David Belle

David Belle, son of Raymond Belle, was born on April 29, 1973 in Fécamp, France. He was raised by his maternal grandfather. The men in his family had served in the Paris Fire Brigade for generations, and he was constantly reminded of his father’s extraordinary physical abilities and heroic fire-fighting deeds.
As a child, David Belle practiced gymnastics and track and field, but he always preferred to train in the open air and the woods. For him, the movements had to have an element of “usefulness” just as his father had told and explained to him. As a child, he imagined situations in which he had to put his courage and strength to the test.
His passions were overcoming obstacles, always moving forward and not letting anything get in his way. The constant running, jumping, climbing and balancing formed the foundation for his physical abilities. The physical challenges that he set himself during his imaginary stories formed the foundation for his powerful concentration.
At the age of 15, Belle relocated with his family to Lisses, near Evry, about 35 miles from Paris. There, he transferred the techniques he had learned in the forests of Normandy to the urban environment and architecture. His active, public example sparked the interest of other young people around him (Hess & Hess, 2007 – Parkour Association Germany; Belle, J-F – Homepage of David Belle: http://kyzr.free.fr.davidbelle/).
David Belle and Sébastien Foucan met at this time. What started off as playful games of chase among young people developed, during the years that followed, into a real sporting challenge: escape techniques over obstacles. The movement forms inspired by the urban landscape were further developed by this small group of youngsters, who constantly increased heights and distances, each in his way bringing something new to the movement forms.
The art of displacement, or l’art du déplacement therefore originated from a kids’ game, which was
already given the name (le) parcours in 1989 (Foucan, 2008). The urban, athletic movement forms first gained wide public attention thanks to a video of Belle that his brother Jean-François Belle showed to the French TV show Stade2 in May 1997 (Belle J-F – Homepage of David Belle: http://kyrz.free.fr/davidbelle). This led to the first media reports about David Belle and his friends. In the same year, the group Yamakasi was formed by the top practitioners.