D Da av vi id d B Be el ll le e s s

P
P
A
A
R
R
K
K
O
O
U
U
R
R

I In nt te er rv vi ie ew w w wi it th h t th he e F Fo ou un nd de er r o of f t th he e D Di is sc ci ip pl li in ne e
b by y S Sa ab bi in ne e G Gr ro os s L La a F Fa ai ig ge e








Foreword by Director Luc Besson
2





This book is dedicated to

The two pillars of my life:

My Father, who always told me that dreams do come true
If you believe in them strongly enough
(See Dad, I always believed!)

My Grandfather, for his support
and passing on his values.

May they rest in peace.

To my children that I dont have yet
but I hope they will read this book one day.

3




"If two paths open up before you, always choose the most
difficult one."
4
















Raymond Belle The Father The Champion The Rescuer The
Initiator. A renowned gymnast and accomplished sportsman, he held
several titles in athletics and records in high and long jump, javelin and
rope climbing.













5

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
6

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




7

CONTENTS
Foreword 5
Introduction 8
My Father the Hero 10
The Start 15
Learning 21
First Steps 29
Gathering Pace 39
Danger 47
Passing the Baton 56
District 13 A Revelation 64
End of the Journey? 77
Thanks 87
8

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
9

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
10

MY FATHER THE HERO

The foundation of Parkour comes from your father and his
extraordinary life path. One has to dig deep inside it to find the roots
of what he passed down on to you, both as a father and as a man. Can
you tell us who Raymond Belle was?

My father was born in 1939 in Hu, Vietnam, the son of a mixed couple.
His father was a French doctor in the colonial army and his mother was
Vietnamese. He came from a numerous family he had about ten
siblings. They were quite well off, living in a nice house, owning horses.
But the conflict for the independence of Vietnam turned into a war and
his childhood turned into a nightmare. While he was on vacation at an
uncles, he found himself cut off from his family by a front line that split
the country in two parts. He couldnt come back to his parents and he
had to stay in this family where he went through difficult time. After a
while, the uncle who didnt want to take care of him anymore put him in
a military school near Dalat run by the French. My father was seven at
the time. It was a real shock for him. He hadnt asked for it and he found
himself overnight in an orphanage camp. It wasnt what he had been
raised to expect: he came from a wealthy family and all of a sudden finds
himself in this miserable life, light-years from what he had known so far,
a military school were you had to fight to earn respect, where your
mother wasnt here anymore to comfort you. In Dalat, it was Walk or Die
- survival of the fittest. The Indochina war (pre-Vietnam War) was raging
and those orphans were trained to become soldiers. They were taught
fighting techniques, long walks in the mountains, assembling and
disassembling weapons in the dark< Everything I learnt while in the
army myself, at the age of nineteen. But he had to do it as a child; he had
no choice. In order to survive, he quickly understood that he couldnt
rely on anybody but himself and he had to become the best fighter.

How long did he stay in that "school"?

He stayed there for nine years. After the defeat of Dien Bien Phu in 1954,
he was sent back to France by boat. He found himself in a camp with
other refugees in the area of Lyon. The French army took care of him and
11

pursued his military education until 1958. A former resident of Dalat
who had been impressed by his physical abilities suggested him to join
the prestigious Fire fighters' Squad of Paris. Thats probably the best
advice he was ever given. All of a sudden, whereas he had been trained
to fight and kill, my father found himself rescuing lives. It wasnt
originally his call and he had to adapt but he excelled in doing it. It gave
a meaning to all his training in the Vietnamese jungle. He put his heart
and soul into it. He would always volunteer for dangerous missions. If
there was a roof or a faade to climb, he would go. His sense of courage,
self-control and self sacrifice were outstanding: he could have given his
life to save someone else. His squad comrades nicknamed him Kamikaze
but thats not the name I would have given him because it conveys a
foolhardy, self-destructive feeling whereas he wasnt ready to throw
himself into just any situation. He was just the first one to go, before the
others did. While his colleagues firemen were still in their fears,
hesitating, he would go because he had already assessed danger and
balanced the risks in his mind. Throughout his career, my father
multiplied difficult rescues that earned him numerous honours and
medals. His bosses knew they could always rely on him. One day as he
was off, he was called back for a hazardous mission: taking off a flag
from the steeple of Notre Dame de Paris cathedral put there by
demonstrators. Quite ironically, it was a Vietcong flag. He showed me
newspaper articles from that mission, dating back from 1969, where he is
hanging in the sky on a cable under a helicopter getting close to Notre
Dame. While reading the article, I was wondering why him and not
another fireman? Then I understood that he had this little extra thing,
and that thing was confidence. He had a total self-confidence. When he
said he could do something, people believed him. He always had this
self-confidence in every area of his life. After leaving the Firemen Squad
in 1975, he worked for private businesses and was in charge of the
security of big Parisian buildings like the Montparnasse Tower. And
each time, his employers were impressed by his efficiency. When he was
in charge, everything rolled on smoothly. Throughout his career, he also
stood out with his athletic achievements. He was part of the Firemen of
Paris gymnastics coach team, performing demonstrations for young
firemen or public audiences. He was also several times national military
champion in high jump and long jump.
12


Were his physical abilities a family heritage?

Not at all. It didnt have anything to do with his family. His father
wasnt into sports at all, and neither was his mother. My father worked
hard to develop his physical abilities. And when I say hard, it is an
understatement. He started training like a maniac when he ended up in
the orphanage camp. At night, when other kids were asleep, he would
get out of bed to go and run in the woods, climb on trees, do jumps,
push-ups, balance. He would never stop, repeat his moves twenty,
thirty, fifty times. He could hit trees bare fist just to make his fists
tougher and more resistant, he would take boxing bags and throw them
on his cheeks and nose to make them harder and less sensitive to pain.
When he was telling me about those childhood memories, I couldnt
understand why he had gone through this crazy training, why he had
hurt himself so bad. And then, one day, he confided in me that he had
been abused while at his uncles< Unlike most children, instead of
withdrawing into himself, he pushed himself forward to build a strong
shell. At some point, alone in this camp, something clicked in his mind
and he told himself, "From now on, no one will ever touch me again! Stop!"
When he described me that specific moment, I got it: I had never heard
anyone say this word so powerfully as he had. This "Stop!" meant so
much. He had been through too much suffering and, for the rest of his
life, he had decided he would never be a victim, ever again.

So he quite literally changed himself, both mentally and physically?

Absolutely. It was a thorough physical work coupled with an
extraordinary mental strength. Even at the age of sixty, my father was
still running and performing unbelievable running jumps. I saw him
carry incredible weights. He would train throwing knives, razor blades
on targets and his movement was always perfect. With my buddies
seven or eight teenagers we would gather up and try to push him
down in the grass but he wouldnt move an inch and yet, he was on his
own, his hands in his pockets, wearing flip-flops! His physical strength
was phenomenal and yet, he always kept a smile on, never showing the
slightest sign of pain or effort. I could only believe everything he told me
13

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
14

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<













15

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
16

rebellion, of restraint and action. Both my grandfather and my father are
the pillars of my life. They made me what I am today.

What was life like with your grandfather?

I can say that I have been raised with a certain amount of discipline. My
grandfather taught me the great principles of life, the foundations of
how to behave in society. Thanks to his experience with the fire fighters,
he showed me why it was important to have a healthy lifestyle or a well-
kept home. He told me about times when he was being called in peoples
homes and could find himself in a very modest place where everything
was neat and clean and, on the contrary, go to very wealthy apartments
where everything was a mess and dirty. He used to tell me: "Should
anything happen to you, should people have to come to your home, you have to
make sure that everything is neat and clean." He taught me to be polite, to
respect others and tell the truth. "You have a mouth, so use it to speak. And
rather than talking rubbish, just tell the truth or useful things, things that can
teach something, that can bring something to others." He also pushed me to
use my body, my physical abilities to do useful things, probably because
he was hoping I would become a fire fighter myself. He kept repeating:
"If you have to use your physical strength, do it for good reasons: rather than
robbing a home, use this energy to help people." Thanks to him, I understood
that we always have a choice in life, a choice that can take you on the
right or the wrong path. "With a knife, you can choose to become a serial
killer or a sculptor."

Why were you raised by your grandfather and not your parents?

My parents didnt live together. They probably thought that the best
option for me was to be raised by my grandfather. My father wasnt
exactly born a father and, since he grew up without his own parents and
had managed pretty well on his own, he probably thought it would be a
good thing for me as well. I believe that, to him, the best role model for
his child was the patriarch of the family. And since my grandfather was
a widower and living alone, I was kind of a present to him so that he
could look after me and I could be under his protection. I personally
have no regrets about their decision nor my childhood. I would see my
17

mother on weekends and I missed her but my grandfather was so
involved in my education and he was caring so much for me that I never
felt like I lacked affection. He had the little habits of an old man but he
was always very respectful of my own world. For instance, if I wanted to
practice a sport, he would enrol me at a club; and if I wanted to change,
hed let me do it. He took real good care of me and talked to me a lot. I
felt more cared for from him than some of my classmates living with
both their parents. Also, I always kept in touch with my father, even if I
was living with my grandfather at first and then my mother. He would
come and visit me on weekends, or I would go to his place. I have the
feeling he wanted to stay away from me so that I would have to look for
him, learn to know him, learn things by myself, on my own, without him
forcing or imposing anything on me. And thats exactly what happened
later on, during teenage hood.

Did you have any specific physical abilities as a child? Were you a
daredevil?

Actually, I was rather shy, reserved and withdrawn. But at times, I could
be daring! My grandfather and I were living in some kind of a big
manor in Fcamp that we shared with another family. The entrance was
shaped like a pagoda with huge pillars and a Chinese roof. This manor
overlooked the city and I felt kind of remote in this impressive mansion.
Even my friends wouldnt come over very often because they were too
impressed. Even me, I was afraid at night and I would wait for my
grandfather to go to bed before I could fall asleep. My imagination could
run wild in this place and it felt to me like a fairytale castle. So I would
do crazy things like climb on window ledges, hang over the balcony or
climb on the roof of a little shack in the yard. My grandfather used to put
barbwire on all windows to prevent me from going to dangerous places
out there. He kept telling me all the time to stop climbing and jumping.
He didnt want to bully me; he just didnt want me to get hurt. He had a
hip problem following a bad landing after a jump, and he didnt want
me to become handicapped the way he was. And it was the same thing
outside the manor: each time I saw a rock or a tree, I had to climb on it. I
remember there was an embankment on the beach in Fcamp and I
would go there all the time and jump even though the height was quite
18

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
19

reluctant to learn in school. Instead of telling me the reason I had to learn
by heart the life and facts about such or such famous historical character,
the teacher just said: "Learn this by heart for tomorrow". As a result, I
wasnt interested one bit, and teachers thought I was a failure. And me, I
couldnt even spell without making ten mistakes in a sentence and I got
discouraged.

Did your problems in school worry your parents?

My mother was probably worried because her brother was a
headmaster, her sister-in-law was a teacher and, of course, her nephews
were head of their classes. And I was the exact opposite. So there was
some kind of a pressure both on my mother and myself. If I listened to
my relatives, I was sometimes wondering what I would do with my life.
Some people in my family thought I had no future whatsoever just
because I couldnt play board games! All those stupid remarks really
upset me and I ended up thinking I really sucked, and withdraw even
more. When I became a teenager, I started asking myself a lot of
questions about life in general. I was wondering what I was doing here,
in this life. I had the feeling I had been born in an era where nothing was
happening and therefore I wouldnt experience all the exciting
adventures my grandfather had known during WWII or my father
during the Vietnam War. Since childhood, I had been brought up
listening to stories of fire fighters, soldiers, heroes and feats of all kinds
so, of course, it was on my mind and influencing me. At the time, I was
living in Vende with my grandfather and I started talking a lot about
my father. I would ask him a lot of questions about his past, his missions
while in the Fire fighters' Squad of Paris. I needed to know where I was
coming from, know more about my Asian roots on my father side even
though it didnt show on my features. It was working on my mind and,
to my cousins on my mothers side, I kept telling over and over again
that I wasnt like them.
And you ended up looking for those roots at the source

I did, when I came back to live permanently with my mother. I was
fourteen at the time, and she had moved to Lisses, in the suburbs of
Paris. This is when I started getting more and more in touch with my
20

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.


















21

LEARNING & TRAINING

Where does the name "Parkour" come from?

The more my grandfather was telling me about the physical condition
and abilities of my father, the more I was asking myself questions. I was
wondering how he had managed to do all those things. I ended up
asking my father himself; I wanted to know what kind of sports he had
practiced to reach such a level. And this is when I heard the word
"parcours" for the first time. (Parcours du combattant = Assault Course). He
told me how, as a soldier child, he would wake up every night to go out
and train, alone and on the sly, on the assault course, but also on other
courses he had come up with by himself. To me, this word, "parcours",
was very abstract and didnt mean anything. He explained that there
were different types of courses or parcours over there, like endurance
course, agility course, resilience course, and so on. There was even a
silent course where he would practice with his friends to go from tree to
tree in the forest, overlooking French patrols, without being noticed or
heard. Their minds were already focused on warfare. For many,
nowadays, parkour is something fun but for my father, it was vital a
matter of life or death. This training would help him get tough, survive
through war and protect himself against all odds. My father was very
patient, willing, tenacious and dedicated. He would take each obstacle
coming his way and find the best way to go across. And he would repeat
the movement fifty, one hundred times, until he mastered it to
perfection. And he was only twelve or thirteen. Compared to him at the
same age, I felt totally behind: if something happened to me, I would get
upset and cry as if I had been beaten up. I was still playing with my
Playmobil toys when he was suffering in the jungle at the same age. To
my father, Parkour was about sweat, tears and blood.

How did you get initiated to Parkour?

You have to understand that Parkour didnt come out of the blue one
day. My father never told me, "Here, my son. Now that youve turned
fifteen, I am going to share a great secret with you," no. I had to dig, search,
nose around, a bit like a journalist. I first had to discovered my father
22

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
23

me so much that nowadays, I always question the aim of something or
someone new coming to my life. I understood that human beings in
general are bad. Bad because they always end up hurting someone or try
to take advantage of others. There are very few true, good and honest
people on earth. And this is what we should be taught in school: be
aware if someone is real, being able to make the difference between
people trying to abuse you and honest people, recognize a real
statement, listen to people and be able to see through them. Without my
father, I would not have been able to do it. He was always telling me
about examples showing that men and life are closely intertwined: there
is no black or white. He never judged someone on his behaviour good or
bad. He rather told me to look at the intention, whether it was a good or
a bad one. For instance, a guy cheating on his wife can do it for good
reasons, to save his marriage and conversely another husband is going to
remain faithful but turn his wifes life into a living hell. What mattered
the most to my father was to respect others and be honest.

How did those exchanges with your father took place?

I had to go and look for him otherwise, nothing would happen. For
instance, if I spent the afternoon in my cousins room and he was
downstairs in the living room, he wouldnt come to see me. His motto
was: "If my son wants to know things about me, about my life, hell have to
come and ask them." My father was sleeping in a tent in the yard, even in
the dead of winter. I would look at him through the bedroom window
and tell myself: "I have to go, I have to talk to my father. Ive been here for two
days, and I have to do it before its too late and I regret it." I had the urge, a
vital need to do it. I wanted to talk with him about everything he had
gone through. And when I was eventually with him, he could talk to me
about everything and anything. He could lecture me on cooking, on cars,
on human beings. He would tell me: "You are going to know women like
this or like that and it will just be as many different experiences. But it has to
bring you something, you have to learn to know women and, therefore, know
yourself." He wanted me to avoid his mistakes and didnt want me to
lose my time in a relationship that wasnt meant for me. Guys who think
that they have all life ahead of them and that they are going to make the
24

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
25

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
26

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
27

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
28

never ordered me to do Parkour. He just showed me the way. It was my
choice and will to follow the path or not.
But above all, he made me understand that you cant achieve anything
without willpower. "I can hit you to try and make you do things, but if you
have decided in your head that you wont do it, I know you wont." His thing
was to try, over and over again. Even if it hurts, even if it is difficult,
even if you fail. If you can tell yourself that you are going to try
something and do it, then you are already different from others. And it
was important to my father to do things differently, not to fall victim of
daily routine, of what everyone else does.
"If you want to develop your strength, then dont be content with lifting
weights for one hour in front of a mirror because in the end, thats all youll be
able to do: lift weights. Instead, find another way to train."
Thanks to my father, I understood that the most important thing was to
work on yourself, and how much effort you put into your training. His
favourite motto was: "Become what you train for."
29

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.



30

Was there a desire to look like him?

No. I think I just wanted him to be proud of me. I wanted him to be able
to tell his buddies: "Hey, look, its my son." I wanted that kind of
recognition, including from elders who had known my father in the Fire
fighter Squad of Paris. I wanted them to say watching a video: "Hey, look,
its Raymond Belles son! Its the Kamikaze son!"
Maybe at first I had this desire to go through what my father had gone
through, to catch up with his experience. But I soon realized it was not
possible and would never happen: I was in Lisses, not in Vietnam. And I
wasnt Raymond, I was David. I ended up understanding that, no matter
what Id do, I would never be in the same league as him, and I had to
find my own path. Of course, it required a lot of imagination he had
gone through very real and tangible circumstances like a fire in a
building, so I had to come up with my own situations. So for instance I
would pretend that I only had one arm and I was wondering how I
would do to go from this place to that place with such a handicap. Or if a
jump felt too easy, I would tell myself: "Ok, lets assume you are tired
because you just ran for two hours. Would the jump be that easy?"
I put myself in situations where I had to constantly excel. And little by
little, you get a taste for it, it almost becomes like a drug because the
body keeps asking for more.
The next hardest part was to find my own obstacles, and not do again
what my father had done before me, or do things I had already done. Its
a tendency we all have, to go to what is easier, what we know best. So I
had to push myself to go and look for difficulty. I started with jumps that
were likely to help me make progress, but without taking too much risks
at first because I was aware of my mother waiting at home for her son
who was training. That prevented me from doing crazy things and
having an uncaring rebel teenage attitude like, "Well, if I hurt myself, I just
dont care!"
Some guys are really proud to break a bone and they like to brag about
it. But truth is, it only shows a total lack of respect towards oneself and
ones body. Whats the point in being ready to destroy yourself just to
show that you dont care? Once youre hurt, you cant move forward
anymore. Whereas the aim of the game is to constantly improve, be more
efficient than someone who doesnt train or very little. If you hurt
31

yourself, you cant be efficient anymore. If an injured stuntman told me:
"Look, I drive a Porsche and I have a nice house" , I would tell him: "Yeah,
right. But you walk with crutches and you limp"
Money can be around, if your body is not well, you cant say you
achieved something or you have reached some truth. Because thats the
first wealth, the first reward of Parkour: be true to yourself. And I know
if I had to jump from a balcony because there was a fire, I could do it.
Even if I am tired, even after three sleepless nights, I could do it without
breaking a leg.

Talking about it, how do you jump from great heights without
breaking anything? Is it an acquired skill?

My father told me that he could jump from twenty-five feet as easily as
from a chair. So I started practicing from a chair and I got the feeling of
it. Then I went on to a table, and a little bit higher each time. Then you
start feeling your weight increasing, the impact hurting. And no need to
jump from twenty-five feet; you can already feel it from eight. But when
your technique is good, when you repeated your jump twenty, thirty,
forty, fifty times, the brain registers as well as the body, because this later
also has a memory. When you wake up in the morning after an evening
session of training, you think to yourself: "Ok, I did it fifty times and I feel
good, I didnt hurt myself. So I can make it a hundred, and even jump three or
four feet higher." These are data that come naturally, little by little. Thats
how it goes in nature alike: look at a gibbon monkey jumping from
branch to branch; he doesnt ask himself any question; he doesnt ask
himself how hes going to catch the next branch. He just does it,
instinctively. Not like a sportsman who is going to calculate every
fraction of an inch, every hundredth of a second. Animals have this
instinct in themselves. An animal will learn while still a baby, by
playing, hanging on low branches. And without even realizing it, the
physical strength is worked out naturally. Falling is also part of the
apprenticeship. Little by little, the vision, the appraisal of distances and
so on is worked out in a completely natural way. Then comes the time
when the baby is in complete harmony with itself and its environment
the forest. All its movements are perfect, not because it is a better
monkey, but simply because it has reached a perfect balance between his
32

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,
33

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
34

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
35

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.


Do you think you could have become a delinquent without Parkour
and your fathers teachings?
36


Its hard to say. If I hadnt had such a strong thing as Parkour in my
youth, I wouldnt have improved the way I have; I dont know what I
would have done with my life. At first, with my failure in school, future
didnt look too bright but thank God Parkour brought me what I was
looking for. I needed to feel whats real, I needed my body to face real
obstacles in order to have landmarks and know where I was going.
When you are outside and face obstacles, you know who you are. When
I was training real hard and managed difficult moves or jumps, I was
very proud of what I was doing. At night, I would look at myself in the
mirror with all my scratches and I had the feeling I knew where I was
going. I was concerned with becoming a good person. Even if I didnt do
well in school, I knew I would earn respect later on and people would
respect me and see me as a good man, who loves life, who is strong both
in his body and his mind. But of course, getting to that point is
everything but easy. I could just have become an anonymous office
worker. Even today, the line to normality is very thin. I can bang my
knee on a piece of furniture and moan like a kid. Sometimes, I have to
remind myself where I come from and all the efforts I put into Parkour
when I was nobody and didnt make a living. When I was a kid, I tried to
have realistic dreams. And if I was carried away by silly fantasies like "I
want one million dollars right here right now", I always ended up telling
myself that there were a lot of needy people out there who deserved it
way more than I did. And if I wanted that money, I had to earn it, to
deserve it. And I applied the same principle to Parkour: if I wanted to be
good, I had to deserve it and sweat tears and blood to get it. I wasnt
supposed to cry over a pack of candies but over the fact that I couldnt
cross a set of buildings.

So you had a very strict discipline of life

Its true that Parkour gives you the taste for effort and a certain sense of
discipline. I was very careful with what I was eating. I didnt drink,
didnt smoke. I was always in control. At an age where teenagers go to
parties, have fun, go out with girls, I was spending my time training. It
was a vital need, as if something was about to happen and I had to be
prepared. When friends invited me to parties, pushing me to go there, I
37

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
38

has internalized the training of Parkour will always be better than
another athlete who will hesitate because he doesnt have the right
shoes, because it rains or its cold or God knows what. When training,
some young are losing their head, taking too much time arguing. Life is
short. There is a rhythm to do things. Of course, you cant master
everything happening in your life, but there is a good rhythm to take to
move forward. Music can help with Parkour. It can help you put more
energy into it. Personally, rap music is my thing; it puts energy to the
movement and a specific rhythm in my course. To explain what it feels
like, its like a metronome. In order to move swiftly in Parkour, you have
to find your own internal metronome.


























39

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
40

father, my brother Jean-Franois and some of my friends told me. When I
was doing Parkour, the best reward was when an old man sitting on
bench called out and say: "Hey, kid, Ive been watching you for an hour and
what you are doing is really great. I didnt do that back when I was in the
army" I hadnt even noticed the old man but he was there, watching
me. And getting positive outside feedback made me stronger; I felt I was
on the right path.

How did things go when friends came along with you on Parkour?

At first I was on my own because it was important to me to find myself
without any kind of help or anyone watching me. But little by little,
friends started getting interested and I wanted to share what I was
living, the teachings of my father. I always gave a chance to anyone,
even a young who didnt have a sports background. I would say, "Ok,
come over," to anyone who wanted to train and was curious enough to
find out more about Parkour. I was open and didnt consider Parkour a
private property.
When I started training, I knew what I was doing, and I knew why I
was doing it. When others joined in, I tried to put some order in their
desires, raise their curiosity and make them understand what Parkour
was all about and how to practice it. I let them ask me questions the way
my father had done with me. I was trying to see if they were following
the right path, if they perceived things the way I did. And when they
did, they kept coming back because they understood that Parkour could
bring them more than the rest, video games, football or hanging out,
something deeper. Those guys usually gave up whatever sports they
were in to come and train with me.

You were kind of challenging each other

We were looking for jumps and set our minds to it with our imagination,
a bit like a hunter in the Amazonian forest coming back to his tribe with
a trophy and narrating how he had done it. Going to bed at night and
pondering about the jumps, I truly had the feeling I had achieved
something. I was really proud. When I was sixteen or seventeen, I had a
driving force, a willpower. I would never let go, I had to do the jump,
41

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.
42

So there is no sense of aesthetics in Parkour?

Its of minor interest. Parkour has to be instinctive and natural first and
foremost. When you start putting emphasis on the aesthetic side and
doing artistic figures, its useless and even dangerous. Art is meant to be
beautiful, a distraction. Parkour is a hardcore sport, a discipline that has
to bring something, be beneficial. Its not meant to be nice-looking but
efficient. There are three main rules in Parkour and thats the priority: do
it, do it well and do it fast and well. When you are in front of an obstacle,
the first thing to do is to find out if you are able to cross it. How you
achieve it, who cares?! What matters is to know if I can save my life
running as fast as I can and jumping from here to there. Even if I hurt
myself doing so, can I make it? And then, when you can make it, you can
start thinking about doing it well. Which means jumping across that gap
that could mean death and land on the other side without hurting
myself, getting back on my feet without any mental or physical injuries.
Then the last step is to do it well and fast. You mentally get ready by
thinking you only have one minute left before the whole thing blows,
before the roof collapses. Can I do the same movement in one minute
only? By doing fast and well, this is when Parkour becomes efficient. The
rest, the somersaults and pretty jumps are not necessary. When you add
acrobatics, your attention is focused on the salto and you get rid of all
the rest; everything Parkour is about, which is jumping, climbing,
moving from point A to point B. Practicing Parkour isnt about fun, with
piercings everywhere, green or purple hair or nice shoes. Its
unnecessary. In Parkour, if the guy understands why hes here, why hes
doing these movements, thats great. If he learns to cross obstacles
without hurting himself, thats what really matters. Then, if he puts style
into it, putting his little finger in the air like that, who cares? If a guy
feels good when he jumps, if his landing is good, then he got it. When I
move, Im not trying to look nice; my aim is to jump fast and well. When
looking at me, I want people to think: "He trained and didnt hurt himself."
Sometimes, Ill watch a stuntman do his thing on TV or on a movie set
and even if the guy has a great physical condition, when he lands, I can
tell right away if he hurt himself really good. He may bite the bullet and
wont let anything show but once in his dressing room, hes going to
43

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
44

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
45

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,
46

I wouldnt have time to do it. When I did acrobatics, I was actually
training in depth. It looked like I was having fun doing it but truth was I
did it for a specific reason: I was working on the basics, I was improving
my perception of space and distances< When others trained with me,
they soon realized how hard it was and that it was really my thing. Some
didnt understand why I could do things they couldnt, but they had a
tendency to forget that I had repeated the movement five hundred times
before. Some felt frustrated because they didnt succeed right away.
Others were upset because they felt physically stronger and yet, they
couldnt cross obstacles. Those did Parkour for wrong reasons. They
wanted to be stronger than David Belle instead of doing Parkour for
themselves. Hence their failure. Actually, their arrogance spurred me on
to do even better and show them how much I liked this discipline and
how I did it. We should be motivated by the love of sports, not challenge
or competition. I have to admit that it was also a mistake to put some
acrobatics in my first videos but when I did those demos, it was to ignite
a spark and have the young start thinking, "Hey, I dont know why hes
doing it but he makes me want to put my sneakers on, go outside and move!"
To me, its an achievement when someone feels like going in the street,
climbing, jumping, working out< Its so much better than staying inside
three hours playing video games. Its useless and virtual. Go outside into
the real world, thats what really matters; no matter what you do out
there as long as its for a good reason. But with what was being shown
by freestylers or acrobatics lovers, the public got confused and started
mixing it all up. It is very important to me to put an emphasis on the fact
that Parkour is no sport of nutcases jumping over buildings and taking
insane risks to show off.
47

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
48

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
49

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
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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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just about self-awareness. Like people learning to perform heart massage
and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and they get their first aid diploma:
they dont feel like they have turned into doctors but yet, they know that
should anything happen, theyll be able to assist. If someone has a
problem, he can address Parkour practitioners. Most people out there are
not necessarily aware of that.

Did you have problems with people living in the buildings?

At first, people didnt understand what I was doing on their roofs or
balconies. Some didnt accept that I moved around in their environment.
And it became worse when the group size increased and it was four, five
or six of us running, climbing, jumping< I often came across very
hostile people when all I was doing was train in a positive way, to
improve, without anything else in my mind. Some people told me: "Get
out of here, you dont have anything to do here" and so on, and I simply
answered: "But Im not disturbing you, Sir. If I step back from your path, you
can walk on no problem. And if I break a leg, its none of your business. Im not
a relative of yours, so its my own business" But most of the time, I didnt
feel like talking and having to justify what I was doing. I just told myself
that I would come back at three am, when the guy was sleeping. One
time, I even found myself at odds with a nun. I was getting ready to
jump from the wall of a church in Evry and she chewed me out. A nun,
for Gods sake! She, out of anybody else, should have understood that I
wasnt doing anything wrong. I thought that with all her years serving
God, she would have seen in my eyes I wasnt bad, I wasnt a thug going
to tag the wall of her church. And on top of it, instead of caring for me,
she kept on, saying that if I fell, she was going to get in trouble! She
couldnt care less that I could hurt myself. Quite ironically, she is the one
who tripped on a step< She didnt fall but I still told her: "Watch your
steps, Sister!" Had she been nice to me, I would have left. But here, I
stayed and did my thing regardless. People shouldnt worry: when
someone is doing Parkour outside, he knows what he is doing, he knows
the risks and acts accordingly. Of course, if I saw a little kid fooling
around on the edge of a six-stories building, I would call rescuers right
away.

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And how did things go with the police?

I have had my ID checked a million times sometimes even several
times in one night. And each time it was the same fuss, like, "What are
you doing here at 3 am? You shouldnt be out here. Gimme your papers," and
so on. And whenever cops got any interest in what we were doing, they
just couldnt make the difference between young who wanted to do fishy
things and young who were training. The same questions regarding why
we were out on a school night or why we were wearing jeans when we
were supposed to practice sports always came back. So I answered that if
one day you have to run from a fire, you wont necessarily be dressed in
sports clothes and you have to know how to move and jump with a pair
of jeans. I have to admit that we sometimes had a rebel and know-it-all
attitude that could get on the cops nerves. So they always ended up
telling us to stop what we were doing and go play elsewhere, or go
home because people were sleeping< We were not always aware of
how late it was nor the noise we were making; we were in our own little
world, in our bubble, our Parkour. Training with several people can be
disturbing for the neighbourhood because of the noise when we make
comments on our jumps or shoes slipping on the walls, and so on. We
were so into our thing that we didnt think we were doing anything
wrong. We naively assumed that people understood we were not thieves
and just training. For heavens sake we were not dressed in black
wearing masks and carrying tools in backpacks! Jeans and sneakers were
our only tools! There were only a handful of times when cops
understood what we were doing and let us do it. Most of the time, they
gave us a hell of a bad time. There were fishy things going on next door
but we were the ones they picked on when we were nice and never
offended anyone.
Most of the time, if we were courteously asked to move on, we would.
But cops didnt respect us as human beings. To them, we were numbers
only. They wouldnt even look at us in the eyes when they asked us our
ID papers. There was no exchange. Cops have a big ego issue and they
use and abuse their power when all they should be doing is protect the
weak and needy. Most of them chose to become cops for wrong reasons
to carry a weapon, wear a uniform or impose the respect they never got
when younger, to brag around. To me, being a cop means representing
54

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.
55

It would be so nice, instead of waiting three hours in an airport to just
take your flying car with your buddies, put on some good music and go
to India or China without even questioning it. But its just be impossible
because the system, politics and lobbies would not allow it. They want to
put fences around us like you would for babies in the stairs. And even if
we prove to be mature and sensible, we are still prevented from doing
what we want to.

Is there a way to change things?

I dont know. I often wondered how I could change this negative vision
people have, and show them Im not bad because I climb walls or jump
from roof to roof. Getting Parkour some recognition from the media can
help. Starting clubs and organizations can also help parents and
authorities feel more secure about it. People have to understand what
Parkour is about. My father passed something on to me that can be
useful and help others. I never developed it hoping to please people and
have them tell me, "Whoa, your stuff is out of this world!" But deep inside
of me, I know the value of Parkour, and thats all that matters to me. If
tomorrow the whole and entire world tells me that it sucks big times and
its useless, Ill keep on smiling because Ill know, deep inside, that its
not true. I know for sure. Even a small guy sweeping the street could
climb a faade one day to save a kid if he followed the teachings of
Parkour. And then, hell go on with his work, as if nothing had
happened and parents looking at him with a dropping mouth. Parkour
practitioners will be the first to help and rescue people.
Im sure in the future when fire fighters are called for little matters like
a cat in a tree, they will tell people to ask around if theres a Parkour
practitioner to help out, because fire fighters have other more important
things to take care of. And for practitioners alike its also very beneficial.
I remember ten-year-old kids who asked me to help them climb on
Dame du Lac. I did help them because I was comfortable enough that I
didnt need to pay attention to my own movements and I could safely
help them out. Some of those kids really got the bug and practiced for
several years. And when I see them again today, they have a smile on
their face talking about Parkour and telling me all the good it did to
them.
56

PASSING THE BATON

Do you think the philosophy of Parkour can bring something positive
to the young living in suburbs?

We are already starting to initiate and train youth workers dealing with
young with problems to Parkour. Teenagers can understand a lot of
things thanks to Parkour and it can bring them positive values. It can
also help them channel their energy but it may not necessarily be
enough. As long as their environment doesnt change, they are not going
to change either. And as long as the outside look on them doesnt
change, the current situation is not going to change. Theres a common
expression, "young from the suburbs" (in France, suburbs of big cities are
usually underprivileged", but what does it mean exactly? To me, theres a
kind of racism and rejection in the word suburb . When some people talk
about "the youth from the suburbs", its another way to say "those Blacks,
those Arabs", except that its politically more correct. People are racist but
they hide their hatred and intolerance behind this suburb word, and its
convenient for them. There are suburbs where there are no problems
except for a few punks who do not respect anything or anyone. But most
of the young people are good guys. They have their own suburban way
of talking, they wear suburban clothing, but it doesnt make them thugs.
They respect others and urban structures and they help each other, no
matter their ethnical background. Media and people usually mix up
those young the majority and a small number of individuals who
wants to be heard and does damages.
And things often get out of control because they have no other solution
to be heard since they are non-existent in the public eye. They need to
express themselves but they dont have any way to do so. Thats why
they burn cars, because thats what is readily available and its going to
be highly visible. Or they are going to break something because it will
make noise and they will be heard. As long as there wont be a solution
to listen to them, to give them opportunities for a better world, suburbs
will remain areas of trouble. Before a guy is even born into one of those
dirty suburbs, you already know that he is going to rebel. When you live
in a cage, when concrete buildings block the horizon, you know you
cant accept your situation. The solution would be to raze it all to the
57

ground and rebuild it anew. Suburban architecture was a failure from
the start. And the young are not responsible for those buildings. They
just happen to live there. If architects, politicians and so-called smart
people had thought about it before building those bloody concrete
structures, if they had just wondered, "Would I want to live here?" , then
maybe things wouldnt be what they are today. And Im sure that if
wealthy kids were put to live in the suburbs in the same conditions
dirty hallways and elevators, stinking staircases and neighbours playing
music super loud at three a.m. I think they would also become very
angry and turn into "young from the suburbs". Everybody says, "Those
young, they have to learn respect" But did they respect us when they
built those things? Nope. How do you expect the young to respect that?
The place itself doesnt inspire respect. It feels like rabbit cages< Thats
an incentive to do stupid things. If you have enough energy, you just
want to destroy those cages. You dont even think about it, its just an
instinct. And when a young tells me he screwed up, I almost feel like
telling him that he didnt screw up, its the place thats screwed up.

How does it work when a youth comes to you to learn Parkour?

The first thing is to figure out why the kid came to see me, why he wants
to learn Parkour. I try to find his real motivation, what made him want
to move. If he only wants to do saltos and spins, then I tell him to do
gymnastics or freerun everything but Parkour. If he wants to do videos
or movies, I send him straight back home. When I teach Parkour to a
young, I dont want to know what hes going to do with it. He can
become an actor, an acrobat, any artistic job, or become a fire fighter or a
rescuer, never mind. I dont want to know. He comes to learn the basis,
and thats it. If theres an aim behind Parkour, then its not good. Some
guys dream of a career like mine without really knowing if its the right
path for them or not. I had to sweat blood and tears to find out what my
path was. Some even show up hoping I will help them out and pull
strings for them to work in the movie industry. I always turn them down
because Im not an employment agency. The only thing I have to give is
what my father gave me. People are always driven by interest: they do
such and such job because it brings them so much money, they do this or
that because of what it could bring them. With Parkour, you do it for
58

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
59

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,
60

the spring, the technique he can do the jump. Laziness sometimes
prevents the jump but most of the time its fear.

Talking about difficult jumps and fear of void, what kind of technique
should be used to overcome that?

You can fight fear by putting yourself mentally in an emergency state,
finding good reasons to do it. To motivate a guy, I can tell him that,
instead of talking about that jump for an hour like he just had, if he finds
himself one day with five pit bulls chasing him, he wont think twice and
will go for it.
Motivation is the key to everything in life. If I have to fight a big guy
with no good reason, I wont really be eager to go. But if my mother is
being attacked right behind that guy, then yes, I will just go for it. And
he can be the strongest guy in the universe, I will still kick his ass. Thats
how I work. When I was training for Parkour, I came up with a million
stories to surmount difficult obstacles. A fire, something about to blow
up, a relative to rescue, a kid trapped somewhere< Its as if this
emergency state enables me to unlock something in my brain and all of a
sudden my vision of the surrounding environment is altered. I have a
more acute perception of things, I can see ways that others dont and fear
is gone. My strength is multiplied, a bit like mothers who find an
incredible strength to rescue their child when theres an emergency.
They dont think about it when they do it they dont ask themselves if
they are going to be able to do it or if they have enough strength or if
their child is going to die< Their only thought is to rescue their child.
And so theres an instant connection between their willpower, their
energy and their actions. The same applies to Parkour. Training has to
lead to an instinctive reaction. When a guy stops and asks too many
questions about where to put his feet or hands, Ive already been across
the obstacle.

I believe a beginner wont make big jumps right away?

Absolutely no. You dont take someone thirty feet above the ground
right away, even if he tells you hes not afraid. I alone take the decision. I
make him do a precision jump one foot off the ground and he has to
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repeat it twenty times. I am extremely cautious with chance. Everyone
can score a basket or throw a knife on a target once by chance. But if the
guy can do it twenty times in a row, then I know its for real. It should
never be forgotten that Parkour offers different levels. Some are readily
accessible and can make you believe you made it through, as well as a
level for experts only, those who have been training the way I have for
ten or twenty years. What matters the most is to do it step by step. You
sure dont start with pull-ups one hundred and fifty feet off the ground!
If you fail after twelve pull-ups, youre done with. Youre dead or in a
wheelchair. There is no magic nor miracles in Parkour. You have to work
and get tough. Sometimes you can find yourself in Parkour hanging with
one arm so you have to train to face that but you are going to start
hanging with one arm six or seven feet off the ground. And when you
can hold it for three or four minutes and feel comfortable with it, you can
increase the height little by little. You have to go through that with
Parkour and never move on to a more difficult level before you are
absolutely sure you can do again the same previous jump, the same
previous movement, with a perfect mastery of all the physical elements
and outside factors like wind, rain or even oil on the ground. In the end,
you must be able to perceive those elements without difficulty, without
pondering for hours.

Can a practitioner train on his own?

Doing Parkour alone is dangerous. I realize now its better to be with
someone. When I was a beginner, I went with my fathers advice I had
a mental guide in a way. Practitioners have to look after each other, see if
their friend has the right spring or not, if he has the stamina to do the
jump. If not, he should be talked out of doing it. And it doesnt matter if
you didnt manage a jump another friend did. Its not a contest.
Nowadays youth should be able to get over this ego problem and stop
being like," Im limping but Ill still do it". The only thing youll get out of
it is a cast for weeks or worse. You have to listen to your body and dont
let others influence your judgement when they push you to jump but
you dont feel like it. I saw guys who had never done Parkour before
take their camera and tell kids: "Go ahead and jump, Im filming! Youll see,
Ill do a great montage so just jump!" Its absolutely stupid and reckless.
62

Parkour teaching is underdeveloped in France. Are you trying to do
something about it?

Its hard because it requires a lot of coordination with many things,
many people, many public institutions, city halls, districts, volunteers
and so on. It also requires training structures to teach basics and nothing
is really suited for that at the moment. I personally wont teach large
groups. Im not interested. With my brother Jean-Franois and other
Parkour followers we try to organize things properly but it takes time
and, above all, it requires money. I would like to set up a big training
centre. My hope is to convince sponsors and patrons to help us because
only them have the means to help and support the development of a
sport like Parkour. I met some of them in the movie industry like Luc
Besson who offered a piece of land on his site of Saint Denis (north of
Paris) to build up a structure dedicated to Parkour. It could be used for
national or international seminars or even for the movie industry to give
stuntmen training in Parkour.

Another way to gain recognition is to prove the usefulness of Parkour.
For instance, fire fighters often ask you for advice

Absolutely. I often go to the Fire Fighters Squad of Paris to give advice to
young firemen. And I was even recently asked by a SWAT team in
Belgium. My wish is to see it develop especially among professions
involving danger. When I go to lecture the firemen of Paris and talk
about my work, I have a deep respect and I dont show off because a
young fireman may jump less far than I do but he saves lives on an
almost daily basis. In general, I have far more respect for jobs saving
lives than jobs where guys strut about in a suit and tie. A guy can only
be so proud because his company has two hundred employees and a
good turnover but the day he goes bankrupt, hell cry like anybody else.
But a fireman who jumps to rescue a little girl caught in a fire wont say a
word and wont get a bonus for doing his job. My experience with
Parkour might enable fire fighters to be even more efficient in their job
but thats all. And Im not bragging about it. What matters to me is to
know that thanks to Parkour, one day, a fire fighter might be able to get
out of a dangerous situation or catch up a ladder if he slips. One day, a
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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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DISTRICT 13: THE REVELATION

Is the cinema/movies an achievement for Parkour?

Im not sure yet if its an achievement, but doing movies is the best thing
that has happened to me in relation to Parkour. I tell myself that I am
lucky to have been in the right place at the right time. I feel that I have
found my place in acting and choreography. Even if movies arent
essential to the running of the planet, but serve to keep people dreaming.
I know why I am here today. I know why I am in a movie or why I get
called upon to choreograph a section of an American production. Before
I got into film, I went through heaps of jobs where I was asking myself
what I was doing there. When I was looking at a security screen sitting
on a couch for 8 hours, I told myself all my training was serving no
purpose. But in film, I feel my training in Parkour finally brings the
goods. People ask for my advice and expertise to set up a scene. They
have confidence in me, I dont have to do a big jump for them to prove
that Im David Belle. I take great pleasure in working: if people are
getting frustrated trying to work out how their actor is going to be able
to move across the terrain or how to include this or that element in a
scene so that the character can do some Parkour, I can help and its the
best, its my domain.

Becoming an actor, is this a childhood dream?

Not really. When I was little and was asked what I wanted to do, I
always answered: I want to live. I didnt have a career in mind nor a
strong urge to work. But one thing was always clear: I couldnt picture a
career that forced me to do long hours of study, like medicine, or that
put me in a permanent state of stress. The job that I thought was cool
when I was younger, was working for travel companies. Travelling to
different countries on the other side of the planet, visiting the best
destinations and tasting local delicacies, that would have pleased me. I
didnt search for a job that would necessarily earn me lots of money. I
wanted a job to be harmonious with who I am, my way of being a
wanderer and not fixed to anything, and film is without a doubt one of
the best solutions to this desire of freedom.
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What is your favourite thing about working as an actor?

Film gives me the opportunity to flourish without having to fight and it
also gives me the chance to evolve as a person. Being an actor,
expressing myself on camera, allows me to erase the blockages and
frustrations I had from being locked up at school and saying nothing.
When Luc Besson came to see me and told me he had a role for me in a
movie that might interest me, I said to myself hes crazy, he doesnt even
know me!. How could he know that I would be capable of learning all
these lines off by heart and deliver the lines perfectly on camera in front
of all these movie people on set? Its like he was setting me a challenge. I
would have been happy with a non speaking role just to work with him,
but here I had to go further. In the beginning, I had lots of trouble feeling
comfortable on set: they told me I was good, but I felt ridiculous, like
someone who does a simple forward roll and is told hes an amazing
acrobat. Then finally I started to enjoy myself, I started to understand
what it is to act. Theres a moment when you start to get the role you are
playing, you dont notice the set, the camera or the crew. At this
moment, you know that youre really in your character, that youre part
of the story, that youre playing your part.

Did you take lessons in the beginning?

I took classes for a year with Pascal Emmanual Luneau at Pygmalion
Studios, he coached lots of actors like Anne Parillaud, Jean Renau and
Marion Cotillard. In my eyes, it was absolutely necessary to have this
basis and it gave me a good understanding of what it is to be an actor.
For me, it was like a new beginning. I didnt consider myself anything
special because Im David Belle the Parkour master, I was humble and
worked as hard as all the other students. To get into this school, theres
15 days of auditions and then they choose the candidates. When I got my
letter of acceptance, I was beside myself. Here at least, I didnt have to do
one single jump for them to accept me and I was happy because they
could see some potential in me. I was in their classes at the same time as
Alexandra Lamy, the heroine form dUn Gars, une fille . It wasnt easy
to get up in front of everyone, to be assessed by the teachers and the
other students, sometimes I felt like I was on trial. But in the end, I was
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very happy that I went, it gave me confidence to be able to do what I
knew I was up for.

Your first film was with Brian de Palma, thats a rather encouraging
start

For Brian de Palmas film, Femme Fatale, I played a very small role as a
French policeman. The funniest thing was I didnt even know which
director I was auditioning for. When I got to the shoot, thats when I
realised that there was Brian de Palma and Antonio Banderas. I couldnt
believe it. I thought it was crazy to find myself on set with Banderas.
Thereafter, I cant say they didnt give me a chance, everything was done
so that I could grow and improve in this environment. For district 13, I
was under less pressure, I really wanted people to believe in what I was
doing. I wanted to give them the most authentic Parkour scenes. It was
my heartfelt desire to give to the screen all my years of hard work and to
leave a trace. I pretended as though it was the last film I would do, as
though this was the last chance I had to show what I could do.

Do you find similarities with Parkour?

When youre rehearsing for a movie scene, youre not practising to make
it perfect, youre trying to make it natural and believable as the character
youve been asked to play. The performance is not screaming your lines
louder, its when youre believable. Whats beautiful in Parkour is when
you see a person do a movement and you know they did only what was
necessary to make that movement. They didnt do a fancy trick to get the
story across, it was simple and beautiful. When I see an animal in the
field or the forest, I find it magnificent simply doing what it must to get
across a river or up a tree. It doesnt ask itself if it put the correct foot in
the right position, it just does it naturally. Its not trying to impress or to
do it perfectly. In film or in Parkour its the same: one who is good is
one who leans toward the natural, the less you seek to appear, the more
you exist.


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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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anything else, more than people clapping at preview showings. It was
after all, Luc Besson that said this to me, that wasnt nothing. The only
regret that I had was that my father couldnt be here to see all this and
for Luc to say directly to him: You can be very proud of your son.

How come you werent involved in Yamakasi, the film produced by
Luc Besson that brought your discipline to the attention of the general
public?

I was supposed to be involved in the film but things turned pear shaped
with some other members of the cast. I felt that some of them wanted
nothing to do with me and that our morals and feelings about Parkour
werent the same. I preferred to leave and to not make the film. I think
my attitude upset Luc Besson in some ways. Normally people fight to be
in these productions and I left without asking for my dues. He called me
back. I felt that he understood how important Parkour is to me and
could distinguish between truth and lies in this situation. Luc promised
me that wed make a film together and he stuck to his word. Lots of time
went past but I was patient and it payed off. He called me back and we
were able to make District 13, which was released in 2004. I remember an
anecdote from the end of filming that has stuck with me. Luc hugged me
in his arms and said: Ah! At least You are all in one piece!. Contrary to
other Traceurs who said they had lots of potential, that boasted that
Parkour was their thing, I never broke anything during filming.

5 years after the first release, we find you again in the role of Leito for
District 13- Ultimatum. What drew you in to the sequel?

The film delves deeper into the main characters, we see more of how
they operate in their day to day lives, their psychology and relationships
with others. We get to understand my character Leito more. The past
shows that he doesnt belong to any clan of the District, not the Chinese,
nor the blacks, or the Arabs, or the gypsies or the whites. It has lots of
bits similar to Parkour, Leito has lots of things gravitating around him
but he lives his life the way he wants, moving over obstacles, erasing
them like the ancient wall of District 13. He didnt choose to be born
there and he doesnt want to be enclosed in this trap built by these men.
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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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Youve worked with Mathieu Kassovitz on Babylon A.D. How did it
go with him?

For certain scenes in the film, Mathieu Kassovitz researched Parkour and
wanted me to work with him on the choreography for some of them. I
was un-contactable at that point because I had left on a trip, but they
managed to track me down via EuropaCorp. The collaboration was
great. I was able to work with my mates, people who I really trust. I
presented my work to the American production team and the lead actor
Vin Diesel. I set up a scaffold in a big studio and made a choreography
with 6 or 7 guys. The American producers were impressed and Vin
Diesel even asked that I have a bit of dialogue in the film. That wasnt
what I set out to achieve, but the fact that it was coming from Vin Diesel
and Mathieu, I had no hesitation! Up until now in this industry Ive
continued moving forward without really looking for work or searching
for opportunities. I dont even seek to be contactable or available, things
just happen naturally without being forced. I get a phone call,
suggestions are made. This makes me happy because without making
any claims about my ability, this all came to me. I could view all this as a
gift from the gods but I also think that its not a coincidence if I am called
upon for my skill set. For me, its just a natural result of all the effort I
have put into my training.

Youve also been a part of shooting the next big Disney production:
Prince of Persia. How did you come to work on this project?

The film Prince of Persia: Sands of time is directed by Mike Newell and
has Jake Gyllenhaal in the leading role. Its an adaptation of the video
game known worldwide. Because its based on a type of Parkour, they
needed a choreographer to help them determine all the action and
movement sequences. They called me a few days before filming because
they were having trouble setting up these scenes. It was the producer,
Jerry Bruckheimer who specifically asked that I personally come on
board to sort out the Parkour choreographies in the big studios in
England. Because of this, I felt comfortable being on set even though I
was the little Frenchy on a big American production. I was able to work
how I wanted to with my own team.
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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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names that are recognised as real actors. Me, Im interested in acting
with these kind of people and becoming a real actor who can be films
such as Jean of Florette as well as Crystal Trap. If I get asked to be in
a small budget film and that it allows me delve into the character and
really work on it, Id accept the offer even if there wasnt a single jump to
do. In fact, its the novelty of it, the challenge that attracts me to do it. I
dont want to be asked to do Parkour over and over for my whole career.
I think if I evolve in the film industry, youll see me in more low key
roles where you wouldnt necessarily recognise me. The most important
thing for me is to try to achieve my best. If I have a career like Van
Damme, Id have no regrets but if I can achieve other things, I will. My
desire is to go to the end of the world and to the edge of myself and to
stay true. In this industry I want to work with people who are genuine,
whether they are directors, actors or technicians. In District 13
Ultimatum I did some scenes with Philippe Torreton, and that was no
laughing matter. I had in front of me, an important man, a famous actor.
I took my job very seriously, to always be ready when the camera was
rolling because I never wanted a problem to because of me. I was in awe
of him and really happy when he complimented my work. In the end, he
came to me with a project idea that he wanted to develop with me, I
couldnt believe it! I told myself its a win-win situation. If I see my name
advertised next to an actor of this calibre then I would have made it. You
can only grow when faced with such greatness.

If things go well for you, do you think you can resist the pressures of
the industry, the fame?

I think I can resist it today, even if it came all at once. Im going to try to
live normally as its the best way to stay true to yourself. Im not
expecting anything from films. I dont desire to be recognisable in the
street, or to be told that Im the best. You could yell to me: Oh David,
youre so hot, youre the best and I would be indifferent. When I was in
high school, girls didnt notice me. So its not because Ive made a film
that Ive developed some sort of charm or a particular talent. I worked at
being an actor and Im not looking for any other recognition. The
destabilising side of the film industry is the way in which we value a
film, this value is based on how many ticket sales the film makes as
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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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END OF THE JOURNEY?

When you first started Parkour, you didnt really know what would
come out of it. Today, after twenty years, do you feel like you found
your way?

I dont know. I dont necessarily think I reached an aim with Parkour.
Ive always been like that, always changing, always looking for
something else. When I was doing odd jobs, I never stayed very long. I
did it to reassure my mother and show her I could earn a living but I
would soon get tired of it. Parkour made me understand that if I wanted
to stay in that system it had to be simple because I would never have the
strength to fight through my work to have the right suit and tie, the right
car, the right house and so on. From the start I didnt want to deal with a
system that crushes you. I knew that I would make my life out of
something easy and flowing. And if it hadnt been for my relatives, my
family supporting me, I think I would have become an outcast. I would
have gone to a small island, lived in a shack, surfed all day and invited
friends over for barbecues. I never had this desire to conquer from the
start, this desire for wealth that so many people in our society have
today. I could easily give everything up and find myself living on my
own in a wood or a small fishermens village. To me, becoming an actor
didnt deserve that I fight for it. I seized opportunities to move forward
but I couldnt have stepped on people on the way to get there. I know
my destiny is marked out anyway. As soon as I cast my first stone, it sent
waves and if positive things come back, its because it had to be that
way. I am aware that the things I do with Parkour and cinema allow me
to make a living today but I also know that I dont need to make fortunes
to be happy. At the moment, I feel like I want to go all the way as an
actor and I still want to be involved with Parkour. Im 35 and anything
could happen. Im ready for just about anything, including being
completely forgotten and no one remembering my name. I know it wont
change peoples lives. Ive already achieved a lot in my life and I want to
use the remaining time to do things I like, useful things like helping out
the young. Otherwise, I would feel like I wasted my time.


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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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understood the spirit of Parkour, my way of thinking as well as my
fathers, that should be enough. Some blame me for not being here
anymore and not helping them during their sessions but my father
wasnt there behind my back when I was training. Parkour has a life on
its own now. It even developed at the speed of light thanks to internet,
without me having any control over it. I sometimes feel overwhelmed
but it also shows that I was right and my fathers teachings would lead
to something great. And thats what I actually wanted: to have this
discipline acknowledged and developed. When I see practitioners
getting caught by the bug, without trying to show off or anything, I think
to myself that it was worth the years of pain and suffering of my
training. The fact of watching young people put on their sneakers and
move with the same energy I had when I left at night to go and do my
jumps, thats my biggest victory. The rest doesnt really matter to me.

Was there a time when you doubted yourself and the success of
Parkour?

I have had doubts but never to the point of giving up. There was a time
when I felt destabilized, and that was when I realized I would never
accomplish what my father had done I wouldnt go to war and I
wouldnt fight fires and save lives. Then I wondered what was the use of
it, why I had given so much to Parkour, why I had accumulated so much
energy. I felt as frustrated as a professional boxer who trained for six
months and is eventually told that he wont get to fight< I kind of lost it
at that point. I slowed down with training and started doing things I had
never done before like smoking. I felt like I was breaking self-imposed
rules and discovering a new world. I knew I wasnt fit for Parkour
anymore and I felt almost guilty. I ended up learning to unwind and
finding a balance. Now, when I smoke or spend a good evening with my
friends, I just enjoy the moment without even thinking about it. And
when I have to be fit for Parkour or for a movie, I can be careful and I
can get back to a strict healthy lifestyle. Some people dont understand
when they see me smoke today they say I betray my own principles.
But my father smoked two packs a day for years no filters, the worst
kind. And yet, he could run long distance and always be at the lead. And
seeing what he went through, you cant really blame him for smoking. I
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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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he would have done in such a situation would he have cared for
something so menial? He resets me in a way and puts me back on
tracks. I know he is looking at me looking after me. He is next to me
and helps me. When something great happens to me, I cant help but
think he helped me out theres no other way. For instance, meeting
Philippe Torreton wasnt chance alone. I know my father is sending me
invisible waves.

How did your father pass away?

My father decided to leave. He shot himself in the head. He had
prepared me to that outcome with letters and asking me to hang on no
matter what, not to worry, that he would always be here for me. "Ill be
with you more than I ever have when I was alive," he wrote me. When I think
about his departure, there were many warning signs, especially when he
wrote: "The guard dies but never surrenders." That was his choice he
decided the time of his death. Looking back at what he had achieved and
gone through, he felt like he didnt have anything left to do on earth and
that he would do more harm than good if he stayed and suffered among
his loved ones. In the end, he ended up alone, broke; hed even pick up
cigarette butts off the floor to finish them up. He never failed when it
came to helping others but he failed in his own personal life. Living
alone, he spent too much time in his memories; he felt nostalgic and
useless in the end. Not being active anymore didnt help either because
he had spent his whole life helping others every way he could.

Were you mad at him for his decision to leave like that?

At first, yes, I was. Even if he had prepared me with his letters. I was
mad at him for leaving too early I felt like he hadnt told me
everything, it felt like closing a book without reading the last ten pages. I
was losing my mentor, the only person that could have a straight
opinion about what I was doing, who could tell me if I was on the right
path. I was destabilized. But very soon, I understood I had to go on
because there was my mother, my sister, people who relied on me. My
father was handing that responsibility down on to me somehow. And it
prevented me from going too far into Parkour. It also enabled me to
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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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According to you, consumers society plays a big part in what
Mankind has become

The system conceived by human beings created need: you always need
to have the best equipment, the latest devices. Even if your DVD player
works well, you need a smaller, more efficient one. You are made to
believe that it is important and you end up thinking that you need all
kinds of stuff to live. But truth is, you could easily go without it. Women
are made to believe that they need such cream or lotion, same goes with
men, and we end up with one thousand products in our bathrooms.
When Im in the jungle, I realize how useless all of this is. Its totally
unnecessary in our lives. And I feel like I could very easily walk away
from it all to get back to whats essential. Dont get me wrong: I do buy
things myself; but the minute I own them, they stop existing. I know its
here but Im not dependent upon it. If my DVD player works, thats fine.
If it breaks down, I dont care. I dont want material things to interfere
with my life anymore. When I have money, I dont want to blow it all
because I know buying things always makes you want more. I invest my
money in something useful like a house for my mother. And if I can buy
a big house for myself one day, I wont fill it up with useless objects or
things that could tempt others. Space is to me the ultimate luxury. So if
theres a big garden, all the better: Ill be happy. Im not interested in
Ming vases and five hundred year old stuff. Ive been used to living with
very little. Water, air, food, a shelter< Simple things bringing us back to
what really matters. When you are thirsty in the desert, you dont ask for
a soda; all you want is water, just plain water.
People kill themselves at work to get more trivial things when what
really matters is life itself and being alive. When I am being asked what I
do in life, I just answer: "I live" very simply. True happiness is when
useless material things dont affect you anymore. When I see a billionaire
with four bimbos at his arm and twelve cars in his garage all upset
because theres a scratch on the hood of his BMW I cant help but feel
sorry for him. Id rather take care of my close ones, of real problems that
could actually affect my life. Im happy when people around me are
happy, when I can bring them good energy. A two-hour long
conversation with a close one is enough for me to feel good. We know
we had a great time together and we didnt need any money for that. We
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have to find happiness in ourselves. I can be loaded and go to the
Bahamas; if I havent solved my own problems, Ill be as miserable over
there as I was when I was living in the suburbs. Nothing affects you
anymore when you are feeling good with yourself. A guy can call you
names, you wont even feel like answering back. The other way around,
if you are not feeling well, youll answer back and step into an unhealthy
game of violence. I understood I couldnt go anywhere with that dark
side inside me it could be destructive even if trying to outsmart or be
the strongest can give you a feeling of pride and power. But truth is, it
wont take you very far in life. And I want to thank my father and
Parkour for that, because they opened up my mind and made me see
society in a different way. I know I wont change the world and I am not
going to fight for that. Im going to live a quiet life and Ill fit in the
system because Parkour brought me there but I wont fight to stay there
anymore than I fought to get there.

How do you see yourself twenty years from now?

If things keep rolling the way they do now and I follow my path, in
twenty years from now Ill be in a house on a beach, a small nest I wont
want to leave anymore and Ill be peaceful, at last! I dont want to be
stressed out I feel like stressed out people completely missed their
lives. They are lost indeed. They pretend during daytime because they
live their lives at 200mph from dawn to dusk, always rushing, with their
cell phones. But when it stops at night and they are faced with
themselves, they are completely lost. And theyd do anything to avoid
that watch TV, play video games, go on the internet so that they
wont have to think. Very few people actually take time to work on
themselves turning off the phone and TV altogether and facing your
own self. I have learnt to live on my own. I appreciate my friends, I love
my family but when I want to break free, I can easily cut myself off from
others. I can live disconnected from everything and face myself. Thats
when true wishes and desires appear. Personally, I always go back to the
same things: I want to walk, see a sunset, travel to China or elsewhere.
Thanks to Parkour I can see things under a different light I see them
with more hindsight and attention. Some people will pass by a piece of
furniture all their lives and never notice there was a secret drawer in it
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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.