Category Archives: Reports

Read up on how a particular event has gone.

Adelaide Airport Flashmob Dance

Adelaide Airport Flashmob Dance

Adelaide Airport Flashmob DanceA 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?)

Spies spotted in Adelaide!

Last night, the Adelaide Flashmob visited Rundle Mall for a bit of covert spy action. The event called for the most elementary form of espionage camouflage – a simple newspaper. Take note, Burn Notice writers. With plenty of people in Rundle Mall, staying incognito was a little trickier than we had expected…

Instructions for the event can be seen at: Newspaper Mama – 11th February, 2011. More photos and comments can be found over at our Facebook Page.

Cheers to the City Messenger and 44 Adelaide for coming out and grabbing footage of the event!

Who Needs Pants? No Pants Tram Ride 2011

Superman, Sponge Bob, Astro Boy and Indiana Jones all made an apperance today at today’s No Pants Ride 2011. The Adelaide Flashmob were part of the first group of cities to take part in the global No Pants Subway Ride event run by Improv Everywhere. This annual event sees thousands of people worldwide on different forms of public transport taking of their pants and feeling the breeze! Thankfully, here in Adelaide the sun was out – a perfect day for a tram ride without pants.

At 12pm, the flashmobbers met up at Hindmarsh Square to run through the how things were going to work and to split into teams. After waiting for a few of the latecomers, we made our way to the Pirie STreet tram station for the first tram. Each of the teams were assigned a tram stop where they would get off, take their pants of and wait for the next tram. Communuters on the second tram watched on as more and more people entered the tram doors, without pants on. Continue reading

Burst Into Awesome!

Adelaide Flashmob: Burst Into Song and DanceWind and rain couldn’t keep us away from today’s Burst Into Song and Dance event.

For weeks, a core team of performers (headed up by the dangerous duo, Nicole and Dirk) have been practicing their roles for the Adelaide Flashmob’s own rendition of “Little Town” from the Disney classic, Beauty and the Beast. Today, their hard work paid off as they were joined by a small band of extra flashmobbers for a brilliant performance that would draw in huge crowd of Christmas shoppers at Rundle Mall.

At 2:30pm, a lone singer stood in the Gawler Place canopy to sing a chorus of “Oh Holy Night.” Just as she hit her high note, she was rudely interrupted by the over-head speakers playing a completely different song.

As the song played, a young lady in a blue dress stepped out from the hustle and bustle of Sunday Christmas shoppers and launched into “Little Town.” As the song progressed, more and more of the ‘shoppers’ joined in with their parts until the single singer was joined by a full chorus line of singers and dancers! Everyone played their parts perfectly. Even the people who had only learnt the song two hours earlier, were spot on (for many of them, it was their first flashmob!).

As suddenly as the performance started, it ended.

The music ended, the flashmobbers dispersed, and the Sunday shoppers were once again entertained by the antics of the Adelaide Flashmob.

Adelaide, you’ve been RICKROLL’D!

Adelaide Flashmob: Rickroll

We’re no strangers to love… well at least we know that a whole lot of people in Rundle Mall are no strangers to it today – a bit of love from the Adelaide Flashmob. Today, Hindmarsh Square began teeming with life as people came together to receive the final instructions for what would be a brilliant event.

The idea behind today’s event was to take the ‘rickroll’ meme and translate it into a live-action experience. This meant setting up situations where people would be interacting with one of the flashmobbers and being surprised by a group of people suddenly singing Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” and then quickly dispersing.

After a quick briefing and rehearsal, the Adelaide Flashmob split up and made their way to their first location – the Rundle Mall Canopy.

Rick Astley, the statue busker
Brave Barnaby was up first.  His role as a ‘statue’ busker was perfectly performed with his very own milk crate, Rick Astley costume and a pair of fluffy dice. A sign reading “roll the dice for a surprise” hung around his neck, and it drew a bit of attention quite quickly. A soon as someone rolled the dice, Barnaby launched into song, and was then joined by the rest of the flashmob. The reactions were priceless, and Barnaby’s performance was spot on – even when he was being assaulted by a blow up doll.

Rick Astley, the self-photographer
The next few activities involved flashmobbers Heidi and Leticha, then Chris and Dan asking people to take photos of them with iconic Rundle Mall sculptures. The trick here was that just as the people lined up to take their photo, the flashmobbers would burst into song!

Rick Astley, the cassanova
Due to the number of flashmobbers, we decided that going into shops would have been difficult – one for safety, and two because it would have boosted the number of people in the shop too much to be inconspicuous. Luckily, we had a plan b… as in b for Ben, the cassanova. Dressed sharply in a suit, Ben offered people down the Mall a tulip and asked if he could sing them a song. Plan B seemed great, but started off badly. The first few ladies he approached all rejected his tulip, and his song. So, he had to change tactic… and the first guy he approached loved it. From there we serenaded a few more people, and finally sang for the great staff at Cibo, Rundle Mall.

Special thanks goes out to Barnaby (and his huge effort with the $9 trenchie), Heidi and Leticha, Chris and Daniel, and of course, all the people who were sung to or cheered at the end of the songs. It was a fantastic afternoon out and I’m sure an event even Rick Astley would be proud of!

Quest for Jackie Chan – what a day!

Adelaide Flashmob

Quest for Jackie Chan Adelaide Flashmob

Wow, what can I say? It was a great turn out for today’s Quest for Jackie Chan flashmob. This flashmob took some of our tried and true favourites and added a Jackie Chan theme. Everyone came dressed in blue jeans and a black top to pay homage to the great Rumble in the Bronx, and the costumes were completed with our very own Jackie Chan face mask.
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Adelaide Flashmob #18

FLASHMOB #18 HAS BEEN POSTPONED DUE TO BAD WEATHER.
Stay tuned for further dates!

Adelaide Flasmob #18 will be held on Friday, 18th of June:

START TIME WILL BE 6:15PM
If you’d like to help, send Ben Teoh a message. Helpers will be needed for:
– Screaming group of girls
– Chicken feeder
You will need the following for the activities:
ACTIVITY 1: MEET UP
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TIME: 6:15pm
LOCATION: Hindmarsh Square opposite the RAA (south-west corner)
Yeah, not much of an ‘activity’ as such, but it will be important that we all know what’s going on and coordinate ourselves for the other activities.
ACTIVITY 2: SNAPPARAZZI
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LOCATION: Pigs, Gawler Place Canopy, Mall’s Balls
EXAMPLE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGrZzrh17hY
WHO TO LOOK FOR: a screaming bunch of girls
Disperse loosley around the pigs. A group of girls will run up to a Target screaming like they’ve seen [insert your favourite celebrity here] and asking them for autographs. Everyone else is to then rush in with cameras blazing. After about 10 or so seconds, let the person pass through the mob and disperse, heading to the next locations (Gawler Place canopy and then Mall’s Balls). Hopefully we’ll get some great photos, but also cause a bit of a scene!
ACTIVITY 3: DUCK!
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LOCATION: Charles Street side street (go down Charles Street and we’ll group up down the little side street that’s off Charles Street)
EXAMPLE: Watch from 1:30 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uiC9emBoAQ
We will gather at the side street, and as a group, we will gradually swap a Target. Once we’re all around the person, Ben will shout ‘look out’ and we will all drop to the ground IMMEDIATELY. Count to 5, then get up and disperse in all directions like nothing happened. Head back to the side street to start again. We will do this a number of times. We’ll decide to keep going or not back at the side street.
ACTIVITY 4: CHICKEN?
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LOCATION: Front of Harris Scarfe’s
EXAMPLE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3getP2Gu0A
Someone will come along and start throwing bread on the ground saying ‘here chicky chick!’ after they’ve put a good number of handfuls, swarm in, clucking like chickens. Make plenty of noise, cluck at each other. A whistle will sound and everyone is to stop being a chicken and disperse quietly, heading off to City Cross for food!

Adelaide Flashmob #17

Thanks again for everyone who came out for AFM #17. What a great time! It’s been about 6 months since our last one, and I’m glad that everyone was still really into it. Thanks especially to Bryn, Leticha and Ben who all helped to lead different aspects of the mob. We couldn’t have done it without you! Continue reading