OYOFE Vol. 11 · African Street Dance Festival · December 10 to 13, 2026 · Barcelona, Spain

The manifesto

Woman King

The Agojie Edition · 5 Years · Barcelona

In our societies she is the economy — the market, the trade, the hands in the soil. She is the archive — the songs, the proverbs, the folklore carried from mouth to ear. She is the spirit — the priestess, the healer, the one the ancestors choose to speak through. Nothing crosses a generation in Africa without passing through a woman first.

Drawing inspiration from the Agojie warriors, fearless women who fought for their people but were kept out of the history books, we want to take this opportunity to fully acknowledge the women of this industry: the ones who helped shape it and the ones still looking for a space to shine. In Ivory Coast we sometimes say “C’est le foyer qui a calmé nos mamans là”, meaning it’s married life that took our mothers away from expressing themselves through dance and from continuing to inspire us.

This edition is about learning from women. The way they approach African Street Dance, the way they move, the way they listen to the music, the way they groove. We believe the standard we all move by in this industry is unconsciously dictated by men, because of the way our society is structured. So this edition is about experiencing the women’s way. Not that there is one way women move, but there are nuances that get lost when we only focus on strength and power. Those are good qualities for everyone to have, but there is more to movement than those two. If you want to discover and understand why and how women move, don’t miss out.

This edition is dedicated to the powerful divine feminine energy.

We will also use this occasion to pay homage to the women in African history who stood tall and inspired generations, and who are too often left out of the story.

• Miriam MakebaWho sang against apartheid and paid for it with thirty years of exile.
• Ama Ata AidooWho put African women at the centre of our literature when almost nobody else was writing them.
• Funmilayo Ransome-KutiWho organised the market women of Abeokuta and brought down a king backed by the colonial power.
• Wangari MaathaiWho planted trees across Kenya and was beaten and jailed for it long before the world handed her a Nobel Prize.

Join us this December for a special edition where we can all celebrate our mothers, sisters, aunties and friends.

And if you are a man, don’t feel some type of way. This event is for you too. Come experience a different energy and celebrate the women with us.