Honouring the past, dancing with the times: Fong on the Essence and Evolution of Locking

In a candid and heartfelt conversation, Singapore Locking pioneer — Fong, shares his thoughts on the essence of Locking dance. Far from being a collection of flashy moves and routines, Locking is a cultural expression deeply tied to music, history and a showcase of individual identities. What is a Locker? Fong begins with the music: “Do you like the classics of Funk and Soul? Because that’s where this dance was born.” From this music, he explains, comes the expression, the groove, and the feeling that define Locking. Fong then clarifies the distinction between simply doing Locking moves and being a Locker. “A move doesn’t really mean anything, but how you move to the music along with these movements does.” He further explains, “the upbeat, the pause, the Lock and that funkiness in your movement. With those things put together, they form the essence of the dance ‘Locking’.” To Fong, Locking is not just about executing signature moves. It is about understanding the cultural backdrop from which the dance emerged — Funk and Soul music, 1970s Black American culture, and the lived experiences of its pioneers. “It’s really culturally how you represent it — the way you dress, the music that you listen to and also your understanding when you listen to Funk music. Sometimes when you watch a movie set in the ’70s and it plays those elements that makes you relate to the stories of the dance — the Funk movement. Those things encompass you as an advocate and that’s what makes you a Locking dancer, a Locker, not just a dancer that does Locking.” For Fong, Locking is likened to a cultural language. He gives the example that speaking in Mandarin does not automatically make one an expert in Chinese culture. “Doing Locking moves doesn’t make you a Locker unless you’re immersed in its heritage and spirit.” Campbellocking and Identity Fong draws a meaningful distinction between the original form — Campbellocking, as pioneered by Don Campbell — and the interpretations dancers perform today. He suggests that just as people call him by his stage name, Campbellocking can be seen as the original style of Locking. It is a style with distinct origins and a lineage that deserves respect. “My name is Wei Fong. But people call me Fong because that’s my dance name, my stage name. When people say they enjoy watching me do my Locking style, that’s Fong’s Locking. But when you say you’re doing Campbellocking, that’s Campbellock style Locking.” In other words, what we do today is an interpretation of Don Campbell’s dancing. He reminds us that no matter how much Locking evolves, it should always be traced back to Don Campbell and The Lockers — where it all began. Remembering the roots of Locking Fong is deeply conscious of the balance between preserving culture and embracing evolution. “The struggle is that while we are learning the history, understanding the culture and doing what our teachers teach us, we are also developing the dance for the next generation. Because the music has changed, the things that we dance to have changed too. We have Bruno Mars, [part of] a new generation of Funk artists, and we dance to this kind of music these days. So our Locking movements change too, according to this kind of music as well. “We take that, we form our own, but we always appreciate where the dance came from and we continue to advocate how it came about — what the inspirations behind the dance were so that we can keep the essence of it while we also grow it and move forward with it.” Fong reminds us, “Today you are doing Locking differently from the OGs (pioneers) because you have your own experiences. We form our own thoughts around these things that we learn through the forefathers, then we develop that. But we always must direct everybody back to the roots - how it was done, how it looked like in the Soul Train programme, how it looked like when the original people were doing it.” Ideas as the foundation and future of Locking Fong describes how early Locking moves were born not out of technical breakdowns, but out of spontaneous moments rooted in personality and play. He shares the origin stories of iconic moves like “Scoo B Doo,” born from playful stair-jumping, and the “Stop and Go” created from an accidental movement between two of the OGs conversing. These moments remind us that Locking’s foundation lies in human experience, not codified instruction. “Originally the dance was created based on ideas they had that were done to the music.” Fong gives the example of ‘the Point’: “Don Campbell was being pointed at and he wanted to point back at people, then that became part of the dance. It was an idea that he put into his dance and it fits the music.” Back in the day, the pioneers were just playing with movements to the music. “If they saw something cool or looked good, it would spark an idea and they would add it into the dance.” Today, the world is different. Modern media, culture and technology influence dancers in new ways. Fong believes that these modern ideas should find their place in Locking too. “Today is the era of TikTok. Does it mean that we cannot put things that are current into our Locking dance? In fact, we should be doing it because these are the ideas of our generation. So I say we learn the roots and we expand it bigger because the era has changed and our movements are inspired by what’s going on in this era. We’re inspired by the Street Dance Of China programme. We’re inspired by Bruno Mars — the way he dances and how he moves. We are inspired by TikTok today.” He points out that even the way moves are executed today — cleaner Twirls, sharper Points — differs from the original generation’s approach. “When we teach, we tell our students that they must use the elbows before Pointing. How much of it was like that in the early generation? You know, I don’t think they actually cared in the beginning. I’ll say it’s very different today.” The Role of Competitions “In every competition we must try to elevate our level right? To do it better, we will always come up with new things that we can put into the dance. That’s how Locking will push and move forward.” For Locking to remain relevant, Fong emphasises the need to maintain its community roots while leveraging platforms like competitions to reach new audiences. “The competitions are where people see the dance. People get inspired and want to learn the dance, and that was exactly how Locking spread to the world.” He references the historic rise of Locking on Soul Train, where dancers from local clubs were invited to perform on national television. When a Locker won a competition judged by James Brown on the show, it catapulted the style into the mainstream across the United States. “That’s how the world thought, Ooohh.. Locking is the new dance. That’s how Locking dance spread throughout the US, and that’s how it became big! So the competition is what pushes the dance to the general public but the community helps keep it grounded. We need the community and we also need the opportunities to push the dance forward. Then more new people will come into the community.” A Holistic Perspective Fong offers a forward-looking vision of Locking: a living art form rooted in respect for its history, rich in cultural meaning, and constantly evolving with the times. To him, Locking is not just a dance — it is a legacy, a language, and a celebration of generations past, present and future.