Will Funk For Food one of Finland’s most renowned street dance groups, brings A Fistful of Funk, a Locking street dance piece of great popularity, to Stoa during Hurraa! week.

The performance, accompanied by two live musicians, deals with the themes of male friendship and masculinity through absurd theatre, play, humour and virtuoso street dance.

The work follows five cowboys on an epic mission in the desert. There, 1970s funk dance is combined with the text of playwright Juho Keränen, which is inspired by the toxic machismo and hypermasculinity of Sergio Leone’s westerns.

Locking is a dance style born among African Americans on the West Coast of the United States in the 1970s, characterised by sharp breaks, groovy steps and acrobatic tricks. The performance focuses on one of the key elements of locking: character. Through the characters and play, the performance explores alternative masculine expressions while presenting each dancer’s unique style and personality.

Founded in 2008, Will Funk For Food is one of Europe’s best-known street dance groups, having won several championships and performed internationally in Europe and Japan. A Fistful of Funk is the group’s first full-length dramatic work and a pioneer in its field.

Duration: 75 min
Age recommendation: 10+
Language: English

Choreography: Akim Bakhtaoui, Wilhelm Blomberg and Will Funk For Food
Performers: Akim Bakhtaoui, Wilhelm Blomberg, Jeffrey Kam, Teemu Kullberg, Sami Pajari
Involved in the creative process: Sami Harju, Joonas Kilappa, Kai Ruusuvuori (WFFF)
Staging design: Oscar Dempsey
Costume design: Antrea Kantakoski
Lighting design: Jaakko Sirainen
Sound design, musician: Sebastian Kurtén
Dramaturge: Juho Keränen
Drummer: Leo Mäkinen
Production: Zodiak – Center for New Dance, Wilhelm Blomberg, Akim Bakhtaoui
Tour production: Otto Björkman