By Peter Townson/Staff Reporter
Visitors to the Villaggio Mall yesterday witnessed the first flash mob in Qatar, when a large group of dancers seemingly spontaneously broke into dance throughout Virgin Megastores.The event had been organised to coincide with Al Jazeera journalist Rosie Garthwaite’s book signing of How to Avoid Being Killed in a War Zone.The dancers performed a routine to the Bee Gees’ classic disco tune, Stayin’ Alive.Flash mobs are a global phenomenon involving large groups of people arranging to break into dance routines, or perform other actions as a group, in public places.The trend has been made famous by organisations such as British telecoms company t-mobile, and the events have now spread across the world, even recently appeared on the US hit TV show Glee.The impact of the gatherings comes from the surprise factor involved, which was captured perfectly yesterday as shoppers browsing displays at Virgin Megastores suddenly burst into dance, before redirecting their attention to the items on sale.Paula Doole, head instructor at Pirouettes dance studio and choreographer of the routine, explained that the dance had been put together in a week with only a handful of rehearsals.“I think it’s a really fun idea to draw some attention to the book,” she said, adding that “most people should know the song and the dance so I’m hoping some get caught up in it as well”.“I hope it will cause a few surprises and draw a bit of a crowd – it’s lighthearted fun and you would have to be in a pretty bad mood not to enjoy it!” Doole said.Before the flash mob event, Gulf Times spoke with Michelle Ryan, Lorena Hydeman and Beth Elsby, three students from Doha College who decided to participate in the first flash mob in Qatar.“I’ve seen flash mobs before and they seemed really fun, so I thought I would like to get involved,” said Ryan.Hydeman agreed, adding: “I think that people will be shocked – Qatar has never had a flash mob like this, so people will be really surprised.”Elsby explained that they had decided to join the flash mob after hearing about it from a teacher, and she expressed her belief that this kind of event “could catch on” in Qatar because of the sense of fun involved and the unexpected nature of flash mobs.Last night’s flash mob was a success, and onlookers expressed delight at seeing something unusual and different happening in Qatar.“It’s such a fun idea and I can’t believe I’ve actually seen this happening here,” said one visitor to Villaggio.Another commented: “I think it was a unique experience in Qatar – it shows that people here are in touch with new things happening around the world.”