Around the middle of December I was getting a bit frustrated with the fact that companies come into Utah and utilize our states varied locales, facilities, film incentives etc yet I always hear that they are bringing in their own "talent". I know so many talented individuals and thought to myself what would be a good way to showcase some of that talent to the world. My answer...start a flash mob and have the performance during Sundance.
I put out an invite and contacted Tina Thorup explaining to her what I was planning. I asked her if she would post as well that talent was needed for an "event". Someone who is on her email list contacted me immediately and that was Valerie Cameron-Walker. She left me a rather long message telling me that she was a choreographer. I knew before I even spoke to her she would be perfect because I could hear the excitement in her voice. We spoke, I explained to her what I was wanting to do and asked her if I had people who were not trained dancers could she teach them how to dance. The answer was sure. My next question was "but can you do it in a month?" Her answer was that of course she could....we were good to go.
In the information that I put out, I explained that people would be coming to an open "casting call" and they had to sign a non-disclosure before I would tell them what we were doing. They had no idea what they were even coming for but they still came, they even brought people with them. Nate of the Huka Lounge let us take over one night to have our "top secret" meeting. Once they got there, signed the non-disclosure and heard what we were doing and why...they wanted to do it. The excitement from the group was great. They wanted to invite all their friends too. Again the problem was they couldn't tell them anything about what we were doing. They had their friends send me a the non-disclosure and then I told them what it was about. Lots of people, lots of emails, lots of time...lots of fun in the end.
First snag was location. During Sundance the city is crazy with traffic both vehicle and pedestrian. I wanted to have as many people see the flash mob as possible, so where do we do it without blocking traffic? The solution was the Marriott Courtyard on Main Street and 7th.
Second snag was Park City. Apparently they got wind of our little plan and for some reason thought we were going to be selling something or even doing it for a commercial. However, after some nice conversations with Dave and Michelle where I convinced them that we were just doing it to promote the talent in Utah they thought it was a great idea and Michelle even commented she wished she could come do it. I was told that as long as we did not block traffic and since we were on private property it was just fine. They even made sure we had a police presence there in case we needed them for crowd control.
Valerie meanwhile was taking care of the music mashup. At first we thought it would be a good idea to use local musicians for this as well. After working with some of the music Valerie decided and I agreed that maybe using music that was more easily recognizable for the first outing would be to our advantage. We needed something that was very upbeat and also to help showcase various "styles" of dance. Once the music was together, she started on the choreography. Now keep in mind that at this point we had everything from professional dancers to people who have trouble putting one foot in front of the other without tripping. Valerie had the task of putting together moves that would make them all look AMAZING. She did it!!!!
The first rehearsal was held on January 10. TWELVE days before the date we would have the Utah Flash Mob at Sundance. We had it at the Hotel/Elevate when it was closed. I had called Bryan and he let us come in there for several hours without even asking me what I needed it for. I was shocked at how quickly everyone picked up the routine but then Valerie is amazing and everyone dancing was too. DJ Dao came in and helped us with the music all night long.
After the first rehearsal the guys at Ballroom Utah let us use their studio for additional rehearsals for anyone who felt they needed them also helping to give individuals instruction where they needed it. Seriously I would say that only about 1/3 of the people in the flash mob were dancers before January 10. I know they all sweated a lot, worked a lot and gave 100% energy for very long hours of rehearsal. (as much as 10 hours some days for some)
All that taken care of the logistics started.
1) We had to draw a crowd back away from Main Street to where the flash mob could perform.
The scene was this. For the opening song
Michael Jackson- The Way You Make Me Feel there were 4 male dancers and 4 female dancers.
A camera (Ben Sant) was set up near Main Street with a mock interview going on. We had the male dancers doing a mock interview. Two of them (Christian Van and Bobby Johnson) were being interviewed by the host (Billy Holden) while the fourth one was the sound tech (Ryann Race). Yeah...it drew a crowd.
Next we had a black SUV with dark tinted windows pull up. The "bodyguard" (Corey Lundell) got out, opened the back door and out came the three females (Kristy Bennett, Brooklyn Bowen, Marian Pham). Meanwhile their "manager" (Valerie Cameron-Walker) was waiting impatiently for them on the phone. Our paparazzi (Jay Simmons, Alan Smith, Vick Doultani) snapped photos of the females and as the females went past the males towards the dance area the males followed and the music was started.
2) We had to have music that would be loud enough to draw a crowd.
This had to be something that could be brought in and setup with little notice and that could be removed quickly as well. Rob Ferre who owns Life of the Party Entertainment to the rescue.
3) We had to make sure we got it all on video.
There were in total 4 cameras that we controlled taping the whole thing. We had Ben Sant doing the interview and then he followed the dancers into the staging area. Mario DeAngelis was on a steady cam. Mike Drebot was on a stationary camera as well as Henri De Baritault. Not to mention all of the phones and pocket cameras. We will have a full edited version of the Utah Flash Mob on the website very very soon
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4) We had to tell the world about it.
I jumped on line as soon as I had the idea and knew it would work. I got utahflashmob.com. I created the facebook page, twitter account and youtube page. Eric Dawes worked his magic and created the website as well as hosting it for us. I wanted something fun, high energy and that could showcase the people who have done all of this. We have the production people listed with their company names linked. At the rehearsals we took photos of the cast and crew and put them on the page. You can click on them and see their name, what they are known for and how to reach them. You can also see the song credits and a shout out to anyone who helped us make it happen.
Now the videos are all over the place. There have been articles or news casts literally all over the world. If you check out facebook.com/utahflashmob you will see some of the videos and stories on there.
We are not done......
ARE YOU READY UTAH?????
