Sankara Alafia Learning to Play Capoeira Like His Dad – Facts about Yaya Dacosta’s Son

Sankara Alafia, Yaya DaCosta’s son, is known as a celebrity child born in 2013. While his mother is making her mark in the entertainment industry, he is already walking in his father’s footsteps.

Sankara Alafia is the son of cinematographer, editor, and independent filmmaker Joshua Bee Alafia and his former partner, the actress, producer, and model Camara DaCosta Johnson, also known as Yaya DaCosta.

Although his mother is an actress, Sankara Alafia seems to have an ordinary and happy life. Like his father, he is learning to play capoeira, a martial art that infuses dance into its movements and is said to have originated in Brazil.

Meeting Sankara Alafia

Sankara was born at home on September 12, 2013, and he is the first and only child of his parents. His mother, who likes to keep things natural, is an advocate for breastfeeding and opted to do that for her son.

In early 2014, the actress shared a picture of her baby breastfeeding to encourage more new mothers to breastfeed their babies.

In 2019, Sankara’s father took to Instagram to share that his family loved capoeira. His son was already fully involved in the art in the videos and pictures he shared.

In the caption, he revealed that he had been playing capoeira since he was 20, and it has taught him so much about life and helped shape certain aspects of his existence.

At the time of his post, he had already split from Sankara’s mom. They were together for three years, from 2012 until 2015 when they separated.

Joshua Bee Alafia and Yaya DaCosta at the premiere of “The Butler” on August 5, 2013, in New York | Source: Getty Images

Sankara’s Mother Is a Famous Actress

Sankara’s mother is a woman of many talents. In addition to being an actress, model, and producer, she is also a trained dancer and a full-spectrum birth doula.

She was born in Harlem on November 15, 1982, grew up in New York, went to high school at Northfield Mount Hermon School in Massachusetts, and attended Brown University in Rhode Island.

Yaya DaCosta graduated with a degree in Africana Studies and International Relations, and in December 2004, she finished second place in the third cycle of “America’s Next Top Model.”

Although she started acting at 11, her first professional role was in 2005 when she starred as Ms. Jenkins in an episode of “Eve.” Shortly after that, she made her feature film debut as LaRhette Dudley in the dance drama “Take the Lead.”

Yaya has since starred in movies and series such as “All My Children,” “Ugly Betty,” “Chicago Med,” “Chicago P.D.,” “Chicago Fire,” “Our Kind of People,” “Whitney,” “Bolden,” “The Kids Are All Right,” and more.

The actress is relatively active on social media but keeps her personal life away from fans and has no pictures of her son posted on her Instagram.

Sankara Spends a Lot of Time with His Father

While Sankara’s mother never posts his photos, his father’s Instagram page shows that the father and son spend plenty of time together.

Joshua is always excited for an opportunity to celebrate moments with his son. According to the caption on one of his father’s day posts, he wrote that “fatherhood is delightfully challenging, deeply instructive and the greatest joy by far.”

In addition to being a cinematographer, editor, and independent filmmaker, Joshua is also a writer, mediator, and director. In 2001, he wrote, directed, and starred in his movie project “Cubamor,” which was rewritten into a musical in 2012.

He teaches meditation and experiments with different meditation styles when he is not working on movie projects or writing scripts.

Sankara and his father also travel together a lot. In one of his pictures, he showed they took a canoe ride in Frenchtown, New Jersey. Another picture he posted had them enjoying the sunny views of Niagara Falls as they visited the Niagara Falls State Park.