Summer Fun in the City: Flash Mob Dance

Wednesday 6 January 2010, 7.56 PM
By The Team | Posted in Events

See it, believe it: Pics from the day. Check out the official video on YouTube.

Emu walks. Barrels of monkey. Jar twists. Thriller arms. Just some of the moves busted en masse at the amazing flash mob dance staged in the Bourke Street Mall today.

Rubbernecking, stickybeaking and lookylouing were the most common moves among surprised shoppers who at first thought they were just hanging out in the mall and enjoying a free swing dancing performance.

But as the ‘innocent bystanders’ around them surged forward and, in unison, launched into some awesome African dance moves, it became clear that this was indeed one of ‘those flash dance mob things you see on the internet’.

If some of the dance moves looked familiar, they should. Many were based on famous dance sequences from movies such as Slumdog Millionaire and Saturday Night Fever, as well as Michael Jackson’s Thriller music video.

Professional choreographer and contemporary dancer, Stephanie Lake, created the dance drawing from these sources and more.

‘I wanted to make something really joyous and surprising. The brief was very specific, with the music and dance styles selected from within the Summer Fun in the City event program.

I used classic moves from the chosen styles – finger pointing for disco, claws for Thriller, Bollywood head and so on – and also tried to throw my own flavours into the mix,’ she said.

Stephanie designed the dance so that even those with no dance experience could join in.

‘I had to try and think what it might feel like to do the moves if I hadn’t done any dance before. Not easy when you’ve had 11 years professional experience – but trying things out on mum and my partner helped!’

This flash mob dance marked the launch of Summer Fun in the City the City of Melbourne’s annual program of free events in city parks and public spaces.

Events on offer include many more opportunities for public displays of joy and merriment, including opportunities to swing (and maybe fling) your partner around in the park, belting out a few 80s classics in Queensbridge Square and even flying the trapeze in the City Square.

But for the Summer Fun in the City flash mobbers and mobettes, the dance was an event in itself, with that amazing choreography to learn, four secret group rehearsals and hours of home practice in preparation for the big day.

‘My sister signed me up and then bailed on it, but I stuck it out and so glad I did. A bit of exercise for once was good, and it was heaps of fun.’ said flash mobette Camille.

‘The smiles’ were the highlight for flash mobber David. ‘Everyone really got into it. You could say it was cheesy or whatever, but it’s great, it was so much fun’

Dance student David has some dance experience, but when it came to learning the steps, even he said, ‘It was actually quite hard!’

Dance choreographer Stephanie Lake was impressed by the dedication shown by the dancers.

‘I didn’t expect people to put in many hours of practise at all given the silly season. I think there may have been a bit of dancing round the Christmas tree for a few families. So much work for just five minutes of glory!’

And yes, folks, it was worth it. The dancers were awesome, the crowd (and quite a large crowd at that) was amazed and everyone left with smiles on their faces.

Melbourne, we salute you!

If you missed out on the flash mob event, or you participated and you’re now missing your regular dance practices, remember that Summer Fun in the City includes some fantastic and free dance events.

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