By: Gina Reis (University of Minnesota)
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Sometimes I wish life was like a musical—one moment, people are talking and the next everyone breaks out into song and an accompanying choreographed dance. Musicals are funny in that way—it’s difficult to relate your life to situations in Grease or High School Musical, considering we don’t have this knowledge of dance numbers and songs to figure out our problems. Yet, I have always been a huge fan of musicals (Sound of Music will always be my favorite) because, hey—we can always dream that this is how real-life works.
I bring this all up because in some way or another, choreographed singing and dancing has someone come into play in everyday life. With the growing fad of “flash mobs” and the power of YouTube, real life has somewhat turned into a dance number. I don’t know who started this fad, but they are a genius. This clip below is one of thousands of flash mob videos up on YouTube, and one of the first ones I saw. It’s Sound of Music theme, which makes it even better.[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EYAUazLI9k&feature=related[/youtube]
It baffles me that this many people can be corralled and learn the same dance number, often very intricate and grueling. I would love to be a part of one of these things, but who knows how you can do that. There is another type of flash mob video I’ve seen out there that does not involve choreographed dance, but creates just as much (or maybe more) confusion for the unknowing passerby. One I have seen is the “No Pants Subway Ride” which, from what I’ve gathered, has taken place in NYC and Boston (among many other places, I’m sure). This one requires no skills, and no shame. The videos are quite funny to watch—masses of people around the city take off their pants and ride the subway, acting like nothing is wrong and ignoring the appalled reactions of the poor person sitting so close to their exposed skin.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9La40WwO-lU&feature=related[/youtube]
Both of these, however, do not showcase the perfect life-as-a-musical dream that we all secretly desire. Well, now worries, because spontaneously breaking out into a full on Broadway-style drama has been covered, as well. This is actually a video I saw a long time ago, created by a group called “Prangstgrup” which, at its site, has a plethora of videos similar to this one. This video is my particular favorite, called “Lecture Musical”. Don’t you wish this happened in your class? Maybe then you’d stay awake.
