Vienna Branch’s International Day of Dance Flashmob!

International Dance Day seemed an ideal opportunity to get some publicity – but the suggestions provided in the RSCDS information didn’t include anything that could catch the attention of a public whose language is not English. One sleepless night I hit on the idea of a flashmob and decided that Dashing White Sergeant would be the ideal dance, as it could pick up more dancers at each repeat. I found a video on YouTube of a flashmob doing the dance outside St Giles cathedral in Edinburgh – and decided that we could do better! 
 
The Branch committee supported the project but we weren’t sure whether to do it on the actual day or at the previous weekend; a quick survey of our dancers indicated that we would only get enough people after work on the Wednesday night. It was easy enough to introduce the dance at our monthly ceilidh nights and also use it as a warm-up at the weekly class. 
 
Our ceilidh musicians were very enthusiastic and agreed to look out for a suitable venue – it had to be somewhere with enough public footfall but no restrictions on busking, as we planned that the musicians would play for a short time before the flashmob took place. We ruled out the main tourist areas and decided on a space beside the Museums Quartier, at the foot of Mariahilferstraße (a major shopping street) which frequently hosts demonstrations. 
 
To provide the surprise element, a small team of dancers in costume would be led up some steps by pipers and appear where the musicians were playing. One of the people who comes to our classes has a son who plays with the Vienna Pipes & Drums, so he and a pal agreed to take part. I arranged that the dancers could change into costume and leave their belongings in an establishment at the foot of the steps – on the condition that we had a drink there! This was ideal, as I wanted people to socialise afterwards. 
 
At the ceilidh night on the Friday before the flashmob happened I recruited a few folk who hadn’t already committed to it. There was a brief rehearsal attended by the musicians at our class on the following Monday night. The Wednesday arrived and we had 21 volunteers – and another musician had joined the band. Sadly, the weather had turned colder, making it unpleasant for the musicians and reducing the number of people on the street. The flashmob took place at 7pm and was even better than we planned: the pipers played another short set when the dance was finished… then the dance was repeated at the request of people in the crowd! Sixteen of us returned to Aux Gazelles for a well-earned drink and among the chatter someone suggested we should repeat this another year… 
 
Oh… and the publicity? We designed and home-printed a double-sided flyer with info in German and English that had a QR code leading to the Branch website… and we gave away all 50 of them!