FUNKMODE is a Hip Hop performance and education company founded in 2004 and based out of Concord in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Long story long:
Like peanut butter and chocolate finding one another, in 2003, a lifelong trained dancer with a BFA in Dance Education met a street dancer hungry to parlay his talents into a career. This connection led to many brainstorming sessions, one of which gave this pair the idea to combine their respective dance styles of Modern and Hip Hop. From this idea, they created a word that would one day go far beyond its initial purpose. Today, FUNKMODE has come to represent a dance school centered on Hip Hop education, as well as a performance business that is now known all over the world.
To stay with the food analogies, as Hip Hop is FUNKMODE's bread and butter, accurately representing and educating others about the culture is taken very seriously (and they usually don't take much seriously). It is the foundation of the unique curriculum taught at the Concord studio, which hosts students from ages three to adult. One example of taking Hip Hop seriously is "SCHOOL'd by FUNKMODE", a comprehensive series of written lessons which provide instruction on everything from the birth of Hip Hop to its usefulness in our world today. As a practical supplement to these lessons, FUNKMODE also holds in-class demonstrations on such Hip Hop cultural mainstays as B-boying, rapping, writing rhymes, graffiti, beatboxing, creating unique fashions and history.
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But the fun(k) doesn't stop at the studio. FUNKMODE has developed school programs which are conducted seasonally at preschools to colleges throughout the East San Francisco Bay Area. FUNKMODE also gives in-home private lessons, hosts birthday parties and even organizes performances and flash mobs for all types of occasions. They have worked with corporate partners such as MINI/BMW and Kaiser to teach dance to their employees and organize performances for their customers. To help reach out to their community, FUNKMODE regularly works with the Monument Crisis Center (a local organization providing food distribution and life services to those in need @ http://www.monumentcrisiscenter.org) to hold classes at their center, lead donation drives and provide entertainment for fundraisers.
One of the main ideas upon which FUNKMODE was founded was self-producing original performance content. Armed with the strong belief that the arts do not have to rely solely on private donations or government subsidies, FUNKMODE was determined to find ways to create an actual business model out of entertaining the public. This mindset and drive has led FUNKMODE to produce five Hip Hop music albums, 10 completely original theatrical stage shows and hundreds of internet dance videos with over 15 million views.
What else? There are currently four members, Cara, Mighty, KMDZ and SarahAngel. They've got a mascot named Funky D. Monkey who dances and makes special performance appearances. They've got a couple of cool FUNKMODE cars, the FUNKMOBILE and the Funk Utility Vehicle (FUV). They embarked a performance and teaching tour of Singapore a few years ago. They've won "Best of the Bay" awards from Diablo Magazine and Parents' Press Magazine. They choreographed a Hip Hop version of "The Wizard of Oz" for Diablo Theatre Company (http://www.diablotheatre.org) a 50 year old musical theater company that wanted to spice things up. The members have cool hair of varying colors and can do tricks like a run-up-the-wall backflip and balance a spoon on their nose. Also, they're just overall pretty darn good people who are exceedingly grateful to do what they love for a living.
Finally, and on a more personal note, our core value as a team is the concept of "all love". Our company is a family in the most real sense of the word. We work together, we play together and that connection is present in everything we do. We all know that we would not be able to do what we do, like we do it, if any single member were missing. We treasure our relationship, celebrate our differences and push to maximize our individual potential because we fully recognize that therein lies the source of our power as a team. Combine that with the love we have for our students and fans and you get all love.
Wanna learn more? Contact us!
Wanna be done reading? Okay, buh bye!
