A Brief History of Parkour / Art du Déplacement

Yamakasi

The discipline was founded in France in the late 1980s by a group of young men. They were David Belle, Yann Hnautra, Chau Belle, Laurent Piemontesi, Williams Belle, Sébastien Foucan, Malik Diouf, Guylain N'Guba Boyeke, and Charles Perriere. Though these names are widely regarded as “the founders”, they did not necessarily train together as often as you’d think, nor did they necessarily agree on what it was they were doing or their aims for growing it. As the discipline and attention to it grew, some of these men split away from the others to pursue varying endeavors. This created some confusion and leads to some of the misunderstandings of the discipline that still exist today.

Some of these men eventually called themselves Yamakasi ("Yamak" for short). Yamakasi is a Lingala word loosely meaning 'Strong Man, Strong Spirit', and summed up their core aim for the discipline – to be a strong individual physically, mentally, and ethically. David Belle and Sébastien Foucan were not a part of this named group, but continued on their own paths with the discipline.

Watch our videos with Yamakasi co-founders Laurent Piemontesi, Chau Belle, and Yann Hnautra:

9 men, 3 names

The term "Parkour" was the first name, created by David Belle and derived from the French word “parcours”. The name given to this discipline by the Yamakasi was "L'Art du Déplacement" ("the art of displacement"). The term "Freerunning" was created in the production of a Channel 4 documentary, Jump London, in 2003. The terms now mean different things to different people.

Parkour

"Parkour" was created and molded by David Belle. The name "Parkour", the name more widely used and recognized by the world today, was Belle's strict method of training in which practitioners were meant to move from one point to another point quickly and efficiently. His Parkour was essentially driven by his desire to be as great as his father. There were no flashy movements in Belle's Parkour - those were only done during play time after the training.

Art du Déplacement

"Art of Displacement", in English. The word "Art" represents your past: everything from your life that has gotten you to where you are and who you are today. "Du" is the present, who you are now, and what you are trying to accomplish. "Déplacement" represents your future, where you will take yourself and who you will become. It is a discipline, a lifestyle, and a philosophy to live by. It is about strength both in the mind and the body... about the spirit of helping others through every day pain and struggles and never giving up. It is a way to truly discover yourself, and to use that knowledge of yourself to improve and to help others - to improve the world as we know it.

Freerunning

"Freerunning" is commonly used today to describe a manner of self-expressive training. Some will argue that Parkour and Freerunning are the same thing. Others would say that Freerunning is more about showing off and throwing flips. While Freerunning is often more about self-expression and creativity, the discipline always urges its practitioners to train in a way that inspires others and keeps the practitioner safe. It was never meant to be about impressing others, showing off, or gaining attention with dangerous stunts.