Parkour is a method of training which allows us to overcome obstacles, both in the urban and natural environments. It’s a weapon in disguise. We train…and when one day we encounter a problem, we know that we are able to use it. It can be the art of flight, of the chase, of helping someone with a problem…something ordinary. It happened to me that I had to climb up to the second floor because some guy forgot his keys. It’s stupid, because he’s right there. He knows that his window is open. He doesn’t have his keys. He says to me, “Can you…uh…,” and I’m like, “Of course,” and I climb into his place and just open his door. And if he was able to do it…well, it wouldn’t have been a problem for him. I believe that the end result of parkour is to become completely autonomous in life. And to be able to say all by yourself, “Well this here…I don’t have the distance, but I’ll train for 15 days, drilling 50 jumps in the morning and at night. In a month, I’ll have it.” That’s knowing yourself. Setting goals and attaining them. Because if we don’t have goals, we’re just floating in the wind and we don’t know why we’re moving. And when we have found a reason for what we’re doing, even if we move into other areas that are not parkour - artistic areas or in life - well, we will already be in the habit of finding meaning. All the questions that they ask me about parkour…they ask, “Why are you doing this? What is the point?” as though it’s hidden in the philosophy or in the movements that you are working on. But if you look at a monkey…if you were to stop him at the moment he’s in the middle of doing a jump, you press pause and then you ask him, “Why are you doing this? Why are you moving?,” I think the monkey would answer “And you? Why are you NOT moving?” The thing that is really amusing, in the idea of urban parkour, is when you realize that humans are moving on things that are not made initially for this purpose. Which is to say that the guy who built the little barriers on the sides of staircases to go this way or put this wall here, he didn’t say to himself, “Oh yeah, so he’s going to jump here, so this is at the right distance. Or maybe…” No. They built it and we came and found the way. Like a game…a game of society…You will look and see what’s possible, what’s not possible. And the more you look at it correctly, the less risk you take. When you live an art - it doesn’t matter which - it inevitably opens up other things. It makes you understand things about life. The right middle ground…because excess kills. Therefore, it stays with me. My grandfather used to say that to me: “You need to use it and not abuse it.” These are phrases that come back to me all the time. In those moments when I ask myself questions, I tell myself, “This settles it. I was told.” You cant be a jackass all the time. You cant play with your body like that. There are moments when you need to follow rules. There are laws of physics. It’s fine to say “Yeah, I’m not scared” but you wont jump 10 meters. You cant jump 10 meters. So you’re obliged to follow a kind of training…and it’s in training that you can say “I feel good. I can progress past myself” and know just how far you are willing to go. I realize that everything that my father gave to me, and everything that I learned on the ground…I realize now that he didn’t lie to me. That he didn’t say to me, “Here, go on. Jump from there. Don’t be afraid. You wont do anything to yourself. You wont get hurt…” He told me to be careful with what I was doing. He would tell me to not do just anything. I owe him everything in the end. It’s not easy when you have a child, to see him jumping from a height, and to stay stoic and say, “Yeah, that’s good. but use your legs a bit more because right now that’s not going to…” and give him advice. But now all that I see is “Be careful!” or “You’re going to hurt yourself!” or whatever. I’m under the impression that fear is passed on. We can teach courage, but we can also teach a lot of fear. And we’re in a society today where everyone is afraid. Everyone double locks their doors. Everyone is stressed. Everyone thinks…how are we going to trust people like this? And if today, the new generation learn to have a little courage and to have confidence in themselves…These are the future fathers of tomorrow. So these people, when they are 30 or 40 years old, they’ll be 40 years old but they’ll be people who will have done parkour and will have learned these values. So they will pass on these things to their sons. Other than “Not that! Be careful! Put on your jacket, you’re going to catch a cold! No! Not there you’re going to fall!” Because by doing that, we might as well just lock ourselves in our homes. That way nothing will happen to us. But life happens outside anyways. So if we have two arms and two legs, it’s for climbing to see what’s going on. It’s not for staying locked up, otherwise we’d just be like trees. There is no stronger or weaker. What is actually important is being strong in the moment that you go right to limits for the cause you are defending. Tomorrow, if you get into a fight or there’s a confusion, if your cause is good you will always win. Even if you physically lost…the guy physically beats you down and breaks your legs, you will say “Yeah, you physically beat me. But I will always have what’s in my head. You can’t get into my head and change what’s in my head.” If I tell you it’s this way and I’m sure of it, you’ll never change that. And that’s what’s important. So now, with parkour, I can hurt myself, but I will I always have the same values. Because even animals fall down. Except when they fall it’s not concrete. It’s really similar to martial arts in the method of training. In the willingness to drill a movement or a technique. I think it’s really the same philosophy, the same way of learning things. To looks at an opponent and to say “Okay this guy is much bigger, so I need to hit him much lower.” So by following the opponent, we modify our technique. We know where to be careful if we are going to engage in close combat on the ground. So when you find yourself in front of an obstacle, it’s the same: “So what’s here? I’m going to grab there, But if I slip, where can I catch myself? Okay there’s this.” It teaches you to look. I think the fear will always be there. But there will be a moment when you will have the confidence that right when you’re about to do a jump, you say, “I’ve practiced this 500 times, and in that 500 times I never bailed. Why am I now worried that I’m going to fall?” Because fear makes us lose our memory sometimes. Like someone - there is the guy in club, He’s done his drills all year. He made his display. One days he gets into trouble. There’s a lot of pressure. The other guy isn’t talking to him like his teacher because it doesn’t matter that he does martial arts. He only wants him to know that if he doesn’t give him his wallet right now he’s going to get messed up. And the guy, he panics. You want to say “Hey! Wake up! What have you been doing all year? Didn’t you train for this moment?” “Yeah, but now I don’t know, because I’m paralyzed by…” “Well you didn’t learn anything then. It’s useless.” So I see it like that. The training must be such that when you are in a real situation, you react right away. And the more you’ve trained in a situation that approaches reality, the day you are confronted by reality there is no change. Because reality is when you’re confronted by reality. That’s all. When you engage in something, you know the risks and you aren’t surprised, because you already knew. You already knew. From the moment you leave your house it’s dangerous. When you go into the subway it’s dangerous. You could be at the edge of your tracks with your briefcase. You think you’re safe. And here comes this guy who is running because his buddy is trying to catch him. He bumps into you and you fall on the tracks. You didn’t want to end up there, but there, it happened. It can happen at any point of the day. So when you understand that…on the day you’re supposed to go, you go. So right now, do your thing. Live your life and stop living in fear. The guy who doesn’t drive a car because there are a lot of accidents gets run over crossing the street. The guy who double locks his door so no one gets in, and there is a gas leak and the building explodes. There isn’t really anything you can do to protect yourself from danger or to avoid risk. Life is already a risk. Life is a permanent risk. We take risks all the time when we speak to people. When we engage with someone and trust them, we are taking a risk. The trick is to be aware of it and live with it. People who are like: “Did you see? He’s on the wall of the school” and everyone goes “He’s not supposed to be there!” It’s people who are giving the impression that you’re doing something wrong. But you’re like, “what’s the matter? If a cat comes along or a bird sits up there, you’re not going to throw rocks at it. It’s a living thing. It has a heart beating inside it. Why then, just because I’m a person and I can speak, do you say “Oh you’re not supposed to be up there! What are you doing on that wall?” Well I don’t know. And you? What are doing looking at me? In fact, if you turn your head and walk straight ahead, you don’t see me. I’m not inconveniencing you. So go on your way. Why are you concerning yourself with my stuff? And when you talk to me and disturb me right when I’m about to jump, I’m at risk of falling because of you. Because you disturbed me to ener into this discussion. I’m concentrating on my thing. I look at you. I jump. Bam! I hurt myself. And then what are you going to do? Are you going to come and take me to the emergency room? If what you have to say is not presently relevant to what I’m doing, keep moving.
- David Belle
