On December 23rd, 2023 shoppers at North Park Mall witnessed a spontaneous gathering of various musicians for a flash mob performance.
Families and friends were enjoying their holiday shopping during the busiest time of the year at North Park Mall on Saturday evening when a single musician began to play the well-known tune “Ode to Joy.” A few seconds later four cello players joined in, and in the blink of an eye, the mall was filled with a conductor, vocalists, violinists, percussionists, and brass players.
This idea of a musical gathering in a public space that begins as a small ensemble and slowly grows into a large orchestra is known as a flash mob. Flash mobs often occur in public settings such as malls, airports, or train stations. They are meant to appear spontaneous and only last a short period of time before the group disperses as if nothing had happened. This form of performance art first took place in a Manhattan shopping mall in 2003. Around 130 people gathered around a rug in a Macy’s department store and when questioned, they told people they were roommates purchasing a “love rug” together. According to the organizer Bill Wasik, flash mobs were created to be a social experiment to play on the idea of conformity and leave viewers questioning what had just occurred (Wasik). Since then, they have progressed to include forms of dancing or music. However musical flash mobs are not as common in the United States, and the Dallas-Fort Worth area had yet to experience one. As 2023 came to an end, three high school students set out on a project to change this.
Tristan Ramon, one of the organizers speaks on behalf of the two other high school students as he mentioned that their inspiration to initiate a flash mob in Texas came from online videos (Ramon). This is due to the fact that flash mobs are far more common in European countries than in the United States. By spreading the joy of music and organizing a flashmob in a big city such as Dallas their goal was to “transcend this international barrier” (Ramon). Through flyers and social media, they brought together participants ranging from high schoolers and college students to professional musicians and teachers. Minutes before the performance the orchestra was still recruiting more musicians. Family members and friends unexpectedly joined in, quickly receiving the music and understanding their entrances. The group then went through a few quick rehearsals in an abandoned restaurant and made their way to the downstairs lobby of the mall.
Hauling uncased instruments down an escalator amidst regular shoppers was not an everyday occurrence, but this added to the essence of surprise that flash mobs aim to create. Not long after they began to play, “Ode to Joy” reached its end, and as the musicians stood up to leave, voices questioned, “Are they going to play more?” After organizing this event for weeks the performance only lasted around four minutes. Most orchestras can play for hours, but this event still created an impact through an intentional brief performance. This flash mob was composed of around 25 musicians, and despite its small scale, it was still deemed a success due to the joint effort and the audience’s reactions. In fact, there are already plans to do it again in the summer of 2024.
I am a Dallas-based photographer who has an appreciation for both the arts and music! Besides photographing concerts, I also enjoy doing creative portraits and working in Photoshop. I spend my free time either playing the cello, guitar, or piano or collecting CDs and vinyls. I would say my top three favorite artists are Peter McPoland, The Beatles, and Harry Styles! I’m currently a senior in high school, but I plan to major in graphic design and one day turn concert photography into a career.
