Schools find flash mobs a spirit-building tool |
On Board Online • November 25, 2013
By Cathy Woodruff
Senior writer
On a sunny Saturday in late September, high school senior Julia VanBuren trained a video camera on the Delaware Academy at Delhi football field to capture a unique halftime show.
Near the 50-yard line, Superintendent Jason Thomson, two teachers and a local dance instructor launched into a series of dance moves as the opening bars of Katy Perry’s hit power ballad “Roar” sounded through the speaker system. Within a few seconds, hundreds of students streamed onto the field from the end zones to join them, stomping their feet, clapping, hopping and swaying in synchronized movement.
“My hand was shaking,” Van Buren recalled. “It was really kind of empowering to see that many people together.”
It was a flash mob. The participants included staff and students, not just from Delaware Academy but also from the school’s longtime football rival, Walton Central School District. Together, the two school districts were using dance and music to take a symbolic stand against bullying.
The lyrics of Perry’s song seemed made-to-order for their message: “I sat quietly, agreed politely. I guess I forgot I had a choice….”
With that halftime event, Delaware Academy and Walton became two of the latest school communities to discover how effective a flash mob can be for boosting morale and breaking down barriers. Faculty members initiated flash mobs to delight their students in at least two other New York districts, Greece and East Syracuse Minoa, in recent years.
Spectators who saw the performance in Delhi say many had tears in their eyes.
“It was an awesome event,” said Delaware Academy Board President Tom Flanders, a dentist who watched the show with his wife after being tipped off by patients that he shouldn’t miss the game. “We were just so proud that we were there to witness it and to be a part of it – and that our neighboring district was involved, too. How great was that?”
Two months later, Flanders said the show of solidarity against bullying at a high school football game feels even more meaningful in light of revelations of alleged bullying in the National Football League. “It’s just everywhere, and we need to stop it in our schools to start with,” he said.
“It was just amazing,” Laura Gioffe, whose two daughters, ages 13 and 8, were part of the flash mob, said of the Delhi performance. “The crowd was very, very touched. I think the main thing that blew people away was the number of people who participated.”
Superintendent Thomson said he, too, was stunned by what he felt as the throngs of students rushed the field and joined in. “It took my breath away,” he said.
About 200 miles away, in the Rochester suburb of Greece, a surprise faculty flash mob ignited a different kind of emotional spark earlier this year. Organizers say the faculty’s antics boosted the spirits of students and staff during a dreary time last March, and they say that the feelings of renewed collegiality, appreciation and respect have lingered.
Greece Arcadia High School Principal Lesley Flick laughed as she described the reaction to her entrance in the gymnasium. She donned a pair of big, white Mickey Mouse-costume hands and, like a traffic cop, ordered teachers to stop. Then she windmilled her arms and galloped with the group as it formed a large, rotating circle. More than 60 faculty and staff members joined the fray.
A video of the performance shows students doubled over with laughter. Their eyes widened and their hands flew to their mouths as the eclectic crew of teachers and staff bounced and wiggled through a whimsical four-song medley that began with Psy’s “Gangnam Style” and featured a rendition of Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” by a short chorus line of male faculty members.
“The adults put themselves out there and took a risk … to stand up in front of 1,000 students and perform to the best of our ability,” said Flick. Yet, “there was never a mean-spirited moment. It gave the students a chance to see us in a different light.”
Flick said practicing together and pulling off the flash mob surprise at Greece Arcadia also meant a lot for the adults working at the large suburban high school. “I think this was a way for the entire staff to build relationships,” she said. “There were no lines. We were all bad!”
Pine Grove Middle School teachers in the East Syracuse Minoa district organized a flash mob as a light-hearted parting gift to their students on the last day of school in 2011, grooving to the Taio Cruz tune “Dynamite.” They did a smaller performance, using Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way,” in 2012, but they didn’t try again in 2013.
By nature, a successful flash mob may be virtually impossible to repeat, since the appeal is so tightly entwined with a sense of surprise and spontaneity. It’s a one-time-only unique event.
Another hallmark is the sense of “no lines” inclusiveness and connection that the Delhi-Walton and Greece Acadia participants and spectators described.
“This is certainly a way to draw in people who don’t belong to groups and don’t have the social connections that would make them part of an activity otherwise,” said Richard Lachmann, a University at Albany sociology professor whose academic interests include the sociology of popular culture.
“I think it changes the point of view of people who are connecting, too,” he said. “Instead of ‘I don’t know you. Why are you here?’ It’s ‘Wow, this is great. We have another person!’ ”
That more-the-merrier mentality also relieves pressure for perfection, Lachmann noted. “By definition, it isn’t a polished performance. It has a lot more to do with who is involved in it. There’s a trade-off between polish and enthusiasm,” he said.
A classic modern flash mob – the kind that might pop up when dozens of strangers emerge from the crowd at a shopping mall and disperse as soon as the performance ends – can happen with no group practice. But for the Delhi-Walton and Greece Arcadia performances, a few rehearsals added to the experience.
Students from Delaware Academy and Walton held a joint rehearsal using video conferencing, which allowed students from the two sports rivals to see each other on a live video feed projected on the gym wall. Local dance studio owner Raegan Reed choreographed the routine.
The Greece Acadia faculty and staff members preserved the element of surprise by gathering for secret dance classes at a nearby middle school. They also practiced individually at home, using demonstration videos produced by organizers including school counselor Danielle Watters, who has taught dance.
Watters said the faculty flash mob idea came to her after attending a training session focused on family-friendly schools, and she was delighted by the response of faculty and staff members to the suggestion. She said 65 adults joined in, “and they were people who never in my life I would have expected.”
The Delaware Academy flash mob was one element in a larger anti-bullying program that Thomson believes has contributed to a dramatic reduction in disciplinary problems over the last three years. He said the flash mob helped students of all ages from varying backgrounds connect in ways that otherwise would not have been possible, even in such small districts. That is a key element in the anti-bullying ethos.
Participating also called for some courage, Thomson said: “We don’t have a cheerleading squad. We don’t have a dance team. It took everybody out of their comfort zone, myself included.”