High school students in Vantaa get the right to perform the legendary 80’s hit movie – Flashdance is now seen on stage in Finland for the first time

The Flashdance musical is now being performed for the first time in Finland at Vantaa’s Kulturitalo Martinus. Vantaa’s Vaskivuori High School has become one of Finland’s leading centres for musicals.

The Flashdance musical, premiering in Finland today, will bring 60 high school students to the stage.

The story of the musical, performed by young people, is familiar from the 1980s hit film. It is full of dreams, courage, friendship and love.

Marla Viljanen as a dancer in the Flashdance musical.
Marla Viljanen is one of the dancers in the musical.
Seela Kimpimäki, \
Seela Kimpimäki prepares for the performance.

Kimpimäki is in the dance department at high school. Her skills come through beautifully in the performance. In the musical, Kimpimäki plays a young woman who dreams of becoming a dancer.

– Adrenaline carries through the show surprisingly well. And he absorbs energy from the audience and then manages to stretch all the movements to the end, says Kimpimäki.

Seela Kimpimäki \
The Flashdance musical features several big crowd scenes with dancing and singing. The audience gets to sing and dance along.
Lina Carlsson (left) and Milja-Maaria Kapanen in the dress rehearsal of the Flashdance musical.
The clothes and make-up in the musical are straight out of a 1980s film. Lina Carlsson (left) and Milja-Maaria Kapanen are having fun on stage.

Vaskivuori is a mecca for musicals

Vaskivuori High School’s music and dance students have been making musicals since the mid-1990s. There are always mature professionals in the background who help young people shine.

Heta Laakso \
The Flashdance musical also features a lot of solo singing. Heta Laakso (left) plays Hanna Long, a retired ballerina who acts as a mentor to the main character (Seela Kimpimäki).
Dancers from the musical Flashdance.
The performance includes ballet, dance and singing.

According to Gardiner, Vaskivuori has developed over the years as the center of Finnish musicals. According to him, this can be seen, among other things, in the fact that the school was the first in Finland to get the rights to perform Flashdance.

It’s not all about the little money. 16,000 euros had to be paid for the right to perform the musical. It is covered by box office revenue and school money.

– This is a labor victory, that we get to do such a world-class show in Finland for the first time. Better and better musicals have been made here all the time. It can be seen here that the Flashdance musical was also translated into Finnish especially for us, says Gardiner.

Seela Kimpimäki, \
The Flashdance musical was specially adapted for the students of Vaskivuori High School.

*You can discuss the topic until 23:00 on Friday, January 13.*