David Belle interviewed by Sebastien Foucan - Part 1 - FreerunningTV.com

Comment

Comment by NoHero on November 12, 2011 at 8:08pm

I wanted to frighten myself. Not with high jumps, or with manly stunts, but by looking at who I was. I wanted to face my fear of my own success, and instill in myself a value system that was autonomous of other people's opinions. I needed to see how far I could really go when I stopped holding back. 

I think when people go for crowd pleasing moves first, they miss the basics. Conditioning, learning to fail well and most importantly, learning what concrete and stone can do if you're not humble about your new abilities were all important, frustrating and sometimes painful lessons.

Comment by Bay Area Parkour on November 12, 2011 at 2:56pm

David might very well be the person that has thought longer, harder, and more independently about Parkour. 

In this video he expresses what could be considered a tormented vision of the development of the discipline and its practitioners.

There's been talks about the PK community becoming less vocal (not necessarily a "bad" thing...), but also less introspective, less aware and more self-centered.

Going into the Winter with another (hopefully) good season in our muscles (and brains, and joints), it might be a good time to think back about why are we doing this, what made us try it out (and what made us quit, if anything), what did we find, and what did we miss (or what we might be missing now).

It could be an attempt to fight the "whatever" feelings that we all have at times, but also to go beyond the "just go out and move" angle that has been promoted at various times.

How do you feel about it?

How do you think you will feel next year?

And 5/10 years down the road?

Comment by puck on December 18, 2010 at 12:24am

Interesting video. David really set apart parkour parkour from training-and-video parkour with that talk. Really made me ashamed of myself when I realized I probably fit into the latter.

 

Good to see him and Sebastien together again though. Thanks for posting!