Monday, January 31, 2011

Flash Mob Orlando - Mall at Millenia 1.29.10

This past weekend I participated in a flash mob that took place at the Mall at Millenia to promote tourism.  What is a flash mob you ask.....well here is a quick breakdown thanks to Wikipedia: 

A flash mob (or flashmob) is a group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual and pointless act for a brief time, then disperse. Flash mobs are organized via telecommunications, social media, or viral emails.

This was actually my 2nd flash mob to participate in. The 1st took place last April in the form of a pillow fight. An invite went out on FB to show up at a certain place at a certain time on a certain day with your favorite pillow in hand.  At first I was a little skeptical about it but a group of us decided to go and I am so glad we did. For four minutes a group of complete strangers pounded the crap out of each other in one massive pillow fight.  You saw people of all ages and pillows of all shapes, sizes and colors.  Rumor is another one will be taking place this year again for International Pillow Fight Day and you better believe I will be there!


Anyway back to this past weekends flash mob :) What a blast this was! Now I will warn you that you have to be committed if you want to be a part of one of these events as they involve practice beforehand and you being able to keep a secret.  This particular flash mob had 2 parts to it...one where you participated in the big dance routine and one where you participated in the umbrella routine. I opted to take part in the umbrella portion which involved me bringing a brightly colored umbrella riding up and down an escalator twirling said umbrella.  To take part in any part of the flash mob you had to show up to at least one of the 3 practice sessions held but you were encouraged to definitely show up for the final rehearsal at the actual location taking place the night before the event. 


Friday night rehearsal last 2 hours as we had to make sure we had everything perfect for the next day.  Let me just say umbrella twirling is not as easy it looks. lol! First you have to make sure you open your umbrella at the exact moment you step on the escalator making sure you don't trip getting on the escalator.  Then while riding up the escalator you have to constantly spin the umbrella while making sure to not hit the person in front of you or behind you which can be quite tricky.  Then you have to pay attention to when you are reaching the end of the escalator as to not trip and fall while still twirling your umbrella around.  It gets tiring keeping an umbrella constantly twirling!!


All of that practice and tiredness paid off though when the actual flash mob took place on Saturday at 2pm at the Mall at Millenia.  To see it all come together and how excited the people at the mall were to watch what we had done was amazing.  I will admit I was a little nervous right before it all started.  What if I couldn't get my umbrella to open, what if I dropped the umbrella going up the escalator, what if I tripped but once that music came on and we started up that escalator nervousness turned into a rush of excitement.  If you have never participated in a flash mob before I highly recommend it.  It's something you will remember forever.  Below is the official video from our flash mob.  Fingers crossed it goes crazy viral....in just one day we have had almost 30,000 views. Woo hoo!!


(look for me at 3:50 - pink shirt with the purple umbrella)

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