Yamakasi

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The Yamakasi are a group of practitioners of the sport of l'art du déplacement (French: the art of movement).^{[citation needed]}

The sport resembles, and has its origins in, that of parkour which involves surmounting (often) urban obstacles as efficiently as possible. The philosophy of the Yamakasis, however, is that of aesthetics and complete freedom of movement from point A to point B, as opposed to parkour which focuses on efficiency of movement between point A to point B, without the emphasis on aesthetics.^{[citation needed]} Hence Yamakasis perform flips and tricks, while traceurs (parkour practitioners) do not.

L'art du déplacement also resembles very closely the free running discipline of Sebastien Foucan.

[edit] Etymology

Often mistaken for Japanese, the word yamakasi is actually taken from the Lingala language, which is spoken in the two Congos. Ya makási can mean "strong body, strong spirit, strong person", though in French usage its meaning is closer to "high energy".

[edit] References in popular culture

• The characters in the 2001 French film Yamakasi use the sport to steal money from seven rich people to get enough money to afford a heart replacement surgery for a child.

you can see other traceurs in action at [[1]]