By Brooke Gemina
Dance Appreciation students joined dance professor Rick Crawford Tuesday afternoon in a flash mob performance in front of the S2 Recital Hall.
The 4th Annual Flash Mob performance was set to the song “Can’t Stop the Feeling” by Justin Timberlake. Last year, participants danced to “Can’t Stop the Beat” from the musical “Hairspray.”
At the end of the performance, students gathered around and sang “Happy Birthday” to Crawford and presented him with Pan de Muerto.
Crawford and his teacher’s assistant, Ashley Curiel, headed a group of 30 students in this year’s performance.
Thrill the World, an annual international dance aimed to set world records with higher concentrations of people performing, occurs anytime between Oct. 23 to Oct. 29.
“I wanted to bring something like that to happen here,” Crawford said.
During the first two years of the flash mob dance, they performed to the song “Thriller” by Michael Jackson, which was during the same time the Thrill the World events happened.
However, the last two years Crawford changed plans.
The annual flash mob dances are supposed to be line dances, Crawford explained, an easy dance that anybody could learn and perform.
Crawford extended the offer to all faculty, students and community members.
Last year, roughly 70 people participated in the flash mob dance, according to Crawford.
He was unsure though on reasons why this year only had 30 participants.
“I always hold it during college hour, so students aren’t in classes. Most people are in meetings,” Crawford explained.
There are no particular themes for the event. Crawford just selects a song or dance and they use that.
“I’ve already decided for next year. We’re going to perform ‘What a Feeling’ from the movie ‘Flash Dance,’”Crawford said. “So I hope everybody comes dressed in ‘80s cutoffs and ‘80s hair.”
Many of the participants were Crawford’s students. Part of the dance department’s learning outcome aims to give students a vast dance experience.
“I think it gives students a broader sense of what it’s like to be on stage before next month, where they have to go watch our more professional dancers, the Let’s Dance Company, perform in the recital hall. They have to write dance critiques,” Crawford said.
”They can be more empathetic to how hard it was to mount the show.”
Participation in the flash mob dance recital is not a requirement for students. Flash mobs are typically spontaneous and fast, which is very different from the annual planned flash mob dance.
“We still have the element of surprise for people in the courtyard who were not involved and had no idea what the heck we were doing,” Crawford said.
