By givinguponperfect | Leave A Comment
You may think that flash mobs are a relatively new phenomenon, but think back to your favorite musical. Perhaps West Side Story, The Sound of Music, Oklahoma or The Music Man? People just randomly burst into song and dance in those stories! But who can deny that seeing a seemingly spontaneous (yet beautifully choreographed and/or harmonized) performance break out on stage or on the screen pales in comparison to seeing it happen in person?
The term “flash mob” wasn’t coined until 2003, according to the all-knowing Wikipedia, and in many cases started as political or promotional events. But the musical flash mob (as opposed to something like International Pillow Fight Day) has really become popular in the past few years.
[I would like to point out, however, that some of my favorite movies from the 80s and 90s had flash mobs of their own. Remember the African Anteater scene in Can't Buy Me Love? Or the group singalong in My Best Friend's Wedding?]
As so many things do, the musical flash mob seems to have really taken off after an appearance on Oprah. Thanks to the Black-Eyed Peas and a gajillion people in Chicago, this flash mob moved Oprah – and her zillions of viewers – to tears in 2009.
Since then, we’ve seen several flash mobs promoting Glee (from this one at The Ohio State University to this one all the way in Rome!), as well as Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution. A flash mob even showed up in an episode of Modern Family, giving us the best flash mob quote EVER: “You cheated on me with choreography, and that is the worst kind.”
But my all-time favorite flash mob has to be the one that I participated in last month. Ever since seeing the Ohio State performance, I’ve been dreaming of seeing a flash mob in person. And to be in one? Well, I hardly dared dream that it was possible. But thanks to Blissdom some crazy, like-minded (or like-dreaming?) blog friends, and the magic of social media, I joined 90 people in Nashville to surprise the ladies who organized the 2011 Blissdom Conference.
If you can’t see the video, click here. This is one of my favorite versions, and it was filmed by @carriefweir and edited by @notodoyago.
As Jamie Oliver said about his own flash mob: “It felt brilliant – BRILLIANT! – to do it . . . It was the coolest thing I’ve ever done.” I couldn’t say it any better.
Photo of the amazing Blissdom flash mob choreographer Jana by Rachel, A Southern Fairytale.
Have you ever been in a flash mob or seen one in person? And – just for fun – what’s your favorite musical?
ABOUT givinguponperfect
My name is Mary, and I live in Kansas City. I’m married to my high school sweetheart (cue the “a{read more}
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Oh my goodness – so completely amazing. I LOVED being part of the flashmob at BlissDom. Thanks for posting this reminder of how much awesome it was.
Maybe it’s the preggo hormones but everytime I see this video I get tears in my eyes. THIS is blogging.
It was amazing to be a part of, and something that continues to inspire and encourage me. Being a part of something creative, bringing joy to the dancers as well as the audience and the creators of the conference, doing something epic with my friends, it really was just brilliant. Thanks for doing some background and reminding me again today how it felt to be a part of the awesome.
I LOVED being a part of this… But it was not my first flash mob. Last summer I was part of a flashmob snowball fight when our small town closed down the street for a street dance. The flash-mobbers made yarn “snowballs” (no wadded up paper – ti HURTS)…. the leader blew a whistle, we thre for 1 minute. The whistle blew again, we picked up our snowballs and faded back into the summer evening. It was with lots of kids for the local kids theatre group. It was fun to watch them have so much fun too
Most. Fun. Ever. Any time I need a little pick-me-up, I fire up our little arsenal of blissdom flashmob videos on YouTube!
Thanks for this post!