Flashmob-wise the event was a big let-down, but maybe my expectations were too high having seen examples of other flashmobs posted on the Internet. I’m no expert, but rule one of a flashmob appears to be that the dancers should be spread out as far as possible and interspersed amongst the public. The public will move aside when they realise what is happening and the group can then make use of the maximum space available. In this case the dance began with a few people (some wearing bright red Thriller at the Hippodrome t-shirts, duh) dancing to a Michael Jackson mash-up and this attracted a large crowd which instantly killed the spontaneity of the flashmob and blocked most passers-by's view of the action. Consequently when the opening bars of Thiller fired up and the other dancers joined the group (NB special thanks to the music guy for being very helpful) the dance space was confined to a very small area and it was impossible to see anything from - what we thought was - a pretty good vantage point. I was balanced on a high wall right opposite and could barely make out the dancers (see my attempt to record the dance below). Shoppers were passing by seemingly unaware of and uninterested in the small group of people putting on a contained and far from spontaneous
Had I been unaware that the flashmob was taking place, I would have guessed that this was a group of kids from a local school who were putting on a show to entertain the Saturday shoppers. But I suppose that’s no bad thing. Although we didn’t see much of the dancing itself, it was a stroke of genius to involve the public in order to promote the Michael Jackson LIVE musical at the Birmingham Hippodrome in April. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, there were plenty of grinning faces around Birmingham afterwards and it’s *always* great to have a boogie to MJ on a warm, sunny afternoon…
Shamone muthafreaker!
Couldn't resist doing this (sorry...)
(Birmingham should have taken its cue from Stockholm. Now *this* is a flash mob....)
