Ready To Dance Episode 2: Paris

Episode 2 of my Ready To Dance series began just as organically as the first. I had been wanting to shoot a second chapter in my own city, Paris, but I hadn’t taken the first real step yet. Then one day, on my way home, I saw Facene riding down my street, floating on one wheel. I walked up to him and his cameraman, introduced myself, and asked if he’d be interested in becoming the main character of the next episode. By coincidence, he had watched my New York episode just a few days earlier — so he immediately said yes. A few weeks later, right in between two Covid lockdowns, we started filming.

In this episode, I wanted to dive deeper into the core of Parisian bikelife: its personalities, its codes, its subtleties. You’ll meet Facene, a well-established rider; Samy, a young kid already showing incredible skill; Landy, a French rapper; and several others who help reveal the culture from the inside. This chapter also carries a more political dimension: in France, authorities have been cracking down hard on the bikelife movement — often with narratives that don’t fully reflect the reality on the ground.