On Flashmobs

Mormons are, without a doubt, a peculiar people.  Being one, I find it amusing to observe and take note of particular, seemingly enduring facets of the culture, such as the universal eating of green jello.  (Why you ask?  Jello has a long history, being patented in 1845, gaining its variety of flavor and distinguished name by 1897.  Jello was, and always will be, very cheap, and maintains elements that are useful for maintaining a certain level of nutrition.  Thus for the poor and the thrifty and the creative, it's an easy product to have a lot of.)  But the thing of note for the night is a new cultural habit that is spreading amongst LDS youth at an amazing rate, that will probably stick around for as long as we have malls, courtyards, and electronics.... although likely the last isn't actually all that critical to the phenomena.

Youth of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints LOVE, LOVE, love to dance.  I know it was certainly the highlight of every new month throughout high school for me to go dance, meet new people, and have great fun on the dance floor at these free church sponsored events.  School dances?  Once in a full moon, expensive tickets, and had little variety outside of prom.  In other words, church dances were where I liked to party as a teen.  Bet you don't hear that too often.

But have you heard?  Today's youth have caught the bug for flashmobs.  See below.

One of my favorite dancers is seen a little over two thirds through: the lavender girl on crutches.  Why?  Nothing is getting in the way of enjoying her time that night.  And as later shots reveal, beyond many dance steps, there are jumps and full body waves -- that girl must have had some zeal!  To read about this particular event, you can read the article discussing it here.
Here are some other fine examples of happily peculiar Mormons:





And lastly:

This one makes me grimace on behalf of my inner dancer, whilest I respect their skill.  As I have eaten at this particular food court many times, I happen to know how awfully crammed it is and therefore!  These young dancers really had to be determined, as some of these moves could lead to utter disaster involving tripping over furniture/people.

Clearly Flashmobs are the fun wave of the future -- however they are performed. Even my own congregation, which is primarily geriatric in nature, chose to do a flashmob down in Sacramento this last Christmas to sing Handel's Messiah in a major mall eatery. They had great success and even greater reports of fun. In its own way, it really is such a gift to give authentic surprise and moments to smile to this world in which the silly, harmless, and uplifting is so rare.

Long story short: Mormons love to dance, but nowadays, they love to flashmob even more.