Flash mobs occur often on smaller scales or large scales for different reasons or motives like advertising, performance arts, celebrations, tributes, and more; but some in history made their mark.
A flash mob is when a group of people will be in a public area and suddenly break out into a surprise performance that has been choreographed.
It brings an element of surprise and draws the attention of many, which is why it’s a common form of performance for many different causes. Here are some of the top flash mobs of all time that made their mark.
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Philippines Prison
1500 inmates in a Philippines prison in Cebu gathered together to perform a flash mob dance that was choreographed to a Michael Jackson hit song. It became a tourist attraction and tourists would even come to watch while they were doing this. This occurrence even inspired a movie based off of this idea and event called “Dance Of The Steel Bars”.
Grand Central Station
In Grand Central Station in New York, approximately 200 people took part in a flash mob spin-off that involved all of the people in the station suddenly freezing in place in the middle of their actions. It was filmed for YouTube and has gotten over 20 million views since its upload date. This was a less traditional version but still caught the eyes of many and was quite fun.
Antwerp, Belgium
One day in Belgium, a group of 200 people broke out into song and dance based on a song from The Sound Of Music. This was planned as an advertisement for a T.V. show in Belgium that involved auditioning for roles in The Sound Of Music, and it caught the attention of many during its actual performance as well as when it was made into an ad for the show.
Black-Eyed Peas
Oprah took on the special guests the Black-Eyed Peas for a performance which was amazing and jaw-dropping as it is. However, towards the end, the band surprised Oprah and her viewers, even more, when the audience got up and performed a choreographed routine along to them playing “I Gotta Feeling”.
Ohio State University
On a day in May of 2010, many people in Ohio State University-including students, teachers, and staff-performed a flash mob along to “Don’t Stop Believing”. This one followed the traditional approach when one person starts dancing and more join in. The performance was uploaded to YouTube where it has gotten 6 million views.
Cidade Do Mexico
This flash-mob has a special place for many reasons. It was given the Guinness World Record for the largest flash mob since almost 14 thousand people participated in this event. This performance was to the song Thriller and has achieved a great deal in becoming a record holder as well as having many views on YouTube and other platforms.
Many different flash mob performances have occurred throughout time all over the globe for many reasons, but these and others truly made a strong appearance in history and made their mark on people that saw them. It’s interesting and fun to watch a flash mob occur or think back on these events in history and how effective they were for their purpose.
Now, many different strategies are also used for performances to make their mark on who sees them and gain a large audience. But flash mobs will always be a top contender, especially ones like these.