Smithers FlashMobs It

Smithers had 67 people come out to celebrate International Dance Day with a FlashMob organized by Miriam Colvin, Dance Outreach Coordinator for Made in BC and BV Concert Association.


The momentum builds, last year there was a crowd of only 40...This year we surprised people with dance at the BV Credit Union, Bugwood Coffee and the Smithers Trade Show.

“The turn out of over 60 people to learn this year’s FlashMob delighted me. There was even one mother and father dancing together with their 4-month old baby boy. One beautiful woman told me that she decided to dance because she saw the video of last year’s FlashMob. She decided there wasn’t enough gray hair represented in the Mob, so she came out. We are playfully broadening who is a ‘dancer’ and the many ways we can enjoy watching contemporary dance in Smithers.”
– Miriam Colvin

"I loved being a part of it and it truly brought people together through dance! I remember making some mistakes and at first thought I messed it all up....then realized the whole purpose wasn't perfect synchronicity, but happy smiling people having fun with dance, so I've forgiven myself and smile to think I was a part of that event. It was fun!"
-community dancer, Cheryl Hofweber

“Wow, the FlashMob dance was the BOMB ! I wish I had the courage to get up and dance. It was AMAZING - I MEAN AMAZING !
-unsuspecting citizen, Rose Silvey

The whole performance had a great vibe and a ton of energy to it. So much to watch but even better to dance it.
-community dancer and observer, Janet Blair

International Dance Day message by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker

International Dance Day is coming up, April 29th, 2011. Here in BC celebrations are already underway in Golden, Smithers, Salt Spring, Kitimat and Nanaimo, and The Dance Centre in Vancouver has a line-up of activities too.

This year UNESCO's IDD message comes from Belgium's Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker of Rosas:

I think dance celebrates what makes us human. When we dance we use, in a very natural way, the mechanics of our body and all our senses to express joy, sadness, the things we care about.

People have always danced to celebrate the crucial moments of life and our bodies carry the memory of all the possible human experiences. We can dance alone and we can dance together. We can share what makes us the same, what makes us different from each other.

For me dancing is a way of thinking. Through dance we can embody the most abstract ideas and thus reveal what we cannot see, what we cannot name.

Dance is a link between people, connecting heaven and earth. We carry the world in our bodies. I think that ultimately each dance is part of a larger whole, a dance that has no beginning, and no end.

And some video of Rosas, for inspiration: