069: Sebastien Foucan on pioneering free running

In this week’s episode I speak to a true innovator, pioneer and superstar of human movement – Sebastien Foucan. Sebastien was one of the founding developers of the discipline of parkour and later Sebastien stretched his practice to develop free-running – creative, acrobatic, exploratory, jumping, vaulting, rolling, climbing and interacting with obstacles and environments.

Sebastien was also Bond baddy, delivering his art form on the big screen in a breath taking chase sequence with Daniel Craig at the start of Casino Royale! Sebastien has starred in Madonna video and toured with her.

In this interview we discuss Sebastien’s early athleticism, the origins of parkour, the split to free-running, the assessment of risk against knowledge of his own physical capabilities, the founding philosophies and links to Bruce Lee’s doctrines and the demands of getting it right on stage and screen. We also find out who was the harder taskmaster Madonna or Bond!

I’ve been in awe of Sebastien for many years and it was a compelling, deep yet fun conversation to have.

Show notes

Early origins of Sebastien's athletic ability

Creation of parkour and the split with free running

The philosophical nature of three running and the links with Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do 

Evaluating risk and understanding of personal physical abilities when performing free running

Importance of practice

Feeling flow, in the zone, the importance of the environment

Delivering free running on the big screen in James Bond Casino Royale movie

The demands of touring with Madonna

Sustaining performance as Sebastien gets older

Mentoring others and being the Obi-Wan Kenobi of free running

Links

https://twitter.com/SebastienFoucan

https://www.foucan.com/

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