but the feelings were not there anymore. In Dalat,
he had lived among kids who had actually lost both parents so he had
learnt to erase all family ties the way they had. As if all feelings and
emotions had been erased in order to turn them into little soldiers. He
seemed totally detached from his family, especially his mother with
whom he had never really had a great relationship. For some reason, it
looks like she never really liked him as a kid. He remembered being left
aside from the rest of the family. It seems like his mother considered him
cursed because he was born the sixth or seventh child of the family and
in some Vietnamese traditions, a child born in this rank is bad omen. My
father had a hard time talking about his mother and his childhood, even
though he remembered a lot of details. For instance, he told me that they
lived in a house near the jungle and tigers would sometimes come close
to the village. Some would even go inside houses< He seldom
mentioned going back to Vietnam. Towards the end of his life, he would
talk a little bit more about it. I wish I could have offered him the trip
before he went; I wanted to make money for that. But he left on New
Years Eve of 1999 before I could<
14
THE START
Growing up with a father with such an extraordinary life path, did you
feel like admiring and imitating him?
Actually, the very first person I did admire and take as a role model was
my grandfather on my mothers side. He brought me up from my birth
in April 1973 until I was fourteen. I spent the first years of my life in his
house in Fcamp, Normandy, and, after a short break with my mother in
Boulogne-Billancourt (near Paris), I went back to live with him three
more years in Vende. My grandfather was a widower and he took real
good care of me. He was a former fire fighter from the Paris Squad like
my father. He worked there for thirty-two years. He was also a WWII
veteran. He became a widower at a very early age but never remarried.
He had relationships and affairs, but no one ever really knew what was
going on. I personally never saw anything and yet, I was living with
him. Maybe when he went for a walk, he was actually going to see a
girlfriend but he never told anything to anyone. I guess he didnt want to
impose a stepmother on his children. He respected them and me alike to
the point of not showing up one day with a woman. He was a very quiet,
unobtrusive man, and he also had an outstanding self-control. For
instance, there was always a pack of cigarettes at home but he would
only smoke one on Sundays after lunch.
I was looking up at how he had managed to go on in life, how he had
overcome adversity and I admired him for that. He truly was my very
first role model. He was a straightforward man, very honest in his
private life and respected in his work. My grandfather never fought with
another man nor learnt any martial art. He was a total opposite of my
father who had learnt to fight to death. He was teaching me another way
of life. He never had the physical abilities my father had, nor his spirit.
For my father, the outside world was a jungle where you had to
constantly beware and protect yourself whereas my grandfather was
more serene in his relationships with the outside world. It totally
balanced my education. Without him, I probably would have fallen in
excessive patterns the way my father did. I find myself balanced
between those two men. A mix of wisdom and audacity, of respect and
15
impressive for a kid my age. I dont know exactly why I was doing this,
but something was pushing me.
Did your grandfather enrol you in a sports club to channel your
energy?
My grandfather enrolled me in gymnastics, but I believe it was above all
to please my father and also because he wanted me to develop my
physical abilities in order to join a fire fighters' squad later on. I
personally didnt have any preferences; all I wanted to do was practice
sports. My grandfather never forced me to do anything. I was doing
gymnastics, but also athletics in school. I was very industrious; I was
gifted compared to others but there wasnt much of a difference to me.
Its not because I could do a flip or a high jump that I felt stronger or
tougher. I was still very introverted, very withdrawn. I didnt have any
kind of identity at school or outside of it. I didnt know who I was
among the others because I wasnt asserting myself. I was always very
reserved and didnt speak much with my classmates. In class, I wouldnt
answer questions teachers were asking me or I wouldnt go to the
blackboard even though I knew my lessons by heart. Simply because I
didnt want the sound of my voice to be heard. So I would rather
pretend I didnt know anything than express myself. And in my head, I
felt like I won when the teacher ended up asking someone else. But truth
was, I was simply failing school.
There was a time when I was questioning everything I was being taught
in school. I didnt want any information to get inside my head without
being sure it was true. If I was told that Louis the Sixteenth had lived
and died in such and such way, I would put it in question and kept
wondering: "But how do they know? They were not here to witness it!"
Teachers were not reliable to me; they were just telling things they had
learnt in books themselves. I always had this doubt in my mind and as a
result, I didnt want to learn. Except for basic things like "two and two are
four", nothing would make it through my thick skull, and I just wouldnt
learn my lessons. Not because I couldnt but because I couldnt see any
good reason to do it. I didnt see the point in learning all that, what was
the aim of it all in the end. I think today if we first told kids why such
and such thing is going to be useful for them in life, they would be less
18
father. I wanted to talk to him, I wanted to move with him. I had reached
an age where your body needs action but I didnt want to go into just
another sport and then regret it later on in life. You can have friends
telling you, "Come on, lets play basketball or football". Then you go and
start liking it but without really knowing if it was your true calling. Of
course, at first, I practiced gym and athletics in school and clubs. I had
some physical abilities, but nothing fantastic. I was learning to use my
body, but in a cool and controlled environment, in a nice heated room,
with mattresses on the floor for protection. I found teaching in clubs too
scholastic for my own taste. And the more I talked to my father, the
more I realized I didnt need all that. He would ask me: "What do you
want to do with your life? Are you training because you want to become like
such athlete who wants to compete, or do you want to do something really
different? If you want to be different, then train in an area that will truly be
useful, that will enable you to get out of any situation or help someone should
anything happen on the street or in a building."
The more I talked to him and the more I could see something coming
into shape, coming to life in my head and this is when the true adventure
of Parkour began.
20
and what was behind the man. Then I assimilated everything he taught
me about life, how to deal with it, how to build it with a solid
background. He gave me a large amount of elements regarding a certain
philosophy of life but also sports advice for a better physical and mental
preparation. Its a mixture of those elements and the personal work I
undertook for years that led to Parkour, step by step. Some people
nowadays tell me: "Hey, David, you are the creator of Parkour", but I am
not! I am not a scientist working in a lab or an engineer; I didnt invent
anything. It came from a long process started in teenage hood if not
earlier. I wasnt interested in school anymore, and I needed something
more authentic, more real; to get back to something fundamental. At
some point, I took a break and told myself that life was short and I
started looking inside myself to find out what I could do with this life, in
which area I could excel and the rest would follow. I got that from my
father. He believe that if you learnt certain bases, they would help you
out in any other situation.
What was this philosophy he taught you like?
My father guided me, brought me answers on simple matters or
situations everyone comes across one day or another in his lifetime. My
grandfather had taught me the practical aspects of life how to keep a
house, take care of yourself or express yourself properly and so on. My
father taught me how to behave, both with yourself and with others,
how to face the outside world, attacks and pitfalls awaiting me. He tried
to make me understand how things work in life, and all the things I
would come across: work, friends, women, money< He kept telling me:
"Dont hang on desperately to it. If its there, good. But if its not, dont hassle
yourself to understand why you are not rich. Remain faithful to your core
principles." He encouraged me to have right thoughts. I was only
fourteen or fifteen but thanks to my father, I was more mature for my
age. In a way, he had assessed his achievements and it was as if he had
understood things that he could have avoided as a teenager or an adult,
and he was passing that on to me. I knew he was giving me everything
he could so that I wouldnt make the same mistakes. He told me: "Youll
realize that its hard to juggle with five balls in your life. But instead of thinking
its a hassle and complain, ask yourself if it is necessary or useful." He taught
22
best of it and get as many women as they can only end up hurting girls.
Whats the point in breaking a heart? There is no positive energy in it.
After everything my father had told me about women, I couldnt show
off in front of him. If I brought a girl at home, I could feel the essential
question in his eyes: "Ok, son, you are bringing in a pretty girl. You can even
bring ten. But can you tell me if she is the right one? Are you bringing her
because you love her or because you are trying to show off in front of others, in
front of your buddies?"
Today, I just cant play a game or be fake because he taught me so often
to be authentic that I feel bad when I lie, cheat or do things for wrong
reasons. My father had known many women but he confessed that he
wasnt exactly proud of it. He never told me "Hey, its great to have lots of
girls! Go and have fun, David!" Actually, it was more of the opposite: "You
can go out with a hundred women but, in the end, if you cant remember each
and every one of them, whats the point? If you cant remember names, faces,
moments spent with them, then you missed something. You could have avoided
going out with some of them and hurting them." To him, what really
mattered was to find the right person, the one that would share my life.
Those lessons from my father prevented me from making a lot of stupid
mistakes, from starting something I couldnt finish. They helped me
develop a sharper vision of people and not be focused on looks alone.
Do you feel you shared more with him than other children did with
their fathers?
I think I had a much better communication being away from my father
than if he had been there all the time. Both my step-brothers had known
him living at home but they have never had the conversations I had with
him. I was proud of my elder brothers Jean-Franois and Daniel, even
though I didnt see the latter much. I can say today that Jean-Franois
played an important part in the development of Parkour. He triggered
certain things, asked questions, told me about my father, his feats,
showed me photographs, documents. Both my brothers were strong
characters, in very opposite ways. Jean-Franois was a good student in
school, he became a fire fighter and pursued a career in the fire fighters.
On the other hand, our elder brother Daniel who was ten years older
than me followed a way more tortuous path with a tragic ending. He
24
fell into drugs that led to armed robberies and he was sentenced to jail
for that. When he got out of jail, we thought he would be alright. He had
found a job he was working as a set designer for theatre and seemed
very confident. But then, a few months later, he died from O.D. I believe
his life and the problems he went though also had a big influence on my
relationship with my father. I think he believed he had missed
something with that son, that he hadnt been up to it. He probably felt
guilty and tried to catch up with me, giving me things he hadnt had
time to give Daniel so that I wouldnt follow the same path. Daniel had
been pushed in that direction by people who were not necessarily good,
and he wanted to prevent me from doing that as well.
Was it easy for you to listen to your father when he didnt raise you?
I have never been angry at him for leaving his home, his wife, to go
elsewhere. I couldnt be mad at him: he had his reasons, his excuses. And
after looking at him for so long, I ended up understanding what was on
his mind, the sufferings he had gone through as a child. It doesnt mean
that I didnt miss him I did. If I have children one day, Ill try and do
with them what Ive never done with my father; or rather, what I would
have liked to do with him. But in any case, I listened to him, I was very
careful with everything he told me and I literally drank his words. In life
in general the people I respect the most are not the ones who have read a
million books, but rather those who lived things you can see their lives
passing in their eyes like a movie. I pay more attention to those people
because I know they talk from experience, they learnt from their
mistakes. And my father was that kind of a man. He knew where the
traps and dead ends were and his advice helped me prevent falling
headfirst into them. He kept telling me: "Living in such or such way is not
worth it, then dont do it," and gave me examples. I can still see him
talking to me with so much calm and confidence. Thanks to him, I truly
grew up faster and I have the feeling I didnt waste time going astray. Of
course, I could have just dismissed everything saying it was all bullshit,
but I also heard the other fire fighters talking about him and I knew it
was the truth. He never told me more than he had done. In his everyday
life, my father never showed off. He never told his buddies: "Hey, man, I
did this amazing thing today" He didnt need to brag about what he was
25
doing people always ended up knowing one way or another. That was
his strength. The only things he never told me about were maybe a few
negative aspects of his personality that he didnt want his son to see. My
father had his faults he wasnt perfect but his numerous qualities
erased all the rest. And his good nature was often turned against him.
People could use and abuse him for he couldnt refuse help when he was
asked. He cant be blamed for whatever harm he may have done in his
life because he truly was a good person at heart.
Maybe you admired him because he wasnt there often?
Yes, thats very likely. But above all I was trying to see in which way I
was like him, because I didnt look like him at all. I was a very shy and
quiet little boy the exact opposite of him. He was shining bright. When
he walked down the street, people would turn around and stare at him.
He truly had a strong aura. Sometimes, I would even tell myself: "I must
have been adopted, there is no other way!" There was nothing, not a single
element linking him to me as my father. Even when I was little, I would
see him perform feats, like archery on the No Parking sign on the garage
door. He would shoot from a hundred and fifty feet and hit the bulls eye
as if it was a piece of cake. The most amazing thing is, when I am
successful in one area, my father was successful in one thousand! He
could fix a car, cook, mend things, and so on. He was very thorough and
careful in everything he did, always paying attention to details and yet, I
never saw him take anything too seriously or be very focused! He was
always taking everything easy and naturally, and I think this is what
impressed me the most. He was like a cat, very feline. He could achieve
something impressive and yet remain very calm, keeping his smile on, as
if there was nothing extraordinary about it. And he did insist on that
aspect of things: "Dont be amazed, David, because thats not all what there is
to life. Dont be amazed when you watch a circus acrobat because the guy you
see performing on TV, well, he rehearsed his show all year long. And maybe
when he rehearses, he juggles with eleven balls but when he performs in front of
an audience, he removes two of them to look even more comfortable doing it.
There is always a trick. Nothing happens at random. What would be very
surprising would be if the guy never juggled in his life and started doing it with
26
nine balls as if it were a piece of cake. That would be amazing; it would even be a
miracle."
He had understood that if you have a gift in life, you dont have to look
for it: its there. But if you dont, then you have to work for it: "If you
want strength, then develop it; if you want to go high, then jump; if you want
speed, then go faster." Willpower is useless if you dont do things
thoroughly, if you dont go for it without asking yourself questions. The
more you grow up, the more questions you ask yourself, the more
excuses you find, the smarter you think you are avoiding obstacles. But
the truth is, it is experience and going all the way into things that makes
you go forward.
And thats exactly what Parkour is all about: move from one obstacle to
the other and make it more difficult on purpose so that in real life,
everything seems easier. My father kept repeating me that: "If two roads
open up before you, always take the most difficult one. Because you know you
can travel the easy one."
By listening to and watching him, I understood something essential: I
was always avoiding things when he was always confronting them.
All those teachings are very close to martial arts philosophy
I just think that the philosophy in martial arts is based on the philosophy
of life, just like Parkour. For instance, martial arts refer a lot to animals.
But never mind that the philosophy you choose comes from martial arts,
religion or elsewhere, as long as you can find a meaning to it. When I
started Parkour, I found a way to exist. I wasnt feeling well in my mind,
and I wanted to get back to my true self and listen to my desires and not
what others expected of me. I took a path that I chose and I found my
true self along the way. And since I was outside the normal system, I
developed another way of life.
I would like to insist on one thing, though: my father brought this
philosophy gently, without any cramming. He did it intuitively, without
any constraints. In the army, soldiers dont have a choice. "Do this, do
that, get on the ground, do fifty push ups!" They are yelled at, forced to do
things. They end up disgusted and it leaves marks on them. On the
contrary, my father managed to give me the desire to do it by myself. He
27
28
FIRST STEPS
What was your physical training like?
At the very beginning, my father would make me do little physical
exercises like walking on a fence to keep my balance, go from one place
to another without touching the ground, climbing a little wall,
jumping< He was just showing me bases and never tried to impose a
style or a particular technique. And in any case, if I didnt do the
movement right, my body would tell me right away. If you miss your
jump, you hurt yourself; otherwise, you dont feel anything. The most
important thing to him was to repeat: "By doing the movements a dozen, a
hundred times, trust comes and by doing the same movements over and over
again, it becomes automatic."
As I was training, I could feel there was still plenty of room for
improvement. I could feel it in myself. Parkour is truly a long distance
discipline. So very quickly, I ended up doing my own stuff, on my own,
in Lisses and around. I had to hang out outside, to try out new things, as
many as possible. I felt it necessary to train on my own to improve even
faster. At the start of Parkour, I was very lonesome, but I wasnt alone in
my head. I had this image in front of me, this picture of my father
jumping higher, farther, doing better than I did. People on the street
thought I was training alone but I felt as if someone invisible was
showing me the way.
Sometimes, when I got to see my father again, I would tell him what I
had been doing for training, I would tell him about my jumps, and he
would give me physical advice like working out my thighs to improve
explosive takeoffs or how to turn my speed into strength for a wall run.
My father was a guide to me. When I got home to my mothers after
visiting him, I had a better understanding of where the key to his
achievement lied. If he could achieve so many things in his life, it was
because he had worked out on his own parcours. I understood that if I
fully and totally went into that, I could get closer to him and have a
better understanding of what he had been through.
29
weight, size, energy, speed< When they move around, you can tell that
those monkeys have reached their full potential in a totally natural way.
If you measure things too much, you lose your instinct. You can be as
good and efficient as an athlete but somewhere along the way, you lost
the true nature and therefore the authenticity of the movement.
But doesnt Parkour require specific physical skills at the start in order
to evolve?
Absolutely not. Its as if you told me that one monkey is fit to climb a
tree but not another one. From the moment you have two arms and two
legs, you can move, you can climb on a table and jump to the ground.
Everybody can do Parkour, everybody can clear obstacles. The only
difference is that some are going to suffer and others wont. Of course,
some physical data are going to change the deal: a 130 lbs guy isnt going
to jump like a 220 lbs one. You also adapt Parkour to your age: at 30, you
dont move like you used to at 20; at 40, you dont move like at 30 and so
on. But no matter your age, your level, or the way you move; what really
matters is to move. Everybody can find his or her own way in Parkour.
Parkour changes you. And I repeat what my father used to say: "You
become what you are dedicated to." Whether he was forty or sixty, I saw that
my father kept on doing his thing without even questioning his physical
abilities. He never had any doubts. He knew he could still move, run,
jump.
Did you go to gyms in order to work out?
No. I worked out by climbing trees, hanging from a parapet or adding
weight on myself, with a backpack, for instance. To me, fitness rooms are
more of a game than anything else where you just build up muscles for
the sake of building up muscles, to look good or try to be Mr. Universe.
But in the end, its useless. For true Parkour followers, muscles have to
be built in a natural way, outdoors, with whatever is available to you. A
little bit like Georges Hberts Natural Method. He was in the military
where he developed a training method for sailors who didnt have much
space on boats to keep in shape. He had classified his method according
to movement groups: running, jumping, swimming, lifting, throwing,
32
climbing, pulling, carrying, and so on. For instance, sailors could put a
wooden board between two barrels and work out their jumps and built
up their thighs muscles. These were simple exercises. My grandfather
had told me about that method, and it echoed what my father was
teaching me. In Vietnam, he too had come up with his own training
method. And even though it was inspirational to me, I ended up
developing my own techniques to cross obstacles. I followed my feelings
and adapted it to my own environment. Parkour truly has a
development and techniques of its own because its about moving
around an urban environment. Obstacle courses had been around for a
long time but my father and I decided to perceive obstacles in a different
way, and change this sufferable course into something positive, pacifist
and useful. And I saw the difference with Hberts Method when I did
my military service in the Navy in Vannes.
Did you have favourite training spots in Lisses?
At the beginning, I was often going to the Dame du Lac (Lady of the
Lake). It was a park with a huge climbing structure. It was still open to
the public back then. Everyone knew the place. People went there for a
walk on Sundays. For me, this place was the essence of Parkour because
there were so many obstacles in this one place. I could practice just about
any part of Parkour there for three or four hours at a time. It truly was
the perfect training ground. I spent a lot of time there. But there were
also many other places where I liked to go. The aim of the game was to
adapt to just about any surrounding, always keeping in mind that
"should anything happen, what do you do?" I was a just-in-case type of
person! A forest of trees or a forest of buildings, there is no specific spot,
no compulsory place to train in Parkour. For instance, in an urban
environment, you can go around the architectural elements and turn it
into a training element in order to evolve in a positive way. And you can
find a way to adapt to the urban environment. This is how I overcame
the suffocating feeling of suburban districts. As if I had mountains for a
landscape and found myself on top of them. When I was a kid, in
Fcamp, each time I saw a dune, a hill, a rock or a cliff, I had to go and
climb it. Then I got transferred to Essonnes (south of Paris), but my desire
to get higher was still intact. So I had no other choice than go on top of
33
those tall apartment buildings. This way, I just erased this block of
concrete blocking my view. And thats what Parkour is also about:
overcome and not let yourself be overcome. I ended up feeling very
comfortable in that seemingly hostile environment. I would even
discover places that locals themselves didnt know about.
Somehow, it seems like you enjoy the pioneer aspect of the
discipline
Absolutely! What I liked in Parkour was to find a way, find the way.
Search and discover. If someone told me that it was impossible to go
through such way, I would tell myself that there had to be a way. I liked
the feeling of knowing that I was the first one to go through this path, or
that no one else had done that jump before me. As soon as there was a
new way to be opened, I would go. The aim was to go forward, always.
So I would look for new ways. And anything a human body could do, I
would do it. I would sometimes find myself in places forbidden to the
public but without even realizing it, just because I had taken a different
path than the one where the restriction signs were posted on. I was often
in mid-air and never considered myself as breaking the law. I felt like a
bird, free from gravity, or like a cat, with the same desire to have a
freedom of movement, to land where I wanted to. And I didnt
understand that it upset some people. I was climbing with a smile on my
face, and this smile said it all: I wasnt a thief, I knew exactly what I was
doing and I was respectful of the place I was going through.
Going around in different neighbourhoods looking for buildings to
train on, did you ever get in trouble with the local gangs?
I personally never had any troubles with guys from the hood. My father
thought that those who get in trouble somehow looked for it. A guy
looking for a fight is going to end up one day facing a bigger guy whos
going to beat the crap out of him. When you live a normal life and follow
your rhythm without messing with other peoples businesses, you just
go along your way flawlessly; you have a positive energy, and people
around can feel it. When guys in the hood come across a Parkour group
at night, they can feel their good energy, they see young having fun
34
doing jumps and somersaults, cheering each other up. They understand
right away that they are not here to look for trouble. They come here to
use the architecture around. Attitude is everything in Parkour: when you
know where you are going, nothing can hurt you; and its the same thing
in life. Thats what my father tried to teach me. And you shouldnt pay
attention to minor factors and other interfering elements along the way.
When she saw you jump, wasnt your mother upset at your father for
giving you such ideas?
No, because she knew him better than anybody else. Others could
consider my father crazy, but she knew better that he knew what he was
doing. At first, my mother didnt know about Parkour and the risks
involved. She thought I was training like a good boy, doing sports in the
woods. Whenever she went shopping, I sometimes came across her and I
showed her a little jump or something. Its only later on, with pictures
and videos, that she started really understanding what I was doing. She
trusted me. I was respectful with others and I didnt bring the cops back
home. I would skip school every once in a while, but I did it to go
training. Of course, the school thing brought problems. The principal
always caught me because he didnt like it, and it was always the same
thing: "David, where have you been yesterday? Messing around?", "No, Sir. I
was training." " What training, David?" " I climb, I jump, I run." "And how
useful is that going to be to you in your life, David?" I was always asked to
justify myself when I didnt want to, explain what would be the use of it
later on in life. I was just feeling good with it. I was a teenager who was
successfully feeling good thanks to a sport he loved. And yet I could tell
that they wanted to break me, to prevent me from doing Parkour. But
when it comes to sports, there is no right time or day to practice. And
when I saw all the things they were trying to cram in my head at school,
I figured that, if any of it was of any importance at all, I would find out
later on in life. And to be honest, I learnt much more reading books by
myself than anything they tried to teach me at school.
answered them: "Later on. Well have plenty of time to have fun but training
is now. Its now you have to get in shape." To me, once youre an adult, its
almost too late; the man has already been shaped. Sometimes, when I
was lazy, life made me regret it right away by giving me a good lesson.
When I was getting upset in front of an obstacle I couldnt cross, I would
tell myself, "See, David, if you had trained on this before, you wouldnt be
stuck here, getting all upset, and you would have crossed it easily."
There was a time in Parkour when I imposed very difficult things on
myself, and I never gave up. I would get all worked up, putting myself
in situations worse than boot camp. And I even ended up hurting
myself. One day, for instance, I tore the skin from my arm repeating a
movement on a tree branch. I was bleeding like a pig but to me it was a
test, as if the tree was telling me: "You wont make it, kid. Forget about
it" So I took the challenge up. I ended up talking to obstacles as if they
were looking at me and asking me to prove myself, to show that I
wanted to make it, that I was able to make it. Actually, those obstacles
are like mirrors: you work on yourself, you face yourself.
How did you manage to keep this rhythm and not get discouraged?
I was working on my willpower and determination, as my father had
taught me. When you lose your motivation and courage, thats when
you feel the pain. If you dont feel good in your head the physical pain
will be sharper. But if you have trained and have absolute trust in
yourself, pain is nothing. Parkour requires a total commitment. If you
want to learn something, you have to go into it, completely. You have to
get rid of all the locks, have a target and stick to it. No hesitation, no
turning back. Take athletes for instance. In order to know exactly what
they are worth, change their routine, like waking them up at three a.m.
to go and train in the woods. A real athlete wont think twice, wont
wonder if its a test from the coach. Hell just wake up and say, "Ok, lets
go." That kind of athletes arent too many. There are very few like them.
With most guys, you have to tell them ahead of time that you are going
to do a night outing in order to prepare and motivate them. A real
athlete can wake up at any time, and always be ready. He doesnt even
take time to wonder if he wants it or not. But in order to always be ready
like that, you have to have had a rough time of it. Even tired, a guy who
37
38
GATHERING PACE
When did you feel Parkour was your only way out in life?
I had come to a point when it was my one and only reason to live and
that was all I did. I would do Parkour all along the way to school or my
gym club. And coming back as well. After school, I trained until late at
night. I caught up the best I could, sleeping in daytime during class.
After a while I realized I was much better off outdoors. It felt to me like
that was the real thing. So thats when I decided to drop out of school
and my gym clubs along and put all my heart, energy and time in
Parkour. I was thinking: "Whats the point in doing back flips on a mattress?
It wont ever happen outside, on concrete. Jumping from a building doing a back
flip would just be dangerous and useless" I didnt see the point in carrying
on with my training to manage three, then four flips. What would be the
use outside, in town, in real life? Absolutely none. So I willingly walked
away from those sports, from training indoors and contests. To me, it
was training for others, for competition, but not for me nor my life. I also
walked away from certain relatives, friends and other adults. I was
purposely putting myself aside, building a shell. I was putting a kind of
protecting bubble around me because I knew all the other adults but my
father would tell me things to stop me like, "Watch out, David, be careful,
you are not your father" If I had listened to them, I would have put an
end to it all and I would have found myself completely lost, without
anything to make a living.
You were not afraid to drop out of school at 16?
I know it may seem strange that I had such confidence at such a young
age but Ive never been worried about my future. I was a bit worried
because of my mother who had to face what people thought of it and
negative comments about it from other adults. But I was genuinely
happy and didnt have a problem with it. Sure, I wasnt a good student,
but I could communicate with others and, to me, that was what really
mattered. And deep inside, I knew I had found something with Parkour
that would only bring me good things in life. I felt like a lonesome gold
digger who has found a goldmine. And I was encouraged by what my
39
even if it was the end of the day and it was getting dark. My friends
were not so sure and some would tell me: "Forget about it, well come back
tomorrow." But I didnt want to; it was now or never. I wanted to prove
to myself that it was the right way, my way. And I wouldnt leave before
I had managed to cross the obstacle. So I would often find myself alone,
my friends being all gone. Instead of coming home at eight, I would
come back at eleven pm and, of course, I was being yelled at. But I was
happy, proud of myself: I had kept my word. Each time I said, "I can do
it" or "I can make it", well, I did it and made it. When I managed to go
through a difficult path, I was happy and proud of myself. Sometimes, I
would hear locals talk and I could tell they were more and more amazed.
It wasnt "your kids stuff" anymore, it was genuine admiration.
Did you like having an audience?
No, I wasnt looking for that at all. I didnt do Parkour for cheers and
applause. Of course, when I overheard a father tell his kid: "Look how
this man moves; you can tell he knows what hes doing, hes very careful with
each movement", that was inspiring. I was hanging on to positive
feedback, but I wasnt looking for it. I wasnt doing Parkour to show off
because it wasnt my thing, at all. When girls were passing by in the
street, I waited until they were gone to pursue my training. Its kind of
hard to do that when you are fifteen or sixteen because you want to
show off with girls but its useless for the movement itself. It can even be
disruptive. I had friends who waited for girls to pass by to do their flip
and then just crashed. That taught me a good lesson and I asked my
friend why he had waited one hour doing nothing and all of a sudden,
just because there was a girl, he did his flip. He ended up on his face. It
would have been better to rehearse during that hour, without paying
attention whether girls were here or not. He would not even have
noticed them and he would have made it. Thats what being real is all
about. In Parkour, there is no plan, no show. When a girl asks you to
perform a jump just for her, thats a trap. Its not the girl who is bad, that
was just the idea that came to her mind at that moment. A bit like the
media asking you to do a jump again because they want spectators to be
impressed. Then you do it for wrong reasons, you waste your energy for
nothing and the jump loses its all of its value and meaning.
41
grab his elbow and moan. Most people in the audience wont realize but
I can tell, even on screen, when a jump failed.
How did Parkour become such a phenomenon with youth?
It all started with my brother Jean-Franois who brought a video tape of
our training sessions to the TV show Stade 2 (a sports show on French
Channel 2) at the end of the 90s. My brother had asked us for footage to
bring our sport some recognition. I agreed because I wanted more
people to find out about this discipline and show our positive spirit. I
wanted people to understand that this sport could be practiced in a
group and enable the young to move about in a positive way. Going to
Channel 2, Jean-Franois came across journalist Francis Malto who
watched the footage and said right away: "Ok, when do we start the
shooting?" One week later, they came to see us and did the shooting
with my friends and I in Lisses. You can see me moving around Dame
du Lac and in the streets. After it aired it raised a keen interested among
a lot of young. Reports and amateur videos flourished and Parkour was
brought to light. Those images had also been seen by producers or
directors who started different projects shows, commercials, movies
and this is what truly started the phenomenon as we know it today.
It also brought splits and clashes among traceurs training with you
Groups started to form and others split away. We took different paths
because we didnt see things the same way. Some were jealous because I
had been put forward in the Stade 2 video. I didnt look for it but, on the
other hand, it was a kind of a recognition for all those years of hard work
and training. But as the media phenomenon grew bigger and bigger, I
didnt feel too good about it. I felt like something was being created that
didnt suit me and no one seemed to care about my father. Some friends
chose group names, stage names. They thought it sounded good for the
media, the audience. But I wasnt at all into Samurais or Ninja Turtles
stuff. I wasnt going to prevent them they were free to do what they
wanted. The only thing is, afterwards, some of them didnt have any
recognition whatsoever regarding the origins of Parkour. They acted as if
my fathers heritage and what I had brought had never existed. They
43
didnt give a damn about Parkour; all they wanted was fame. To me, it
felt like Raymond Belle had been erased and all my work had been
useless. I knew it had taken me three years to perfect such or such jump
and they acted as if they could perform it overnight. They thought they
had made it when Parkour had actually just begun. At night, when they
went home, I went out again and trained two more hours. I didnt want
to give up. I only got some rest when I slept. When I saw how they
behaved, I realized there was a big problem and it wasnt taking us
anywhere. Parkour was only starting to be known and people had
already lost its true meaning, what was behind this discipline. If my
friends had been fair and honest, if there had been some recognition of
my fathers input, then it could have worked. And when the media
started getting more and more in touch with them, I withdrew even
more. I let them do their movies, shows and interviews. They were
talking nonsense to journalists. They didnt grasp certain things. Parkour
was closely connected to a story my story. I think I made a mistake not
speaking up at the very beginning of the popularization of Parkour by
the media. I made a mistake not telling the whole story of my father and
what Parkour meant to me deep inside. But back then, I just couldnt. My
father was the word and I was the action. Talking about him or me
wasnt my thing. For many young who joined Parkour or journalists
coming for interviews, I was just David, getting his kicks by jumping all
over the place and his father was a fire fighter. But very few indeed
knew or understood the origin of it all, the real reasons and true
meaning and values I was putting in Parkour<
So you felt cheated somehow
Absolutely. I felt like they were taking a hold of the origins of Parkour,
as if the discipline had been developed by each of them. Some went even
as far as saying that their own father had taught them Parkour! Of
course, the fathers of some of them were sportsmen or in the military,
but none of them did what Raymond Belle did, none of them had had his
training nor mine. I didnt expect at all that some of them would have
the audacity to claim the genesis of Parkour. I was naively thinking my
father would be put forward but people acted as if he didnt even exist.
Some even went as far as pretending that crossing obstacles has always
44
existed and since the mists of time, Man has always moved around in his
environment. Sure, but no one ever did it Parkour style. Ive been
around the globe and never found anyone telling me: "Hey, man, we know
your stuff; weve been doing it before! Nobody. Not even in India. Ive been
to schools teaching martial arts, and none of the students knew how to
do what I did. Everywhere in cities, street sports have developed like
BMX, basketball, break dance, skate boarding or even climbing walls,
but no one has ever developed a technique to move about your
surroundings, to cross urban obstacles the way I have developed it with
my father. If it hadnt been for my father, I wouldnt have developed
Parkour. I would just be David Belle, doing a bit of athletics, gymnastics
and martial arts, but thats it.
But still, you must be glad that Parkour is acknowledged and
developing
I dont refuse Parkour to develop, on the contrary! Even when we drew
apart with friends who had come to train with me, it doesnt bother me.
Some came and trained with me for years and did get the spirit of
Parkour. Then they moved on and created their own structure and went
some way with it, like Stphane Vigroux who created Parkour Generations
in England. This is great for the development of our discipline. But
others didnt understand Parkour at all. After watching some
participants, I realized after a while that they didnt do the things I was
looking for in Parkour anymore, they didnt have the same mindset
anymore. During some trainings, public shows or movies, it was going
downhill, it was baloney. Some brought a fun side to it, a freestyle spirit.
Sure, it looks good and spectators love it but with saltos and other nice
figures, the movements are not the same anymore. It turns into a show
and thats not what Parkour is about. Im not saying I didnt do
acrobatics myself I did but it was after training, after the Parkour, just
for fun, to relax and unwind. It was a way to chill out, like a soccer
player who is going to do a somersault after scoring. When I was
training with some friends, they sometimes put all their energy working
on something freestyle - everything the young liked at the time but I
personally thought it was useless. I didnt want to waste my time
working on a salto like this or that because I knew in a real life situation,
45
46
DANGER
Do you get excited by danger?
No, it never excited me. I was even very uncomfortable with it when I
was a kid danger or void. To overcome that, at some point, I told
myself that, should anything happen, I had to be ready. Its almost in
spite of me that I dealt with danger. I flirted with it just to know what it
felt like; a bit like someone whos going to get cut to know what its like,
what it feels like, but not necessarily looking for pain. Ive been hurt all
over my body and I know what it feels like to have a broken arm. I know
what pain is and it is not something Im looking for. On the contrary, it
helps me be even more confident and accurate with my movements. At
the beginning I may have lacked experience or maturity but I have
always been very aware of danger and the risks I was taking. You dont
come to Parkour thinking there is no danger or risk to be hurt there is.
Its as if someone wanted to learn boxing and was stunned because he
got a broken nose. Those who dont want to get a bit hurt, who dont
want to have scratched hands, shouldnt come to Parkour.
What do you rely on when you jump very high? Luck, the help of God
or your physical abilities?
I believe in my work. When I manage a difficult jump, people
congratulate me as if I had achieved something impossible but the truth
is, its all about work. They dont see all the previous jumps, all the years
of training to get there. Others call me insane with a death wish or other
things like that. If I were insane, I would already be in a lunatic asylum,
a wheelchair or dead because someone insane isnt afraid of anything
and is not aware of danger and could jump from just about anywhere.
But I have the notion of distance, height, I know about the speed and
energy I have to put into a successful jump. Even if it is kind of crazy to
jump from one building to another, you have to protect yourself from
that craziness. And the only way is through practice and self-confidence.
I dont stop in the middle of a jump thinking, "Hey, this is kind of crazy,
huh?" No, I know what Im doing. In my head, I know the steps I went
47
through to get there, I know I went through them all and therefore I am
confident, both about myself and my jump.
How do you do to gauge the danger or know if a jump is possible?
Focus and observation are very important. I have a very accurate and
efficient vision thanks to Parkour. As soon as I get started, I feel a
transformation, as if a veil in front of my eyes and my brain was lifted: I
can see lines and distances in my head. I can encompass everything in
every direction like a chameleon. Movement in Parkour is a matter of
attention. You observe the obstacle, you mentally get to it and the
movement has to follow basically, let your mind go and your body
follows. If you move according to what you have in your head, your
movement is better; you move fast and well. You should not forget that
Parkour is a sequence of obstacles. When you jump, the aim is to get
back on your feet, run and jump again right away. If you stop running in
the middle of it, your movements lose energy. When you jump, you are
already focused towards the next obstacle and when you roll on a
landing, you have the energy and the dynamics to keep going right
away. And its those dynamics that prevent you from getting hurt and
have impacts on your body. If a guy thinks that he is going to stop right
after his jump is going to let his guard down and get hurt. The aim of
Parkour is to never suffer, in every sense of the term. The body knows
how to protect itself instinctively: when you fall, you put your arm
forward and when someone tries to punch you in the face, you have the
instinctive reflex to put your hand up to protect yourself. You dont
think about it: you just do it. And thats also what Parkour is about:
managing to develop the instinctive reflexes of your body.
Its pushing forward the natural response of the body
Absolutely. When I get ready for a jump, I dont stand still and upright.
On the contrary, I flex and move a bit forward; I look ahead and
information come on their own. I dont need to ask myself: "Ok, now,
how far is that jump?" I know it from the data sent by my body. In a
boxing fight, a guy who is standing a bit backwards gives his opponent
the information that he is scared but if he puts his head down in his fists
48
and moves forward, not only does he give the information that he is
ready to fight but he also has a better stance to perceive things and
anticipate his opponents moves. In Parkour, I saw guys who were not
100% into it; they jumped but there whole body or mind wasnt to what
they were doing whereas it should be exactly the other way around. You
have to be there in Parkour.
Jumping involves taking decisions, its a real proof of maturity: with a
jump, I take a risk so when I tell my body "Do it, jump!", I know I have
all the data and I know exactly what Im doing. I can understand a
mothers worries when she sees her kid doing Parkour and thinks hes
crazy and going to fall, but the kid has to answer: "I know what Im doing,
Mum. And I know myself better than you ever will." By dint of training, I
reached that maturity and was able to tell my mother: "Trust me".
Can you have fun even with a small jump?
Absolutely! I can have fun doing Parkour one foot off the ground as well
as thirty or fifty. Its not height but the way that matters. Its being in
one spot and tell yourself you can reach that other one in a specific
amount of time. Its being stuck at some point and thinking to yourself,
"Hey, if I went this way and then that way, maybe theres a way out." Its
seeing an obstacle from a distance and realizing that you can cross it
with some practice. Of course, you get your first big sensations when
you reach a height where you know you can break your leg or, if you
miss, there is no other way out. In front of a huge gap, you start thinking
"Wow!" but this is when self-confidence and work come into play. You
have to know yourself thoroughly before you reach such heights, such
jumps that you could break yourself. You learn to cross a lot of obstacles
when learning Parkour but you must be aware of your abilities and your
level. Its like giving a four-wheeler to someone used to driving a
compact: very soon, hes going to ask himself "What can I do with it?"
And soon he is going to understand that he can go out of his urban
setting, get off the road and go on small dirt paths, cross rivers. Little by
little, hell be able to encompass the capabilities of his car and hell know
where he can go with it. Its the same with my body. Thanks to Parkour,
now I know exactly what I can do with it. Like automatic piloting. I
know I can jump from one roof to another without falling. I know I can
49
do it again. I know it, I do it. Without asking myself any question. Its the
same when I take a glass on a table and put it back: I dont ask myself if
its going to break or not. If you drop the glass, its because you were not
focused you were talking, thinking about something else. You drop
things when you are not focused on what you are doing. If, when taking
the glass, I think, "Im going to take it and put it right there", its impossible
to drop it. I know. And I have the same certainty with a jump. Nothing
can twist or shoot me, no wind can throw me off balance. If I feel
confident, if Im focused and have the speed, the spring, the strength,
then there wont be any problem. You must have an absolute faith in
yourself or you can never go forward in life. Thats my philosophy.
Can you decide not to jump if its too difficult?
Of course! Parkour is also about knowing your limits. Ive never
overestimated my strength. You are being smart by knowing your level
and refusing a jump and not follow someone who actually has the ability
to do it. Sometimes, when I was facing a difficult jump, I was torn
between the David saying, "Its your way, Parkour brought you here and you
have to go across", and the other David who thought, "Well, thats kinda
high and doesnt look so easy, huh?" Thats why I preferred jumping alone
or with people I could trust, in order not to have peer pressure. Some
people have a tendency to listen to their friends and get caught on a little
game of going better than everybody else. And thats when it becomes
very dangerous. With Parkour, you shouldnt be looking for an
outstanding performance. Its noxious and you mustnt play with that,
you mustnt play with your life. I have far more respect for guys who
dont show off and brag around and about. Someone who shows off and
boasts all the time, of course, you want to test him and tell him to show
what he can actually do< And most of time, they make fools of
themselves. Those who end up making great jumps have felt the urge to
talk about it at some point because they are impressed themselves and
proud, but you have to walk away from that. The most important thing
is to be ready, ready to perform the jump that will change things. Guys
who swagger and brag too much about Parkour may have to perform a
jump to save someone one day and they will find themselves bloody
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stupid they cant make it because the jump is three feet higher than what
they are used to doing.
Have you ever been hurt jumping?
In twenty years, I havent sustained a significant injury. Ive had minor
incidents little sprung ankles, hurt knees, stitches, but nothing too
serious. Most accidents occurring nowadays are due to filming. They
jump just for the camera. I jump because this is what my life is all about,
its vital to me. They do it for the show. They know they are going to be
on YouTube and they are going to be admired. There are even some guys
who never jumped before but they are going to do it because they want
to impress their buddies. And thats when they fall. If they had done it
for a good reason, for themselves and not for the camera disturbing their
mind, it would not have happened. If you get into filming or
photography, you already alter the spirit of Parkour. It means you jump
to show off and brag; its more about yourself. At first, I didnt want any
photos or video. I just wanted to train for the sake of training and not
jump because someone was watching or asking me. I may have triggered
the whole thing by showing what I was doing at first but I didnt want
that. I made videos for producers and advertising agencies to give them
ideas and have them want to work with me. But those videos ended up
on the net; and it wasnt my idea. There was a time when you typed
David Belle on a search engine and nothing showed up. Nowadays,
everything is out there. It doesnt interest me. Parkour is not on the net;
it takes place outdoors. Once again, you have to be real, not bluffing.
With Parkour, one shouldnt feel invincible either
Of course, we are only human after all. Parkour is not about becoming a
super hero. It doesnt teach you to fly or gives you Superman or
Spiderman powers. Its just a discipline enabling you to pass obstacles,
jump, climb in a natural way. And it enables us to surpass and improve
ourselves both physically and mentally but it doesnt turn us into aliens.
We know it can enable us to save lives should anything happen, like
someone trapped on a balcony when a building is on fire. But you dont
spend your life on roofs, waiting for something to happen either. No, its
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law and order and be modest, and not play cowboy or the strongest guy
on the block. When a bozo calls the cop telling them theres a weird guy
climbing on the walls outside, all they hear is weird guy and dont
question it. They get there right away, with their sirens on and they are
very aggressive. And the guy who called, well, maybe one day Ill save
his daughter climbing to his balcony and he wont even know it was me
training the other night because he never took time to discuss and get to
know me. Nowadays people dont care about anything anymore and
make judgements without knowing. In France, people lock themselves in
their homes whereas there are countries where doors are open and
nothing is being stolen. Over here, we are taught to beware of everyone,
we become paranoid and stressed out and it rubs off on every single one
of us. A guy walking on a wall has to be a crook, a criminal or a drug
dealer< What kind of a system are we living in where you see that some
people can take us for criminals and shoot us just because we are
running on a rooftop?! How is it possible that some people cant even
make the difference between a young looking for trouble and a young
just practicing his sport? Do I have to wear a t-shirt saying Im not a
thief?!
There was also the issue of how dangerous your sport is. Did city
councils or officials try to prevent you from practicing?
At the beginning, we never encountered any problems with city councils
or officials. Today its different. Some cities like Lisses are in favour of
Parkour because it brings an economical activity to the place and keeps
the young busy. But other cities are considering forbidding climbing or
jumping from some places. Im pretty sure very soon will see sign
popping up everywhere to forbid access to traceurs the way skaters have
been forbidden from some places. Its insane: they want to prevent our
freedom of movement; its as if they wanted to prevent us from singing
in the street! When I started Parkour, I thought I was free, but its not the
case. We dont do any harm and yet people are reluctant. We are just
moving around in a different way, without following the ribbon of
asphalt laid out for the common run of people. So it is disturbing. The
whole system and mentalities alike are so hard to change. Im sure if
tomorrow I invented a flying eco-friendly car, I couldnt use or market it.
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yourself and yourself only. And you have to forget about everything that
gravitates around it because thats what destroys the spirit of it. My
father would never have behaved like that. To him, being appreciated
was better than a golden belt. I cant teach Parkour to someone who
wants to make a lot of dough or be better than his buddies. Parkour is
about training to be better, not the best.
When Im dealing with skilled athletes, I know from the start they will
do Parkour for a couple of years and then move on to something else
skating or skiing< Parkour will be an entertainment to them but they
wont have understood the true spirit of this sport. When young trainees
come to see me and give me videos telling me to check out what they are
doing, I just take the tape and throw it away. What Im interested in is
what the guys got in his head, if he has self-confidence, if he masters the
technique, if he has understood the principles of Parkour. I just cant deal
with guys who do Parkour because they saw videos on the internet and
thought it was kinda cool and want to do even better. But if a youth
comes to me and says he just want to train and learn to move his body in
his environment, then ok, I start getting interested. The principle of
Parkour is to know what you are capable of, to gain self-confidence and
not to compete with others. To me, in this sport, there are only people
who start from scratch, who fight and learn so much along the way, who
will be able to understand every step, every link in the chain of Parkour.
Are there any physical requirements to practice Parkour?
No, except for a basic medical check-up. When a youth comes to
practice, we just check his medical background that he doesnt have
any problems with his back, vertebras, hips, heart, any broken bones and
so on. Anyone can start training for Parkour. The aim of the game is that
we all get to the end of a session. Not necessarily at the same time nor in
the same fashion, but we all get there. When theres a newcomer, I check
his basic physical abilities, like asking him to stand on one leg or stand
on a small wall. It give me an idea about his balance and how he moves.
Sometimes, I even push him to see how he reacts, how he lands and
what his reflexes are like. I can make a diagnosis like a doctor with a
patient. Every individual has to train according to his or her own
morphology. But you cant tell in advance whos going to be gifted or
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not. A tall guy may think its going to be easy because his size is going to
help him reach the top of a wall more easily but a shorter guy will have
to develop a true Parkour technique to reach the top of that wall.
Therefore hell have a more efficient impulse than the guy who just
raised his arms. Physique doesnt matter in Parkour. Its the way that
really matters. I know of a very short guy who moves in Parkour in an
incredible way! When he walks on the street, people stare and say, "Poor
guy!". But when they see him doing Parkour, their way of seeing him
changes drastically. And he feels good, he knows he is good at what he
is doing and it shows on his face. He erased his handicap thanks to
Parkour.
Do you give a lot of advice?
I give basic advice but people have to be able to develop their own
technique the way I did when I started. I dont expect them to do exactly
what Im doing. Id rather see them move in their own way, show me
their way. Its an exchange; Im not here to say, "Do this or do that". Guys
shouldnt come for me, to say that they trained with David Belle. They
have to go and look for what my father gave me. When a young person
asks me: "Can you show me how to do this?" I simply answer: "No, I am
going to show you how I do it. Then, youll have to learn with your own
technique, your own way of moving, your style, your abilities and your
limitations. You are going to learn to be yourself, not someone else." The only
advice I can give is train, train, and train again. And each time, go over
what youve done before. With Parkour, I often say, "Once is never". In
other words, someone can manage a jump one time but it doesnt mean
anything. It can be luck or chance. When you make a jump, you have to
do it at least three times to be sure you can actually do it. Its an
unavoidable rule. It got on the nerves of some guys who came training
with me but thats the only way to improvement. Do it the hard way and
stop lying to yourself. When you come for training, you have to train.
Even if it means doing the same jump fifty or a hundred times. Theres
no miracle: whoever is willing finds the means, the one who isnt willing
finds excuses. When a kid moans and groans and tells me he cant do
such a jump because he doesnt have the right shoes, I tell him to give
me his shoes and I do the jump. When a trainees got it all the speed,
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lieutenant told me: "If Parkour can save one or two of our men, then its worth
it." It will bring them more self-confidence, more freedom of movement
and maybe remove some stress and they will be more efficient. Its when
people like that ask me to teach them Parkour that I think what Ive done
and what my father taught me has become meaningful.
What about you: have you ever considered joining the fire fighters or
the army?
No, because I never had the drive. While I was doing my military
service, soldiers were more motivated to go to the local bar than back to
the gym to train some more. I remember turning the lights of the big
gymnasium back on in the evening and training rope-climbing on my
own. Compared to my Parkour training, army felt like an amusement
park. I couldnt feel proud about crawling in a pipe under a road
because compared to what I had been doing back home, it was nothing.
And when someone bragged about achieving the obstacle course, I told
him it was bullshit and should he find himself in a real warlike situation,
he might fail on his first big jump because there will be no safety
harnesses or ropes out there and hell completely freak out. It takes time,
steps, to prepare someone to jump from a height without a cord. And
most of the time, there is no time to do it in the army. If a guy jumps
once without safety features, he knows he has a real strength in him.
Even if he looks physically less apt because he didnt spend hours doing
push ups, hell be stronger in his head and thats what really matters in
the end. Its the same thing with a boxer who always fought with gloves
and another one who fought bare fist on the streets.
When I was with the fire fighters, I realized that my father had already
done it all. When I was walking in his footsteps, breaking the regiments
record in rope-climbing the same way he did, I didnt feel anything
glorious about it. I just think that I didnt want to live my fathers life: he
had already done it all, in the army or with the firemen, and probably
better than I did or ever would do so I had to find my own professional
path.
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The film industry isnt necessarily the best place for someone who
seeks to be free. How do you manage to be at ease in this medium?
I can't all the time. It depends who Im working with. Its hard because
everyone is playing the game in this industry. In film, its tricky to
maintain your authenticity. Im coming from Parkour and discovered the
medium of film where people try to make me believe that all of a sudden
Im really important, that Im a great person, wheras they dont even
know anything about me, they dont know who I am. In this industry,
you are surrounded by people who make you feel you have worth, they
make you believe that you deserve more and you can gain much more.
They compare you to a known person and say: Whats-his-name earned
millions.... They incessantly dangle the carrot in front of your face, and
the risk of losing yourself in all this is high. I have a tendency to tell
myself: I never asked to have this life so I want to be well looked after. The
film industry encourages a spoilt child mentality because you are
surrounded by people who take care of everything for you. If my father
was here, he would slap me. Hed tell me: What you just asked that
assistant to do, you could have done yourself. My father was never lazy,
when he asked me to take out the rubbish it was because he was busy
making dinner, not because he was sitting down watching the TV.
Genuine people, like my father are rare to find in the film business. Its a
network where you greet everyone and make small talk but you know
very well that when you go home, youre all alone, these people arent
calling you. When they flatter you and tell you that your work is great,
Im not sucked in, I know that generally they are being false. I sensed
that straight away. I sense it still. When Im contacted about a job, I need
to feel out who Im going to be working with. I try to see behind the
eyes, who it is truly that Im speaking to. When Luc Besson gave me my
chance, I knew instantly what an opportunity it was and he quickly
understood who I was. No doubt, for this reason we have a simple,
honest, frank and direct relationship. I will be as loyal to Besson as I was
to my father. Hes a man who sticks to his word. Hes given me lots of
advice on this career choice, he has helped me and he encourages me
still, including in the development of Parkour. When District 13 was
released, the thing that pleased me the most was the text he sent me: I
am sure that your father would be proud of you. That touched me more than
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In the sequel we also learn more about some secondary characters like
Molko, played by MC Jean Gab1. We see better the life within District
13, the different ethnicities and how they co-habitate and they have
adapted to this hostile environment. The dialogue is closer to what we
would say also. We find a sort of suburban humour. At the script
reading, the story pleased me because it also allowed for plenty of action
and Parkour related sequences. We rediscover Leito and Damian, the
cop, 3 years after the end of their first encounter. Leito realises that
nothing has changed, that the wall hasnt been brought down, District 13
continues to be a ghetto drowning in chaos; he continues all alone, his
fight to separate it from the rest of the country. Damian calls upon him
as he has fallen into trouble and has landed in prison..
How was filming?
It wasnt the entire same team as the first film but I adapted to the
director Patrick Alessandrin without a problem. Hes a man who listens
carefully and lets the actors do their thing. For him, we are actors
responsible for our own characters. He lets us bring our skills and he
directs with them. I like this way of functioning, we can give whats
within us. With Cyril Raffaelli, who plays the cop Damien, it was the
same. Each of us went in our own direction since District 13 but we
never lost sight of each other. I was happy for him that he worked on
great projects like the sequel to Hulk. It made me happy. Both of us have
followed our own paths, without stress. I am not anxious about my
career in movies. Up until now, projects have landed in my lap, I haven't
gone out searching for them. It makes me laugh hearing certain actors
always saying: I have this and that coming up. Youd think they are
machines programmed to advance. I dont want to be involved, nor
begging for roles or doing films for the sake of doing films.
How do you prepare the choreographies for the action sequences in
films like District 13 - Ultimatum?
This is determined by the preparation and the shooting. The work is
done as a team, with Luc Besson, Patrick Alessandrin and Cyril Raffaelli
who co-ordinate the combat stunts. During the development of the film,
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Luc writes the scenes with brief instructions like the character exits the
room by escaping through a window and across the rooftops . When
we meet during the rehearsal period of the shoot, we discuss the best
way for the person to accomplish the scenario described whilst using the
principles of Parkour. This is then refined during the shoot: in terms of
choreography, I think about the way myself and my partners are going
to do the movements and how the displacement can translate into the
setting. I try things out and suggest other ideas. We adapt to the set or
the set adapts to our movements. Theres nothing that is imposed or
fixed in the choreographies. We try stuff out. The essential thing is that it
is spectacular. When I think about a Parkour sequence, I have a tendency
to make want to make it realistic but I also have to make it spectacular
because its for a movie.
Film brings you a new parameter, youre no longer facing the obstacle
alone, theres the camera, the director, the crew: how do you keep your
concentration without being distracted?
I dont risk being distracted because Im doing it for pleasure. Even if its
a film shoot, Im doing it for pleasure just the same as if I was training. I
keep this in mind. And I know also that in preparation and during
rehearsals that I gave my word to the producers and the director in
saying yes, I can do this jump . So I do it. If Im not feeling it or Im
tired, I feed off of their energy and concentrate on the promise I made. I
said I'll do it, so Ill do it. Its a question of respect. In any case, no one
has forced me to do a jump. No one. Im the one who chooses and
decides for each jump, where Im going and how Im going to do it. The
production, the director, they decide on the set, the story to tell, and I
decide on what is possible to do or not. If I really dont feel it at all, I
dont do it. And no amount of euros could make me change my mind.
Its just a film, just a movie. Im not going to kill myself or injure myself
for a film that some guy is going sit on his couch watch. Hed watch it
once or twice and his life would continue, whereas I would have
smashed myself for a film that may be excellent but that isnt going to
revolutionise the world in any case. The most important thing for me is
to put all of my energy into those jumps, into my scenes and to make a
film that isnt going to suffer from the comparison to American films.
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Were not here to prove that its real. At some point, we have to rise
above this ego thing that pushes actors to prove they can do a real jump.
The only result from this is that the actor will hurt himself and hold up
production for 2 weeks because he overestimated his ability.
Can you have double for some scenes?
For the Parkour scenes, no. I want to do them myself. Its what makes me
legitimate and I dont want that taken away from me. Luc Besson
respected that. He respected my wish to not have any doubles for
District 13 and District 13 Ultimatum. The only thing is I can put in
safety measures either because Im tired or because the insurance
company demands it. If Ive done the jump once without safeties, thats
enough for me, if I have to start again I give myself the opportunity to
have a safety harness. When a kid asks me if it was me that did a certain
jump, then I feel proud to say Yes, I did! . Other Traceurs cant say as
much. Theyve had stunt doubles. And it bothers me to see that theyre
not honest about it, parading in front of the public and in front of
journalists even when in certain scenes theyve had stunt doubles. When
I know this about them, I cant have respect for them. Instead of
boasting, certain actors should look at themselves and who they are.
Daniel Craig, who plays James Bond, doesnt boast, he doesnt hide the
fact that he has a stunt double because he is honest and knows he
doesnt have to be ashamed of the fact. He knows hes a good actor and
he brings a real element to his characters. Some Traceurs believed they
could be the king of the castle in films because of where they came from
and because they could do a few acrobatic tricks that no one else was
doing. But reality caught up with them. They realised that it wasnt that
easy to fool the directors, that theyre not idiots. And they also found out
that actors could also apply themselves to Parkour and even master it
better than them. This was the case with Cyril Raffaelli. Certain Traceurs
were wary of him, they encouraged me to have my guard up because he
hadnt followed the same path as us, but I did just the opposite to what
they told me. I approached him because he was different to me, and we
became friends.
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You didnt have any trouble joining a large American production with
all the constraints it entails?
Not at all. At the start, to ease the tension I told myself: If theyve called
me, then they know why . I didnt have any doubts. From the smallest
advertisement to the biggest movie, I was able to make my choreograpy
how I felt it should be. And in this instance, that didnt change, even
when I had a hundred strong crew around me or big Hollywood
producers and the director of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I
didnt freak out about their big budget or their expectations. Things were
done simply. They included me in how they envisaged the scene and I
explained how I could see the choreographies working on the set. I could
have been under a lot of pressure but I felt at ease because it was really
something that Ive mastered. I told them: Is the set stable here? Ok, so the
hero could climb up here, like so, then jump here, in this direction, the rocks
could fall on these characters at this point I was totally in my element
and my imagination. I had heaps of ideas. I hope they were happy with
my work. In the end, seeing it will be worth it. It was a very short but
enriching adventure. Who knows if one day Ill find myself working on
the next production from Jerry Bruckheimer, perhaps a small role on
Pirates of the Caribbean 4 or they may entrust me with some of the
choreograpy? It would be the ultimate, working under the Caribbean
sun, that would be a big change from working in faraway places of
Serbia!
Would you ever shoot a small name film that doesnt have any Parkour
in it?
For now, what interests me the most is action films but Im not obsessed
with Parkour or physical roles. Im very conscious that the base of
cinema is acting. Its not because you know how to jump, climb or fall
that youll become a good actor. You have to know how to express
emotions, open up, expose certain things otherwise you do a Jean
Claude Van Damme your whole life. He can be proud of what he does,
hes worked on heaps of films and provided for his family but I am sure
he would have liked to work with Robert de Niro or Edward Norton,
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opposed to the work we have put into it. Im under the impression that I
make more money than before from doing less physical things and
investing myself less. I try not to worry about it, telling myself I have
achieved plenty of my childhood dreams and I shouldnt complain or
search for more. I have enough money to cover my groceries, my rent
and my holidays. Whilst travelling doing Parkour, I saw poor families.
For example, in Madagascar I met children who had nothing, living in
misery but always carrying a smile. We cant complain about what we
have. But of course the system makes us think that we always want
more. We want the best fastest car, but in the end, rich or poor, you end
up in the cemetery.
In my real life, I dont need Brad Pitts salary to be happy. From the
moment I have what I need to look after what little family I have left, to
cover my mother and sister, I dont have any doubt that I wont need
anything more. Im not in competition with anyone even if I partake in
the system, in the film industry where they encourage this sort of
lifestyle. Myself, I am here to do my job and they pay me for that! To me,
being an actor is to be a translator, to play a character and to respect this
role. If people say thank you to an actor, its not because they earn 15
million bucks, its because they gave them a good time, and because of
them they felt some emotions.
However, glory and money are things that fascinate youth..
But the young are fascinated by money because they think its necessary
to live, they are lead to believe that you need the hottest car and a starlet
on your arm or you are nothing. Ive seen happy couples that didnt
have a lot to live off. We long for this love. Its not the case for a guy who
is loaded but who is never there for his wife and kids and the only way
he can show his love is to spend thousands on presents for them. Later in
life that kid will remember that his father bought him such and such and
it was worth yadida, but you ask him about the real moments he had
with his dad and he wont have any to recite. If you take your kid fishing
for a day, it costs you nothing but hell remember it for the rest of his life.
Myself, I only had moments like these with my dad. At night, he would
grab me for a wander, and we would go walking for hours in the forest.
He told me about his life and I didnt notice the kilometres passing. I
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could also sit for hours in his tent, chatting till the early hours about the
things he had lived through and to me, that is worth more than all the
gold in the world.
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Are you going to fight to keep Parkour alive throughout the world?
Im a bit out of Parkour today but I know its here. Its like a cook getting
out of his restaurant going on with his life. He runs errands, visits
friends but he knows he still got his talent inside. And if a friend asks
him for a good dish, hes going to fix it for fun, not to show off. And I
want Parkour to be like that for me now sessions for fun and not
thinking I got myself tired repeating useless movements. I did what I
had to do and followed my training the way I had to. What I still have
left to do now has to do with passing on, especially by creating training
centres for the young. I want those kids to understand what Parkour is
truly about and be able to transmit that philosophy "be strong to be
useful" as well. I will continue to have a deep respect for Parkour and I
will do my best to try to make it stronger and give it more credit. I want
to do that for Parkour fans and followers, to show and prove to them
that its a sport you can practice in the long run. I also want to get rid of
the business side of this discipline, of the value the media gave it. When
TV journalists come and see me today, if I tell them about a jump two
feet off the ground, they are not happy and always ask me if I couldnt
do it from the top of a big building instead "because its more visual" they
say each time. I can understand the fun side of it and I can understand
some people want to start Parkourlands on beaches like skate ramps, but
dont get me involved in that, I dont want to have anything to do with
this business side. I want to keep the simple and natural aspect of
Parkour. I try myself to be careful about what I do on a professional
level. I did a lot of commercials especially abroad and I often pay
attention to the product or the brand to make sure they dont go against
my principles and make sense somehow with Parkour. I was offered to
do a commercial for a very famous chain of fast-food restaurants and the
pay check was good but I declined. I dont want Parkour to be used just
for the fun of it. I want to show and put forward the useful side of the
discipline one way or another.
Do you think Parkour can go forward on its own, without David Belle?
Life itself is about going forward and I dont need to be there for
Parkour. Some people expect too much from me. If young people have
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personally had this long training period during which I didnt allow
myself anything no alcohol, no cigarettes. I wanted to keep a clear
mind everything had to be sharp, I had to keep a clear vision and
perception of things. Today, I allow myself a few cigarettes and a few
drinks to unwind. My grandfather used to say that excess is what kills a
man, and I dont feel like I am being in excess here! I think if I had kept
such a strict self-discipline, I would be suffering today. Theres a lot of
pressure to deal with. I think I proved myself and went through every
step of Parkour so now, I can allow myself a certain kind of balance
staying clear and focused when I do Parkour or my job in the movie
industry, and having fun when Im with friends or at home. As opposed
to what some may believe, I dont think God is going to punish us
because we allow ourselves some good times. I dont judge people on
their misbehaviour or their mistakes. I try to live for whats right and
good as much as I can but above all I try to live my life the way my
father and my grandfather taught me.
Was your grandfather disappointed that you didnt eventually join the
Fire fighters' Squad of Paris?
Not at all. To him, what mattered the most was for me to be happy with
myself and my family. He kept repeating: "No matter what you do as long
as you do it well." When he got sick, I stayed by his side all night at the
hospital right before he died. He couldnt speak or move anymore but
his eyes said so much< I could feel life leaving his face and body and I
whispered in his ear that he didnt need to worry, that I had carefully
listened to everything he had told me and that I would look after my
mother. It hasnt been easy to keep on with Parkour everyday without
him and without my father. I sometimes felt like I was dogged by life.
When my brother Daniel died, when my grandfather and my father
passed away two weeks apart, I really started wondering what was the
point of it all what was the point in being good when your close ones
are taken away the next minute. I managed to get over this sorrow and
not be afraid of death anymore by putting myself in their shoes so to
speak, up above and I know I would like to see my close ones go on with
their lives, be happy and stop crying over my death because it is of no
use. When something hurts me, I try to think about my father and what
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break away from my fathers path and find my own. After his death, I
told myself that from now on I would move for the father of all fathers. I
had the feeling that if God could see me in Parkour, he knew I wasnt
lying and I wasnt a dishonest person. There I was, alone, training in the
woods and I put all my love, all my energy in what I was doing, telling
myself, "If God exists I know he can see me. Otherwise, I do it for myself and
Im also happy about it." I think that in the end, when we die, God takes
our eyes just to see what we have done while on Earth, what we saw
during our life and what we did, right or wrong.
Is faith important in your life?
I believed in my father before I believed in God. And when I lost him, I
felt like my belief in God was even stronger because I realized all the
love and everything my father had given me. To me, you dont have one
million options: God either exists or He doesnt. And my faith makes me
feel like God loves us so much more than a mother loves her newborn
for instance. I can feel this force, this power. From what I know, God
doesnt expect anything from us theres nothing Man can do that God
doesnt already know. So following our path and believing in Him must
be the only thing He expects from us. And to me, its useless to pray to
Him to get something like money. To me, He already put everything we
need on Earth for us to manage by ourselves all the resources are here
for us to survive and live. If people die of starvation nowadays, its Man
starving them, not God. Human beings now want to play God they
claim natural resources for their own benefits and make other humans
pay for them. The rules imposed by Man are not the right ones. In an
idealistic world, the one who can build a house could trade his skills for
the fruit and veggies of the one who can grow them and so on. Thats
how the world should work but we tried to be smarter and we ended up
deep in shit, all by ourselves. Todays economical problems didnt
happen by chance. We had everything we needed to be happy on this
planet but Man destroys and changes everything.
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because they never had the curiosity to look at it under a different angle.
People are not listening enough to their desires and dont go out of their
daily routine enough either. If they want to travel the world, they should
just do it, and not wait.
Could you live a life without adrenaline?
Its been a while now that I dont move for the same reasons. What
matters in Parkour are the first steps understanding the meaning of
what you are accomplishing and telling yourself that there is more than
one way put all your heart in what you are doing even something as
simple as a walk in the woods. Dont lock yourself up in one thing alone
but try and discover other sports, other cities, other countries and open
up to others. I dont want to stubbornly stick to Parkour. I dont want to
be like an old 80-years-old Kung Fu master stuck in his black tunic and
who wants the world to believe that he can still fight young practitioners
the way he used to. I want to do other things. I dont know exactly what
yet but my only certainty is that I dont want to end up my life counting
the number of cars in my garage, asking myself which yacht Im going to
take or in which summer mansion to spend my holidays. My childhood
dreams remain the same: have a little place for myself on this earth
where I can stay on my own for four months if I feel like it, then move
somewhere else for another four months. Parkour gave me that freedom.
One day Im here, in Paris, and the next, I can spend three months in
Asia. I want to be a citizen of the world. And if I go to Africa tomorrow, I
want to live like they do and not impose my Frenchy stuff Ill get rid of
my sneakers and my jeans because I wouldnt be comfortable with them
in the jungle. Ive learnt to adapt to my environment. Thats what
Parkour is also about. So adrenaline or not, I just hang on to what is true
and real because thats the only thing I can relate to. When I go to a small
village in the mountains, I can talk for hours with a little old man just
sitting there watching his flock of sheep. And with Parkour or the movie
industry, its the same: Im always looking for the person who is going to
tell me interesting things, who is going to make me want to do things,
who knows new things, without forcing things or trying to convince me
at all costs. And at the end of my life I also want to be a little old man,
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" old" in the sense that I lived things, I travelled, and Ill have stories to
tell and experiences to share with young ones.
What is your overall feeling regarding what youve accomplished with
Parkour?
I feel pride and satisfaction. Nothing can twist the truth you can
pretend at being the best, being successful, but the truth always catches
up if you lied. I feel good about myself I can look at myself in a mirror
and I respected what my father told me. And I feel like I deserve all the
good things happening to me today I feel like its the reward for all my
efforts, like a gift, a well-deserved one. I dont feel like I cheated to be
where I am today and I feel proud of it. I think after this book is over, Ill
stop talking about my father. Ill leave him to rest in peace. Im tired of
having to justify myself, justify Parkour. Its been over ten years now
that this discipline is recognized throughout the world, from New-York
to Tokyo via Rio de Janeiro. Today, thousands of traceurs just get their
kicks moving in various cities and passing on their knowledge to new
ones who also want to move. No matter what happens to me tomorrow.
My personal failures will be my own business. Whats essential is that I
managed to pass my fathers message on thanks to Parkour. Even if I end
up in the street tomorrow, Ill be satisfied because Parkour exists,
because thousands of people throughout the world practice it and feel
good about themselves thanks to it. I can be forgotten, but Parkour wont
be forgotten.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to thank all of those who always believed in Parkour
before it became widely known.
Thanks to my mother who always supported me and often worried
about me when I went out, and to my brother who was the first to bring
Parkour into the public eye.
Thanks to my little sister I love you even though I dont say it enough.
Thanks to the Belle family of Sarcelles I was always welcomed and
well fed there!
Thanks to the Sables-dOlonne and the 91 crews and my friend Vidda.
Thanks to my Dodo< (you know better< nothing happens by chance!)
Thanks to Luc Besson for the opportunity he gave me, his support and
trust in my projects.
Thanks to Mathieu Kassovitz for his friendship and the adventure of his
movie.
Thanks to Cyril for his advice, his generosity and our brotherly
friendship.
Thanks to the women who drove me to put my story on paper in this
book and put a beginning and an end to it: Pascale Parillaud and Sabine
Gros La Faige.
Thanks to Parkour practitioners may they pass the tradition down
and practice this sport with pride.
More generally thanks to all enthusiasts who believe in their flame and
their humble determination.
I read one day a sentence that said: "Follow your heart and your face will
glow throughout your life." It speaks to me and rings like a philosophy.
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