Yamakasi

Yamakasi are a French group of practitioners of parkour, free running, street stunts and other types of acrobatics. But, the term 'yamakasi' is also used to call a particular form of a performance in order to distinguish it from other similar activities mentioned above.

Overview
The art originally termed Art du Deplacement, now also referred to as freerunning or parkour, was founded in France in the 1980s by a group of nine young men who called themselves The Yamakasi. Yamakasi is a Lingala word meaning loosely 'Strong Man, Strong Spirit', and summed up the original and still core aim of the discipline - to be a strong individual: physically, mentally and ethically. The Yamakasi founders were Yann Hnuatra, Chua Belle, David Belle, Laurent Piemontesi, Sebastien Foucan, Guylain N'Guba, Charles Perriere, Malik Diouf and Williams Belle.

Etymology
The word yamakasi is taken from the Lingala language, which is spoken in both Congo states. Ya makási can mean "strong body, strong spirit, strong person"