Part of Arts in Education Week Events All Long at the School

Children playing at the Baton Rouge Center for Visual & Performing Arts (BRCVPA) Friday afternoon, September 16, were surprised when recess was interrupted on the playground by a flash mob performance by fifth-grade students.  A flash mob is a group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual and sometimes seemingly pointless act for a brief time (quite often a song or dance) then disperse.  It generally is for the purposes of entertainment, satire or artistic expression.

Dance teacher Leea Reese created the choreography for and organized the event, which in part celebrated national Arts in Education Week.  Music cues at the mid-point of recess indicated when the 68 fifth-grade students began their performance on the school’s basketball court area.  That included student Nico de la Fuente (pictured, front center), who led one section of the dance.  Students in grades 1-4 were at recess, too, but had no knowledge of the performance until it began.  The street jazz routine was performed to Michael Jackson's "Wanna Be Starting Something.”

To prepare the other grade levels for the flash mob without giving the surprise away, students discussed flash mobs in dance class last week.  They watched video of flash mobs on YouTube and were briefed on what their responsibilities are as an audience member of a flash mob.