DYM Project #4 - DYM Flash Mob on WED

We were sitting inside the comfort of Symphony Solo (shout out to them!), discussing and planning our future projects. To be honest, I don’t know how we arrived at the idea to have our own flash mob. We’re a rather spontaneous and creative bunch… (yes, we can’t help it) I couldn’t help but feel a rush of excitement at the idea of a flash mob, let alone organize one! We were rather quick on agreeing on a date for the event; the coming Tuesday (5th June 2012) was the World Environment Day,and the government had conveniently planned on a ban of all land vehicles on that day from 3 pm to 10 pm.
Rish, Nawaf, Shaam and Loona, a weird pose filled with enthusiasm and determination :P

It meant that the roads, streets and the whole of Male’ was open for us! (cue; evil laugh! *nyahaha!*) We decided that Raalhugandu would be the ideal location for the event, considering people of all ages visit the place, especially on a day with a vehicle ban.

Shaam and Nattu posing for a photo

Next, was the choice of song for the flash mob. I have to admit that had us stumped for a while. We were rifling through our playlists when (the very awesome) Shaha suggested, ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough!’, and it just clicked with the rest of us. It was catchy, it was relevant and it was the perfect song!

Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell - Ain't No Mountain High Enough

For the rest of the meeting, we sat there scratching our heads to figure out where we can conduct our practice sessions. The Youth Center seminar room was an idea and we decided we will follow up on that the next day….

Unfortunately, the Youth Center was booked full to its brim, and had no ideal openings for us. We called anyone and everyone who might have any place we can practice at; we were desperate. And then, like an angel from the heavens, Loona says her grandmothers place (bless her) is available; the terrace is big enough to accommodate an energetic crowd, she says.

And so we began letting people know about the event and finally made a list of people who can turn up for practice. I was bursting at the seams with excitement at this point. We let the prospective participants know about the venue, and waited with bated breath for them to turn up for the very first practice session…

Ninni and her twin brother Ammu were the youngest participants of the flash mob. Kudos to them for the wonderful job

…but only a few turned up. We called some of them, and they had decided to bail out. We called a few more people and most were hesitant or plain busy to attend. Though our numbers were disappointing, we decided to move on, only to notice the terrace was drenched with water (darn you, monsoon season!). We brought up mops and mopped the place up a bit to avoid possible slipping and neck-breaking. A bit of rain wasn’t going to wash away our spirits!

Loona and Shaam busy mopping the place; nobody wanted a broken neck or back!

Amidst a lot of fun, laughs and an unfortunate crying incident, we figured out all of the choreography for the song throughout the week, and it looked awesome! I should confess that I practiced even in the shower at home. It was like I was carrying this great secret with me, that only few people knew of, and it made me feel all good and gooey inside.

Yes, thats the sound system we used for the practice!

Tuesday came, and we found out that the vehicle ban has been moved to Friday (8th June 2012), which meant we had extra 3 days to perfect our flash mob. We also started thinking of how we’ll get a sound system over to Raalhugandu.

It needed to be inconspicuous, portable and loud. We couldn’t figure out how that would be possible. The sad, small speakers we used at our practices were nowhere near sufficient (as so proven by our very short sound check at the Raalhugandu). And so, we decided on a UPS which can carry enough power for the 2:30 minute-long song. I managed to find an ancient-looking UPS from my brother to use for the event and decided to take my sub-woofer system to the event. We then started working on a banner to showcase DYM. We bought some bristleboards, some colored A4 sheets and worked our magic on it.

Making the Banner and later posing with it

The day of the event eventually was upon us, and I was actually sick to my stomach with excitement. We made a final sound check at Raalhugandu in the afternoon (the sound was perfect), and asked everyone to meet up at Artificial Beach at 4:00 PM. I had stuffed my speaker system in a humungous back pack and carried it there. We discussed our moves one last time, and headed towards Raalhugandu. But then, we noticed the crowd was huge at the Artificial beach by then. We quickly decided to switch the venue to Artificial Beach and so we did. Everyone took positions in random spots in the area, as we had planned.

We gathered up an hour earlier at Artificial beach and went to Alimas Ufaa Stage for a final time

I got one of my friends to videotape the event, and the very adorable Iyya did as well. We set up at the foot of the stage, and we were good to go at my signal. But then, I noticed the speakers had a glitch. The sound wasn’t clear at all! I could honestly say that my heart was pounding in my chest. But then, with a stroke of luck, we somehow managed to get the sound system working fine, and we hurriedly proceeded!

Afa and Nattu posing near the Raalhugandu area

Standing amidst the crowd, I signaled for them to turn on the music. I could feel the eyes of the people around me as I began dancing, and people stared all around us in wonder. Someone in the audience yelled ‘You kids dance well… keep on going!’ The rest of the gang joined in, one by one, and we finished with a bang! We scarpered right away as if nothing happened, and I went on to collect the speakers and we met up near Jalapeno to discuss how the event went.

Flash mob at the Helipad Area

We decided we will do another one at the Raalhugandu, as initially planned. And we walked towards the place in utter determination. There was a huge crowd there as well, and we quickly set up and got started! With the wind in our hair and the sound of waves crashing right behind us, we started dancing. People cheered and clapped; A few applauded one of us rolled out the banner onto the ground after the dance, and we left the scene like nothing happened.

Some of the Flash Mobbers :P

To be honest, the event could have turned out a lot better than it did; we had hoped the audience would be more receptive to us. Perhaps the Maldivian society needs to see more flash mobs to know how to react to it? *noted* But it didn’t matter… we did it. It was challenging, yet we did it. And we’ll do it again… bigger, and better. Because there ain’t no mountain high enough, ain’t no valley low enough and no river wide enough to keep us from achieving what we want! Not to mention, we’ve got the rhythm, baby!

DYM Project #4 - DYM Flash Mob on WED

~Shaam~

P.S will upload more and better pictures as we get them and also the Video as soon as the final editing is done.