My husband has a longstanding obsession with tattoos. It’s not just the image on the bicep that gets him, but the meaning behind it: why did someone choose to make that specific image a part of their very body?
A friend is obsessed with postcards. Not just the cards, but the meaning: how does someone choose which single image will carry their love home?
My own longstanding obsession didn’t used to have a name.
Back in high school, I drove my friends crazy by wishing out loud–too often and too excitedly–that life could be like a musical. There we’d be, just going through our days, when suddenly the clouds would part, the music would soar, and we’d break into song and synchronized dance steps.
In 2003, my dream became real, in a sense, when the flash mob was born. The whole idea seems silly but I love them all the same, these synchronized performances plopped right into the middle of ordinary life.
A flash mob may seem like just a song or a dance, but I suspect there’s more to it than that. That’s why they go viral; that’s why they make us cry. These musical moments plunked down into our ordinary lives give us a glimpse behind the curtain: for a few minutes, our individual stories merge into the same script, showing that we’re all part of the same Great Big Story.
You can see three of my favorite life-as-musical videos below.
What’s your obsession?
Click here to have new posts delivered to you in a reader or by email!
Modern Mrs Darcy, a blog that puts a timely spin on timeless women's issues. Read more 
Sobbing. Seriously. The Ode to Joy one….I’m like a baby over here. Need we further proof that we were born to praise??
I’ve seen the wedding proposal one before. I think I would have been too stunned to answer if my husband had proposed to me that way! I loved the Ode to Joy in the shopping mall. What a beautiful way to communicate the truth and give people a reason to pause amid the insanity that the holiday has become.
I hadn’t seen the first one, but the other two you picked are some of my favorites. Thanks for sharing this.
And I thought it was just me. I’ve always felt like there should be more music in everyday life. There are often moments when I’ve thought “If my life were a musical there would be a song right about now.” Though I don’t know if I’d ever have the guts to join a flash mob. Of course I grew up in a house where my Dad could find a song for any occasion and both my parents sang often, so maybe that is why.
Yes! I totally understand your obsession. My husband and I attended a Christian university, and I used to say going to our college was like living in a musical. It was not uncommon to be doing something normal, like checking mail, and a full-fledged 8-part rendition of the 4th Movement of Beethoven’s 9th would break out. In German.
Our school filmed a flash mob a couple of years ago for their big spring weekend. It was hilarious and fitting.
I love the above marriage proposal flash mob as well as the wedding video where the entire wedding party dances to the Chris Brown song, “It’s like I waited my whole life for this one night…” (not a flash mob, but equally awesome). Both of those videos just make me love life. I can’t help but laugh and tear up at the same time.
I need to find that wedding video so I can see it again.
“Both of those videos just make me love life.” YES. Exactly!
Oh my goodness! I’m with you 1000% in your obsession with flash mobs. They are the definition of spontaneous joy. I was in Chicago in July on a girls’ weekend. We were having a picnic lunch in Millenium Park when a flash mob broke out in front of The Bean. I was literally jumping up and down, grinning from ear to ear. That’s the only flash mob I’ve witnessed in person, but I love watching them online and actually being in one is at the top of my bucket list.
At the Bean? I am so jealous! And I would love to be in a flash mob–that’s on my bucket list, too
Loved the first one I hadn’t seen that one!!!
Okay, all of those were simply amazing. But the first one…
To hear the praise of our Redeemer come seemingly unbidden from human lips… can you even IMAGINE what heaven will be like?? I had tears in my eyes to see people singing His praises like that. And then when “Mary” and “Joseph” walked out, I broke down and cried like a baby. Wow. I hope they knew the truth that they were proclaiming!
Okay, so I’m so glad to know that I’m not the only one that ends up crying at every flash mob video I watch… seriously only made it about two minutes into the proposal one up there and I had to turn it off, because I’m at work and it wouldn’t be appropriate to be sitting here with tears running down my face! I love how much effort people put into flash mobs to make them happen!
I think the reason I always cry over flash mob performances is that I love, love, love the idea of a group of people doing something positive in an excellent way, just for the joy of it. That gets me every time.
I love flash mobs! I witnessed one at Blissdom two years ago and wished so badly I’d been asked to participate. I would love to be a part of one some day!
Oh yes, I cried. LOVE the guys on the escalator in the first one.
I know! I love that part
You had me with the photo from A Chorus Line. I’ve seen that 3 times, twice when it first came out and once a couple years ago. In high school band we performed the overture, complete with shouting out “step kick kick leap kick touch … again!”
For flash mobs, have you seen the Zorba the Greek one from Canada? One of my faves ever! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhDgpXWkFHE
Tim
You performed the overture? Nice!
Yeah, but I think we did a better job shouting out the words than playing the music.
I had never seen the wedding proposal. {sniff, sniff}
So good.
How could she possibly say no after THAT?!
Oh my heavens!
My kids could tell you that it’s pretty normal for me to break into song out of the blue.
One of my favorite roles is Fruma Sarah, the dead wife from Tevye’s dream in Fiddler on the Roof. ♫”Have you no consideration for a woman’s feelings?!”♫
I sing this when I find damp towels on the floor and stuff like that.
I love Fiddler! Can I hang out at your house one day while you’re cleaning house?
Yep. Fiddler has been one of my favorites for a long time.
I’m also thrilled about the new Les Miserables movie coming out on Christmas Day! I’ve owned CDs of the original Broadway cast for years. I’m a little afraid that if I go to the theater to see it, I won’t be able to refrain from singing along. Maybe I should wait until I can get it on Netflix!!!
Haha! I shared this video on the MMD facebook page last night, but I want to make sure you see it. The Polish cast of Les Mis performs One Day More in a Warsaw mall, flash mob style. You know all the words so the language barrier will be no problem
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXgCrhIevwU
OH! LOVE!
FLASH MOB HEAVEN!
{Tears in my eyes.}
THAT WAS SO AWESOME!!!!
I think the LO should have done something like this during all the contract “discussions” of the past few years. I am also flash mob obsessed. I love this one of Handel’s Hallujah Chorus in a food court:
http://youtu.be/SXh7JR9oKVE
Oh, I love that video!
And you are so right about the Louisville Orchestra. How much goodwill would that have built, instead of all the contentiousness that was raised instead? (A lot, methinks!)
There’s just something beautiful about witnessing people united together in song, especially singing praises to God. I don’t believe it’s quite a common occurrence anymore. Beautiful! and a worthy obsession.
This is my favourite flash mob!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQLCZOG202k
I love that one!