A few months ago we received an email from an Australian soldier who had been serving overseas and hadn’t seen his family for 6 months. He said his wife really likes flashmobs and asked if we could help him organise a surprise flashmob dance for her to coincide with his arrival back in Adelaide. We couldn’t resist the opportunity so we said ‘sure’ and began the planning. We got Emma & Stephanie from The Dance Pad flashmob group and dance studio to help out with the choreography and teach it to our mobbers. A few rehearsals and numerous hours of home practice later brought us to the day of the event; Friday August 3rd.
Had I realised the logistics of organising a flashmob in an airport to coincide with someone’s arrival would be so tricky, I may never have agreed to do it. The flight had originally been planned for the evening but then we found out a week before that it was going to be smack bam in the middle of the day, making it difficult for some people, with work, school and uni commitments, to attend. The day of the event I felt like a spy executing a covert operation. I was in secret contact with a member of the family who was feeding me updates about the locations of our arriving home soldier and waiting wife. We learned that 1:15… then 1:20 would be the time of arrival, but how long would they be in customs? I didn’t want to miss him so I had everyone in place at 1:15. What followed was an excruciating 45 minutes wait but finally, the waiting family’s faces lit up and we knew he had arrived. I gave the signal, started the music and we quickly assembled… but the music was too soft… I quickly readjusted and away we went.
Check out the videos below for the final product. A big thanks to Emma & Stephanie from The Dance Pad, the Adelaide Airport staff, Heidi for the music, Wendy and Gail for filming and, of course, all of our great mobbers for coming out to be a part of this event.
If you want to get involved in our future events, join us on Facebook or join our Mailing List (Song & Dance Flashmob Only List Here).
(who’s the guy in blue who seems to have forgotten his moves?)