More Parkour - David Belle
June 7, 2006
Over a year ago Casey showed us a video about le parkour which was so fascinating I must have watched it 20 times. The main subject of this video is David Belle and thanks to Google Video, I’ve found more videos than you can shake a stick at.
David Belle, creator of parkour claims his motivation is in the freedom he finds in parkour. Basically this extreme sport runs under the concepts of free running through urban environments utilizing paths less conventional.
As a quick side note related to some details discussed in his biography, Belle’s father was in Vietnam and then became a firefighter. I couldn’t help but think of my brother. If history repeats itself does that mean my brother’s son could become like David?
If you have any doubt or questions about parkour, watch this professionally edited and choreographed David Belle chase scene:
Another professional video, this one for BBC One, featuring Belle’s commute home:
There is another group called the Yamakasi who practice a similar physical discipline. One difference between this and parkour is a greater concentration on freedom of motion as opposed to the quickest path from A to B. Apparently there was a Yamakasi movie?
Here’s a great video from the French TV station TFI with English subtitles that follows David for most of the 10 minutes, but includes the Yamakasi in the middle. A lot of the stuff shown and discussed here helps to explain Belle’s motivations.
Another video which is long, 8 minutes or so, but repeatedly awesome:
A bit shorter, but enough “holy F!” moments to make it worth a watch:
One of the things I find very exciting is when the routes change unexpectedly, or something about the route is surprising. For example, a guy starts to climb a bus stop, but when he reaches the top slips through a gap instead of jumping on top. Another example is when a guy jumps a gap and plants securely on a rail instead of clearing it. These moments give me chills.
If you’re anything like me you can’t get enough of these videos, so here’s a list of some others I love:
Hilarious Nike Advertisement
The best parts from the TFI video to a Super Mario Brothers theme
Original video Casey showed me
An American off to a good start
An Estonian dude
Tags: advertisement, david belle, estonian, freedom, hilarious, nike, parkour, sport, sports, super mario brothers, video, yamakasi
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8 Responses to “More Parkour - David Belle”
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It’s like watching a Jackie Chan movie, minus the awful dialog…
or the contrived plots…
Contrived plots? yup.
[...] This 21st Bond film is still entirely packed with action. The first major action sequence involves a free running foot chase that harkens to David Belle’s Le Parkour. This pace is not sustained, but rather falls into a steady flow that is better paced for story telling. This is of course repeatedly interrupted by major action scenes. [...]
DAVID BELLE ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1111111
je veus vivre comme cette vie
hola
acho o david incrível,gosto muito do trabalho dele,sem contat que ele é lindo..