The Rise & Fall of Flash Mobs

Photo: Md Rakibul Hasan

Over the last couple of months, the term “flash mob” has seen a massive popularity amongst the youngsters of our nation, due to the dances organised at different educational institutions over the country to promote the ICC T20 World Cup 2014 in Bangladesh. This flash mob frenzy in Bangladesh has been subjected to ridicule and criticism though. Before getting into the details of the apparent resentment, let's rewind a bit.
The first flash mob in Dhaka that had gained quite a bit of popularity was organised back in September 2012 by The Project, near Karwan Bazar. Now, that was a proper flash mob. Pedestrians were taken aback by the spontaneous dancing of a bunch of youngsters. They gathered, they danced, they dispersed, without any apparent reason. It was much like the subway flash mob we saw during the opening credits of “Step Up 2”, less the public nuisance.
Fast forward to March 2014, a week or two before the ICC T20 World Cup. I walk into my university, and catch a word around that there will be flash mob. And how did everybody know if there would be a flash mob? Because there were quite a few professional cameras set at different positions, and big speakers were being connected. It doesn't take a genius to add 2 and 2, and within minutes, the entire place was surrounded by excited spectators. We stood there for about an hour, watched two rehearsals, and then the final flash mob occurred to the World Cup theme song, “Char Chhokka Hoi Hoi”. The dance itself was very good, and we did enjoy watching it. But by then, we all were wondering if it could really be called a “flash mob” if everyone knew about it beforehand.
At first I thought it was just one flash mob at just one university. Boy was I wrong. Within a few days the flash mob virus had gotten around, and every other university had started organising one, be it a private or a public university, either on campus or on the street. It even seeped into schools and tuition centres. These were promotional activities by Grey Dhaka for the T20 World Cup. One after the other the flash mobs were being held all around the country and our newsfeeds were flooded with YouTube links to the videos, as it was announced that the one with the most views would be played at the stadium during the tournament. I'll be honest: some of those flash mobs -- if I may still call them so -- staged some expert moves, while others put the entire idea to shame.
But that isn't why the initiative was ridiculed. The masses complained about the poor editing of the videos and the overall unsynchronised dancing. See, when we realised that the fad was not of a small scale, our expectations shot high, but the delivery didn't live up to those. As Bangladeshi students living abroad started holding these flash mobs, the said ridicule mitigated a bit, since those were well organised and edited. Yet, some compared these technically inadequate flash mobs with a surprise birthday party where you invite the guests to surprise you. The element of surprise was no longer there, whereas that is what a flash mob should have.
Flash mobs, for the time being, have seen a downfall -- inasmuch that a recent video made by The Project was labelled as a flash mob by some ignorant viewers. Whether or not this inappropriate image of flash mobs will be corrected by any dance troupe in the near future, only time can tell. Meanwhile, let's hope for the best and you may head over to www.hellodhaka.net/t20-bangladesh-flashmob and check whether your institution made the top list.