Yamakasi are a French group of practitioners of parkour and other types of acrobatics.[1] 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.[1]
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The art originally termed l'art du deplacement, now also referred to as parkour, was founded in France in the 1980s by a group of nine young men who called themselves The Yamakasi. Yamakasi originates from the African Congolese Lingala language 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 Hnautra, Chau Belle, David Belle, Laurent Piemontesi, Sébastien Foucan, Guylain N'Guba Boyeke, Charles Perriere, Malik Diouf and Williams Belle.
The word yamakasi is taken from the Lingala language, which is spoken in both Congo states (the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo). Ya makási can mean "strong body", "strong spirit", "strong person."[2]