04 July 2012

FLASHMOB FEVER


Our world is changing so quickly ~ connectivity and the Internet provide cross-pollination of ideas at a pace orders of magnitude more quickly than was true only a few decades ago.  And language is changing with the times.

Case in point ~ in 2003 the first flashmob happened.  A flashmob is "a group of people who assemble suddenly in a place, perform an unusual and seemingly pointless act for a brief time, then disperse, often for the purposes of entertainment, satire, and artistic expression."

Though apparently spontaneous to the audience, the best flashmobs are well-planned and rehearsed, choreographed down to the second, yet seemingly effortless.  They may be performed by dancers, musicians, mimes, actors, or artists.  The venue might be a city street, a subway car, a park, or inside a building.  Here is a perfect example ~ members of the Valles Symphony Orchestra in Sabadell, Spain appeaar by ones and twos from hiding to join the solo string bassist (see image above) in a crowded plaza.  Their rendition of Beethoven's 'Ode to Joy' at first brings silence, then smiles, then enthusiastic participation from the rapt audience.  And here is another ~ members of the Copenhagen Philharmonic magically producing their instruments in a metro car to lay a melody from Grieg's Peer Gynt suite.

A finer time you will not find today.

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