Take Flight

Back in 2008 Take Flight posted an interview with David Belle that included a portion about how he and Sébastien Foucan had grown apart over the years. Well just a few months ago David Belle was interviewed by Sébastien Foucan and we knew all the fans would be interested.

It is incredible to see the founder of Parkour joined with another original member of the Yamakasi across from “Le Dame du Lac”, one of the most iconic structures in all of Parkour. In the interview David discusses what Parkour was for him in the past, and what it has become today. Truly a “must see” interview for any and all Traceurs. Whether you have been training and following the growth of Parkour since its beginning or just starting out, the words shared in this interview will educate and inspire you.

The 2 part interview has been translated into multiple languages, so if you prefer different subtitles or would like to see the original videos you can find them at:  http://www.youtube.com/user/FreerunningTVDotCom

David and Sébastien cover topics ranging from the original inspiration of Parkour from David Belle’s father to social media today and how that, and the rapid growth in popularity, have changed the way Parkour is viewed and practiced by many people. Below we have both parts of this interview, so sit back and enjoy learning the history and truth of Parkour from David Belle himself.

Some people choose the easiest path through life; David Belle prefers to take the most interesting. As the world’s premier exponent of Parkour, a physical discipline of movement that’s as much a philosophy as it is a sport, Belle has carved a career out of taking the unconventional route.

The freeform method of getting around is based on techniques developed at the turn of the last century by a French navel officer called Georges Hébert. Belle’s father picked up the baton laid down by Hébert, building upon his techniques while serving in the French military. The passion for the physical discipline-cum-artform was then passed down from father to son. The latter helped brand l’art du déplacement (or art of movement) with its popular name, bringing “Parkour” to the awareness of the mainstream through gravity defying appearances on TV and film. Thrusting Parkour further into the popular psyche, Belle’s stunts have also been showcased on TV commercials for companies such as Nike, Vittel and the BBC that have since gone viral throughout the net.

In 2004 Belle starred in District 13, a French language action movie co-written and co-produced by Luc Besson (who was responsible for the 1997 sci-fi classic The Fifth Element). District 13 was set in the near future in a fictionalized dystopian suburb of Paris, and was the first major film to feature Parkour-inspired action sequences. Belle reprised his role as the gang-busting Leïto in a sequel, District 13: Ultimatum, which was released in Europe last year. Featuring spectacular rooftop chase sequences that should thrill action fans, the film is finally getting a North American theatrical release on Friday, February 5.

We called Belle up at his home in Corbeil-Essonnes, in the southern suburbs of Paris to find out more. With the help of a translator, we spoke about the new movie, the stunts it features, the origins of Parkour and where it’s taking him now.

Nicole Powers: This is the second movie in the District 13 franchise. How did it come about?

David Belle: Luc Besson called me to see if I was interested in doing a follow up adventure. As far as I was concerned there were no problems at all.

NP: The screenplay was written by Luc Besson, who also wrote The Fifth Element and The Transporter. What did you like about this particular script?

DB: I liked the storyline in general. I thought it was a good action film. The character is a little like me, not in everything, but I felt pretty close to that character, and I was willing to embark on this adventure.

NP: Obviously it’s an action-based film. Did you work with Besson in the construction of the action scenes at the writing stage or was it more of a case of collaborating with the film’s director, Patrick Alessandrin, at the point when you were preparing to shoot?

DB: As a matter of fact when Luc writes the action he doesn’t write that much detail. He leaves us some room for maneuver and he allows us to make some proposals on the action. Then he picks what the best solution is and we move forward like that.

NP: Which was the hardest scene to shoot?

DB: The whole shooting was difficult. Keep in mind we were in top form so in the beginning you do one of these stunts and it’s pretty easy. You do the scouting of these scenes and you say, “Ah, that’s going to be easy,” and you say, “I’m going to do this during the shooting.” Then it turns out that something that was initially anticipated as something that was going to be easy turns out to be quite difficult. You’ve got to be very careful because at the end of the shoot you’re exhausted. But we’re under the same amount of pressure throughout the whole shoot, however, I should say, since we rehearsed in advance there weren’t as many problems as one might have expected.

NP: I guess the issue of physical tiredness is compounded if you have to do multiple takes.

DB: Well yes, that is true. I should add that we tried to spare our forces, save our energy, as much as possible. When we had a stunt scene, we would rehearse the scene two or three times in advance — everything but the stunt itself. Then we would do the shooting in just one take. We would rehearse it two or three times, when we were all psyched and we were ready, we would hit it and we would just do it. That was our policy for stunts which were really dangerous.

NP: Were there any injuries on set?

DB: I injured my lower arm. We were doing a chase scene in the Gypsy Quarter and there was a police car chasing me. So I’m running and I made a sudden turn and my arm got caught on a doorknob. The doorknob went into my arm. I needed five stitches. The doctor told me I had to rest for a week, but the next day it seemed like the stitches were holding so we started on the roof again.

The thing is, that door was supposed to be closed, but someone has left it half open. So when I was running, just like you might get your bag caught on something that’s sticking out, that’s what happened with my arm.

NP: Where were the rooftop scenes shot?

DB: On the roofs of Serbia.

NP: Were there any wires or other safety equipment used in those scenes?

DB: There were certain scenes, the scenes that were truly dangerous. Sometimes we had a cable, sometime we had a safety net, because sometimes we would have to rehearse or shoot a scene a couple of times until we got it right. With fatigue setting in you just don’t know how you might react, and you’re 20 meters up in the air, so sometimes we would shoot with a safety net. But generally speaking, we were free, our movements were free.

NP: The way the action scenes are cut together to pumping techno music, they very much have the feel of a music video. Were you happy with the way everything turned out?

DB: Generally speaking I like the film. As far as the music’s concerned, if I’m watching the film and I don’t like the music I just turn off the sound and put on a music track that I like. But I would have to say I generally like the music. It really meshes well with the pace of the film I believe.

NP: Going back to how you first started Parkour, I know you had military and martial arts training, but how did a type of movement you used to run across town become something that you realized was a stylized thing of its self, something you could make a career out of?

DB: Of course, I was very active in sports when I was small, but it was because of my father that I discovered Parkour. It was he who transmitted to me this art though his experience in the army and later as a fireman. He had worked on his own physical conditioning and I realized that the movement has a useful side to it. That you can move around to help people, to aid people, and not just to be an artist or to perform acrobatic tricks. There’s a more profound side to Parkour.

NP: With Parkour there also seems to be a connection to your inner child. If you look at the way a child walks along a pavement, the last thing they want to do is walk in a straight line. They want to jump across cracks in the pavement or play stepping stones, and if there’s something to jump up on, instinctively they’ll want to jump up on it. Parkour seems to be very much about getting in touch with your inner child and taking the interesting way, rather than the easiest route.

DB: I think you summed it up in a nutshell. That’s what it is exactly. That’s the first time anybody has given me the proper definition of Parkour. Bravo Nicole!

NP: Merci beaucoup! How has it changed since you started doing it? How has the art progressed?

DB: It’s sort of like life. Initially the obstacles aren’t too high, and as you gradually gain increasing self-assurance and greater amounts of confidence the obstacles are higher, and when you fall it hurts more. So you learn through good technique not to take stupid risks. I didn’t ever want to give the impression that practicing this movement is crazy. I wanted to show that there’s a method that allows you to overcome obstacles, to navigate obstacles without taking major risks.

NP: What do you do to train on a daily basis?

DB: I’ve worked on the foundations so much, it’s similar to martial arts. When you practice a jump thousands of times for eight hours a day straight, your body develops a memory of it. You don’t have to be practicing that everyday from a 20 meter high rooftop. The question for me now is to maintain this physical conditioning. Now I train less. I do it more by feeling. I don’t have the same perspective anymore. My goal is to last vis-à-vis my age. I want to make sure that whatever my age is I feel good inside my body, and that I don’t have the impression of destroying myself.

NP: Right, you don’t want to over-train.

DB: That’s right. I don’t think it’s worthwhile. It’s not worth it to over-train. You know, we all have a certain lifespan. It’s not like we’re going to live 150 or 200 years and I could say, alright, I have 50 years to progress. Life goes by and it’s full of things to do, and I don’t want to get stagnated and be like an old karate professor who’s 70-years old and keeps repeating the same movement. Today I do Parkour, tomorrow I might play the piano, maybe the next day I might go fishing. I don’t want to feel anchored. I want to continue to move, and of course I want to continue to practice my sport. But I’m trying to listen to my body and I try to always be interested in other things. I don’t want to deprive myself of those other things just for the sake of Parkour.

NP: I guess part of that goes back to maintaining the enjoyment by nurturing your inner child. It’s something that gets forgotten as we get older, but it’s important and intrinsic to the discipline too.

DB: Well you know I think everyone has a trigger in their lives and that’s what Parkour was for me. It’s like someone who plays music as a kid, and then, through music, discovers art in general, and beauty. He may not play music [anymore] but he may go on to other things, but the trigger, the detonating influence was music. Well that’s what Parkour was for me. We all have something that when we’re young we discover, and that something will lead us to a world of other discoveries. That’s what Parkour has done for me. .

NP: So can you see yourself down the line taking acting roles where the physicality is less important? Perhaps even roles that don’t requite Parkour?

DB: Well if movies give me that opportunity, I would take it up with the greatest of pleasure.

NP: Finally, I know you originally took up Parkour with very practical, perhaps even lifesaving applications in mind. Are you doing anything to teach the next generation this skill and the practical applications too?

DB: You’re completely right, we’re already working with the firemen of Paris imparting Parkour techniques, and we’ve set up a program with the city council of Lisses to set up a place where soldiers, policemen, young people — anybody engaged in high risk professions — can come and get training. It’s not enough to just train in a gym. There we can move around a bit. We really can’t explain the sport in such situations, so these special places we’re setting up are much better for that.

NP: Thank you for taking the time out to chat, and good luck with the movie in America.

DB: Merci Nicole.

District 13: Ultimatum opens on limited release in theaters on Friday, February 5. You can also find it on VOD, Amazon, and XBOX Live.

We want to start the year off right by staying true to what brought us here; David Belle.

Included below is one of the most comprehensive and insightful interviews ever recorded with David. In the interview, conducted a few months after the European release of Banlieue 13 – Ultimatum, David speaks extensively about a wide range of subjects including his transition from being a fireman into being an actor, training and learning Parkour from his father, and his future plans as they pertain to practicing Parkour and pursuing knowledge and activities in other facets of life. We hope this interview is an insightful look for you into Parkour and David’s heart for the discipline which we strive to perpetuate through Take Flight and the Parkour clothing and products we produce.

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Why have you decided to move from being a fireman to being an actor/stuntman?

Firstly, after being a fireman, I went into the army. I was in the Marine Infantry. It was a coincidence I found myself in movies. It was not a vocation. Not something I wanted to do since I was little. What I wanted was to make my sport known: that Parkour become recognized. My brother showed my small videos to the media and they got interested; which brought me to movies. But acting wasn’t something I originally wanted to do. Now that I am in that field; I enjoy it and I am not going to waste the opportunity. If there are opportunities for me in movies, I will take them. Otherwise I will move on to something else. However, for the moment I am not thinking of making a career in that area. I was more than happy with the first District B13. It was already enough for me to be able to tell that to my kids. When I finished working on B13, I told myself: “Even if there is only that one, I am happy enough that Parkour brought me to do that; to be able to show Parkour to the public and make myself known”. For the rest, let’s not make plans on what is and what is not going to happen.

You’re talking as if you haven’t made any decisions by yourself, as if it just all happened by accident…

But it did all happen just like that! I never had any kind of strategy. I never tried to sell myself to act in movies. I never asked for anything. It all started with the documentary that has been shown on TV. From there I took what people offered. Even the last thing, Prince of Persia, I did not ask for that job, it is them who contacted me while I was filming in B13 Ultimatum. They called me like four times, insisting for me to work with them. I was working on another movie at the time so we agreed that I would work for them on my free days. Parkour is being integrated everywhere in movies now, as soon as there is a little race or a jump they use Parkour. We clearly notice it now, the jumps are different.

What are the differences between preparing yourself for stunts in a movie and your own training?

I do it about the same. Parkour, I am finished with it now. People are starting to get interested in that art, but me I have already explored it a lot. I also have a lot of interests in other things. When someone talks to me about Parkour I am not going to say “It’s too late”; most of the time I answer “You should have come when I was 20 years old. I was really motivated at that time! I was into Parkour every second of my life.” Now I could learn to play music, like the guitar or whatever; what’s important is that I want to learn other things. Parkour is not the only thing in life. People tell me “Parkour kicks ass, I have to do it!” I have interests in other things too. Parkour is a training method men should train because it helps you displace yourself in urban or natural environments and learning to adapt yourself to it. However, for me, learning to do stuff like cooking is as important as doing Parkour. Knowing how to repair a car, how to help someone who’s having a cardiac arrest etc. For me those are the basics of life. I am not like an old martial artist at 80 years old who’s always practicing the same punches. It’s even likely that the guy has never fought for his life and I would like to tell him “Stop punching, relax yourself, live normally; enjoy your life,” because there is too much rigidity when people focus too much on something. And I don’t want to end up like that. When you’re getting your first aid diploma, you are not going to be saving people every day it’s more “if something happens, I will know what to do.” I’ve always trained Parkour with the same mentality. So fuck people who tell me “Hey do a demo! or something…”, I never trained Parkour to perform or show off. To me, Parkour is something personal. It just happened to get popular. I’m not the one who put it on the internet.

Is the reason for your disagreement with the Yamakasi about them moving Parkour into movies and shows?

No. But when I really think about it, there is no issue with the Yamakasi. I only practice what my dad taught me. When you listen to them, they’ll tell you they do something they created themselves. And we all live at the same place. The group Yamakasi does not even exist anymore, everyone went away; now it’s called “Majestic Force thingy”. When it was Yamakasi they were like “We are Yamakasi, it’s the sport”; now they are moving towards PG Tips because this project is working well. And I ask myself, why is that? We had a simple sport, why does everyone want to give it a new name? “It’s like Parkour but it’s called Free Running style thingy…”. But it is Parkour! When you go in any other country around the world you say “I play soccer or volleyball”. The name of the sport does not change. So why change the name of Parkour unless you want to do some kind of business and be able to say “I am the creator of this new sport, exactly like Parkour except that you only jump on one leg”? Change one thing to say that you are the creator of something and be able to make some money from it. The goal of Parkour is not to make money or create a business. There is no financial goal behind it. Parkour should be taught to people who want to learn. If they don’t have money it does not matter because you don’t need any to do it, just a pair of good shoes and that’s all. Now people are like “Beware! The Academy is gonna open!” or “There’s gonna be a Parkour center bla bla bla.” But me, I learned Parkour outside! The real Parkour training is to be done outside. You can do whatever with your centers, put some mats down, but people will always end up going outside.

What necessity made you create Parkour?

It was my dad who taught it to me. I had seen and heard a lot of things he did as a fireman – he was a true legend. And I wanted to know his history. Either my dad was gifted and in that case I would never be able to be like him, or either he had trained to get that good and in that case he probably has something to teach me. I then realized how much training he had done. He trained like I never have done in my life. Compared with him I am a little kid who’s playing. When I think about all the physical training he went through I tell myself “Is that the price to pay to get that good? Fuck it’s really hard!” Many people pay to get trained, but I reckon if any of them would have trained with him only one day, none of them would have ever come back. That’s how hard it is. So many people try to train easy “Come do Parkour! It’s really cool!” But if tomorrow I made you do real training, you would end up crying. That’s what you need to know: you are going to cry, you are going to bleed and you are going to sweat like never before. I can’t lie to you about that. Now if you come telling me “Hey I want to learn Parkour, but go easy on me, I don’t want to push too much,” well go do something else! It is for warriors. A training method for warriors. It is not like “I want to learn how to fight; but please don’t hit me too hard because I don’t like it.” If that’s the case, go do something else! If you want to be a real warrior you have to go through hard times.

What use has Parkour?

Easy, we have two hands: it’s to grab things. We can grab things to displace ourselves. We can lift ourselves up. We can jump and run with our legs. We can swim. Instinctively you know you can do these things. When you are swimming you know it is in you. It’s not for nothing. You are not obliged to specialize in them, like become a climbing expert. You can still experience everything and I think that’s what life is about. Don’t close yourself to anything and think you have found the truth and understood life. Many people open their mind through different things like music and painting, as well as Parkour. How is not important. What is important is to open your mind because you gain some freedom through it. I think that when you train Parkour, you realize a bit more about what freedom means especially concerning society. It really opened my mind. But it does not mean it will have the same effect on someone else. What’s good for one is not necessarily good for someone else.

What is the freedom of Parkour?

After a good training session, and good physical preparation, we know exactly what we are capable of, and that we can evolve without being disturbed by others. Still respecting others, but not being disturbed by them. Now I often have to justify myself; particularly with cops. But on the other hand I understand them, when they see me climbing stuff they can think that I’ve stolen something. There are many difficult moments like that so I am thinking of moving to another country like Thailand or even the UK, anywhere where cops are not such a pain.

Even the UK?

Yes! Even if there are too many cameras over there. Cops know what Parkour is. Whereas in France they are being such a pain even though the sport was developed here. It has been 10 or 15 years since Parkour was first given media coverage in France and no one knows about it. I am always being asked the same questions over and over. When we are in the street, it is exactly like 15 years ago when it all started. This frustrates me because public perception hasn’t been evolving as fast as Parkour itself has been. If only we had the resources to really create something good, but we haven’t. At the moment everyone is trying to make it his own way, we are all going in circles; but it could all have been done a long time ago! I wouldn’t be surprised if the things I would like to do are only going to happen when I am 60 years old and I won’t be able to move like I do today. What I would like to achieve is something better; something really close to the street. Maybe just a place where we can gather everyone outside. I would like to create a foundation and we get 500,000 euros or even 1,000,000; with that I’d say “OK, Let’s invest all that money to make this sort of place for Parkour”. I won’t be like “OK cool, but I’ll take a quarter of it because I am the founder of the discipline”. No! I’m not going to even take a cent. If we get that money it is because people want a place like that. So we use that money to create this place and that’s it. When I think about it, with the money I made from movies and other things, same with the Yamakasi… if we had all gotten together, it would already be done. But instead, everyone did his own way, arguing over and over about where it all started, some who never wanted to admit that it came from one place; well we got divided instead of being united.

We are now in a “divide and conquer” type of strategy.

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This video of David Belle is a must see. It is a wonderful interview of David in Berlin that reveals much about his character, humility, focus, and of course Parkour.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxoCWSmxKN4

What follows is the video transcript of a fantastic interview with David Belle called “The World is a Playground.” At the time when we published the interview about 5 months ago we called the video, “…one of the best interviews ever conducted with David…” With the video transcribed and the text posted below you can now read and study the words of the founder himself. If you would like to view the video please click here.

David Belle : The World is a playground

Hello, I’m David Belle, actor, choreographer and also behind the Parkour movement.

Parkour is a real training method to face obstacles. It’s to be strong to be useful. The goal really is to train thinking “what can I do with it”?

In real Parkour, there’s no flip. The goal is to keep it simple, efficient and to train movements in which you trust.

When you’re learning parkour, everything in front of you is training. When you start, during the first two or three years, you never stop. Day and night. Every time you see something you’ll get interested in climbing it, because you know that’s when you’re building your training. Then, with time, when you’re pretty much done everything there was to do, you calm down and see what’s left. At that point, it’s really “the feeling”, it happens that I don’t train at all for three weeks or one month, two months and then for one week I’ll train day and night.

Movements are simple. Cat pass, arm jump, precison jumps, saut de fond [jumping off high stuff], I’d say if you really wanted to know all the different techniques. But Parkour is a mix of them all. You should train sauts de fonds to train your thighs. Precision jumps to help focus and be able to land on a small rail. Focusing is really important. Then, running to build stamina. Parkour is a mix of them all.

Doing Parkour is pretty much forgetting those paths socity traced for us and making our own. Even though people say “Don’t go there, you’ll get hurt”, we’re adults, we know what’s dangerous. Take a little kid, tell him not to do something, he’ll do it. But put him in front of a big gap: he’s not stupid, he won’t jump.

When I’m on top of a building, it’s just like is I was on top of a mountain. I don’t look at the mountain, I look at the sky and I’m comfortable with that height. I could be on a roof or on a big rock: it’s the same for me. It’s a quest for height, for freedom, to take paths no one else takes, were nobody else has been: that quest is what makes Parkour interesting.

The wrong way of doing Parkour is to impress, it’s not a sport where you jump off things and show people you get hurt and you don’t care. No. The goal is to end up in good health, to respect your body, respect others, and not to move with a group showing yourself just because it’s new the crazy thing around.

My brother is a fireman, my father was a fireman too and my grandfather was a fireman for 32 years. So, it’s in our family. It’s a bit for them too. My father went to Vietnam, then went with the firemen and thought me this art. I made it into something more definite: Parkour. The goal is to become more and more confident with their body and for that, Parkour is only a complement.

My advice to young traceurs would be: it’s normal that when you’re 15-16 you want to be someone. But when you’re training Parkour with passion, if you’re good, people will notice you. Don’t go around saying: Hey look at this new move I just got. No. We used to say: if it’s good, we’ll tell you. Do it for yourself first. If people like it or not, who cares? As long as you feel good doing it. Now if with that spirit people notice you then good for you. But you should do it for yourself.

Thank you.

Not enough can be said about this video, it just has to be watched. It is simply the greatest Parkour exposition by David Belle ever filmed and released to the public.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RynewKatl5M

Possibly one of the best interviews ever conducted with David Belle. If you would like to see the interview with English or Portuguese subtitles, double click the video to open the video on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWneBIz6ATg

The following is one of the most comprehensive and insightful interviews ever conducted with David Belle the founder of Parkour. In the interview David speaks extensively about a wide range of subjects including his transition from being a fireman into being an actor, training and learning Parkour from his father, and his future plans as they pertain to practicing Parkour and pursuing knowledge and activities in other facets of life.

This interview was conducted only a couple months ago after the release of B13 – Ultimatum, and was just recently made known to the public through the Australian Parkour Association. Special thanks to Raphael Koster for conducting the interview and Benjamin Mossé for translating it.

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Why have you decided to move from being a fireman to being an actor/stuntman?

Firstly, after being a fireman, I went into the army. I was in the Marine Infantry. It was a coincidence I found myself in movies. It was not a vocation. Not something I wanted to do since I was little. What I wanted was to make my sport known: that Parkour become recognized. My brother showed my small videos to the media and they got interested; which brought me to movies. But acting wasn’t something I originally wanted to do. Now that I am in that field; I enjoy it and I am not going to waste the opportunity. If there are opportunities for me in movies, I will take them. Otherwise I will move on to something else. However, for the moment I am not thinking of making a career in that area. I was more than happy with the first District B13. It was already enough for me to be able to tell that to my kids. When I finished working on B13, I told myself: “Even if there is only that one, I am happy enough that Parkour brought me to do that; to be able to show Parkour to the public and make myself known”. For the rest, let’s not make plans on what is and what is not going to happen.

You’re talking as if you haven’t made any decisions by yourself, as if it just all happened by accident…

But it did all happen just like that! I never had any kind of strategy. I never tried to sell myself to act in movies. I never asked for anything. It all started with the documentary that has been shown on TV. From there I took what people offered. Even the last thing, Prince of Persia, I did not ask for that job, it is them who contacted me while I was filming in B13 Ultimatum. They called me like four times, insisting for me to work with them. I was working on another movie at the time so we agreed that I would work for them on my free days. Parkour is being integrated everywhere in movies now, as soon as there is a little race or a jump they use Parkour. We clearly notice it now, the jumps are different.

What are the differences between preparing yourself for stunts in a movie and your own training?

I do it about the same. Parkour, I am finished with it now. People are starting to get interested in that art, but me I have already explored it a lot. I also have a lot of interests in other things. When someone talks to me about Parkour I am not going to say “It’s too late”; most of the time I answer “You should have come when I was 20 years old. I was really motivated at that time! I was into Parkour every second of my life.” Now I could learn to play music, like the guitar or whatever; what’s important is that I want to learn other things. Parkour is not the only thing in life. People tell me “Parkour kicks ass, I have to do it!” I have interests in other things too. Parkour is a training method men should train because it helps you displace yourself in urban or natural environments and learning to adapt yourself to it. However, for me, learning to do stuff like cooking is as important as doing Parkour. Knowing how to repair a car, how to help someone who’s having a cardiac arrest etc. For me those are the basics of life. I am not like an old martial artist at 80 years old who’s always practicing the same punches. It’s even likely that the guy has never fought for his life and I would like to tell him “Stop punching, relax yourself, live normally; enjoy your life,” because there is too much rigidity when people focus too much on something. And I don’t want to end up like that. When you’re getting your first aid diploma, you are not going to be saving people every day it’s more “if something happens, I will know what to do.” I’ve always trained Parkour with the same mentality. So fuck people who tell me “Hey do a demo! or something…”, I never trained Parkour to perform or show off. To me, Parkour is something personal. It just happened to get popular. I’m not the one who put it on the internet.

Is the reason for your disagreement with the Yamakasi about them moving Parkour into movies and shows?

No. But when I really think about it, there is no issue with the Yamakasi. I only practice what my dad taught me. When you listen to them, they’ll tell you they do something they created themselves. And we all live at the same place. The group Yamakasi does not even exist anymore, everyone went away; now it’s called “Majestic Force thingy”. When it was Yamakasi they were like “We are Yamakasi, it’s the sport”; now they are moving towards PG Tips because this project is working well. And I ask myself, why is that? We had a simple sport, why does everyone want to give it a new name? “It’s like Parkour but it’s called Free Running style thingy…”. But it is Parkour! When you go in any other country around the world you say “I play soccer or volleyball”. The name of the sport does not change. So why change the name of Parkour unless you want to do some kind of business and be able to say “I am the creator of this new sport, exactly like Parkour except that you only jump on one leg”? Change one thing to say that you are the creator of something and be able to make some money from it. The goal of Parkour is not to make money or create a business. There is no financial goal behind it. Parkour should be taught to people who want to learn. If they don’t have money it does not matter because you don’t need any to do it, just a pair of good shoes and that’s all. Now people are like “Beware! The Academy is gonna open!” or “There’s gonna be a Parkour center bla bla bla.” But me, I learned Parkour outside! The real Parkour training is to be done outside. You can do whatever with your centers, put some mats down, but people will always end up going outside.

What necessity made you create Parkour?

It was my dad who taught it to me. I had seen and heard a lot of things he did as a fireman – he was a true legend. And I wanted to know his history. Either my dad was gifted and in that case I would never be able to be like him, or either he had trained to get that good and in that case he probably has something to teach me. I then realized how much training he had done. He trained like I never have done in my life. Compared with him I am a little kid who’s playing. When I think about all the physical training he went through I tell myself “Is that the price to pay to get that good? Fuck it’s really hard!” Many people pay to get trained, but I reckon if any of them would have trained with him only one day, none of them would have ever come back. That’s how hard it is. So many people try to train easy “Come do Parkour! It’s really cool!” But if tomorrow I made you do real training, you would end up crying. That’s what you need to know: you are going to cry, you are going to bleed and you are going to sweat like never before. I can’t lie to you about that. Now if you come telling me “Hey I want to learn Parkour, but go easy on me, I don’t want to push too much,” well go do something else! It is for warriors. A training method for warriors. It is not like “I want to learn how to fight; but please don’t hit me too hard because I don’t like it.” If that’s the case, go do something else! If you want to be a real warrior you have to go through hard times.

What use has Parkour?

Easy, we have two hands: it’s to grab things. We can grab things to displace ourselves. We can lift ourselves up. We can jump and run with our legs. We can swim. Instinctively you know you can do these things. When you are swimming you know it is in you. It’s not for nothing. You are not obliged to specialize in them, like become a climbing expert. You can still experience everything and I think that’s what life is about. Don’t close yourself to anything and think you have found the truth and understood life. Many people open their mind through different things like music and painting, as well as Parkour. How is not important. What is important is to open your mind because you gain some freedom through it. I think that when you train Parkour, you realize a bit more about what freedom means especially concerning society. It really opened my mind. But it does not mean it will have the same effect on someone else. What’s good for one is not necessarily good for someone else.

What is the freedom of Parkour?

After a good training session, and good physical preparation, we know exactly what we are capable of, and that we can evolve without being disturbed by others. Still respecting others, but not being disturbed by them. Now I often have to justify myself; particularly with cops. But on the other hand I understand them, when they see me climbing stuff they can think that I’ve stolen something. There are many difficult moments like that so I am thinking of moving to another country like Thailand or even the UK, anywhere where cops are not such a pain.

Even the UK?

Yes! Even if there are too many cameras over there. Cops know what Parkour is. Whereas in France they are being such a pain even though the sport was developed here. It has been 10 or 15 years since Parkour was first given media coverage in France and no one knows about it. I am always being asked the same questions over and over. When we are in the street, it is exactly like 15 years ago when it all started. This frustrates me because public perception hasn’t been evolving as fast as Parkour itself has been. If only we had the resources to really create something good, but we haven’t. At the moment everyone is trying to make it his own way, we are all going in circles; but it could all have been done a long time ago! I wouldn’t be surprised if the things I would like to do are only going to happen when I am 60 years old and I won’t be able to move like I do today. What I would like to achieve is something better; something really close to the street. Maybe just a place where we can gather everyone outside. I would like to create a foundation and we get 500,000 euros or even 1,000,000; with that I’d say “OK, Let’s invest all that money to make this sort of place for Parkour”. I won’t be like “OK cool, but I’ll take a quarter of it because I am the founder of the discipline”. No! I’m not going to even take a cent. If we get that money it is because people want a place like that. So we use that money to create this place and that’s it. When I think about it, with the money I made from movies and other things, same with the Yamakasi… if we had all gotten together, it would already be done. But instead, everyone did his own way, arguing over and over about where it all started, some who never wanted to admit that it came from one place; well we got divided instead of being united.

We are now in a “divide and conquer” type of strategy.

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Daniel Ilabaca, MisterParkour.com was granted exclusive interviews with both Lee and Daniel. The interviews were recorded with permission from the artists, and the interview between Daniel Ilabaca and MisterParkour.com founder Adam Dunlap is featured below.

In this insightful interview Daniel first speaks about his involvement in the Beyond Human project. After this, Daniel goes in depth and discusses many facets of his training, focus, and athletic achievement. He speaks about his biggest inspiration, he explains what Parkour means to him and why he does it, and he even tells stories and responds to questions that have never been asked of him before in internet featured interviews.

Whether you are new to Parkour or a seasoned practitioner this extensive interview is a must hear. Daniel’s openness and passion for Parkour is constantly present in his speech, and the prevalence of these attributes are only superseded by his humility and kindheartedness towards others. Daniel’s viewpoints, insight, and experiences are as exciting as they are thought provoking. If you have never been challenged to think about what Parkour really is and why you do it, this interview will surly raise the questions that will give you an opportunity to discover those answers for yourself.

To find out more about the Beyond Human collection please see our Beyond Human article or visit Daniel Ilabaca’s personal website at DanielIlabaca.co.uk.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7755605905804360786

Here is a portion of a 2006 interview between David Belle and an anonymous American journalist that took place after David attended the screening of District B13 in New York. The incredible insightfulness of the information in this short article is only daunted by the fact that David’s answers, as presented here, are astonishingly un-circulated! In just a few words David answers some of the most widely asked questions in the worldwide Parkour community, and he also mixes in few other nuggets of Parkour history and passion that you may never have heard before. The insight you receive from reading this interview is sure to be substantial if not, at some level, eye opening.

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What was it like coming to the film’s screening at the Tribeca Grand in New York last month?

It was better than I expected. At first, when we were walking through the streets of New York, we were alone, but when we showed up at the screening and saw all the kids jumping around, we were thrilled.

How did the filming go overall?

I enjoyed everything. Because it was my first movie, everything was so new and so exciting. Who knows, maybe after a few movies, I’ll be more blasé and more selective, but right now I’m mainly just excited because everything was so new. I want to keep on doing films as long as I can. There was a lot of exchange [between Belle and director Pierre Morel and co-star Cyril Raffaelli]. Cyril came up with ideas like going through the window and grabbing the rope. We implemented things from both worlds.

Did you sustain any injuries?

Nothing happened. Not breaking anything or hurting myself was a big achievement.

What does parkour mean to you these days, and what would you like to see happen in the future?

It’s something you have to do outdoors, and it’s something that cannot be stopped. It’s something to help be more open and free to the outside world, and not be invaded by the city’s infrastructure.

A good thing would be to have some kind of code, and come up with centers where you can train and practice. I’d like more organization than there is now, and to find places where you’re officially allowed to do it.

Why did you and Sébastien Foucan grow apart over the years?

We took two separate roads. Sébastien wanted to be on his own and do his own thing. Like any sport, such as a martial art, you have a base, and then it evolves into different disciplines. The same thing is happening to parkour, and that’s normal and natural.

My thing from the beginning is to have it be useful, and be able to help others. It’s about being efficient and getting there as fast as you can. If people want to do it more artistically or in a freestyle way, I have absolutely no problem with it — that’s the way it’s going to evolve. It’s not my style, but if it’s other people’s [style], that’s perfect.

Describe the role your father, Raymond Belle, played in your development as a traceur.

I started in the army as a fireman when I was 17 or 18 years old, but I was already ready physically, thanks to my father. I didn’t need it to learn more things. The physical aspects and having a strong will all came from my father — working super hard, and finishing what I started all came from him.

Do you have any words of wisdom for aspiring traceurs?

Don’t be in a hurry. Take the time to build yourself, and get in good physical condition. When I started parkour at age 15, it was almost already too late. My dad was already doing the same jumps when he was 9 years old.

First, do it. Second, do it well. Third, do it well and fast — that means you’re a professional.

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