May 14, 2009

For a smile - T-Mobile & Flash Mobs: Dancing and Singing in the UK

T-Mobile: Dancing at the Liverpool Street Station

This viral ad from T-Mobile gives a glimpse of how music in a public space, a small crowd of dancers, and YouTube, can bring a smile to over 11,771,896 viewers. (My guess is that many of video's views were repeat views, because I immediately pressed "replay" after the first go-round.)



Apparently a real flash mob congregated at the Liverpool Station a month after the T-Mobile ad was filmed:
Flash mob mimicks T Mobile advert - and closes train station

I guess this concept has been spreading in the UK. The following video was taken in Trafalgar Square, with 13,000 people singing karaoke:

 

The flash-mob dancing and singing in public places brought back a memory of a video clip I came across a few years ago of a "faux" dance happening at a mall during the late 1990's. The video was set to Fat Boy Slim's "Praise You".
It turns out that Spike Jonze, the man behind the upcoming film of Maurice Sendak's story Where the Wild Things Are, was involve in the creation of the video.
 

Enjoy!




RELATED:
Spike Jonze Unmasked

Arizona State University's ArtsWork Arts Education Center Website: 

Interactive Gateway: Dance, an 8-unit curriculum for high school students that explore the art and culture of the 1960's.

"Students will improvise and choreograph dances structured by chance methods, sports, games, political issues, surroundings, everyday gestures and the manipulation of objects. Through these investigations students realize that in the 1960’s, dance was redefined to include everyday people, everyday movement, indeterminacy, and alternative spaces"

Lesson 7. Anytime, Anywhere, Anything
Unit of Study: Interactive Gateway
Theme: Redefining Dance As Happening Anytime, Anywhere, Including Any Movement
Sub theme: Happenings
Grades: 9-12th grade


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