This Halloween almost 200 zombies reported to Red Cliffs Mall.
Following kids trick-or-treating, hundreds of young zombies staggered to the center of the mall to perform St. George’s first Halloween flash mob.
The mall was packed with families- moms holding hands of superheroes, skunks, and soldiers, and dads following along with cameras and candy buckets. It was the teens though that caught your eye. They limped around with tattered clothes and wild hair, moving slowly into formation.
Despite the ‘secret’ status of a flash mob, crowds congregated in groups to watch for creepy behavior, and just ten minutes after seven the music began to play. Nearby zombies lurched into action and Thriller started the night.
Flash mob coordinator Tia Stokes said she was approached a year ago about doing a flash mob. When she and dance group Kalamity performed at the mall a few months ago, mall officials asked Stokes to put on a Thriller-type performance for Halloween. She was excited to do a flash mob, so when officials agreed, Stokes immediately got to work recruiting the community, local dance studios and high schools to join the fun.
The mob began practice the beginning of October to prepare for the Halloween performance. Stokes taught the dance twice a week at The Vault as well as through instructional videos on Facebook and YouTube to encourage anyone to join.
After a short rendition of Thriller, the flash mob moved into “Calling All the Monsters,” a song Stokes said is a fun, upbeat Halloween song. I posted up in the middle of the action and was nearly trampled by the ever-growing assembly of zombies when Monsters started. I definitely underestimated the amount of dancers, as did the rest of the crowd. At one point viewers were asked to back up due to the underestimated mob size.
Dancer Allison Christiansen said her cheer instructor got her into the flash mob. She said she had the dance down after only one or two practices, and it was definitely worth the time.
“It was so much fun,” she said. “There were so many people that did it and it was really fun to see it come together. I’d do it every weekend if I could.”
Following the performance the crowd went wild with cheers. Stokes was right about the upbeat music choice– it definitely got heads nodding and toes tapping. I skipped to my car wishing even I could be in a flash mob one day.
David Gutierrez from Riverside, Calif., was visiting family for Halloween. His niece was in the mob so the family came out to see what it was all about.
“It was right on,” Gutierrez said. “They should have things like that more often. It brings everyone together and cheers everyone up for Halloween.
Stokes said Halloween is a good time to have a flash mob because everyone’s already in costume, people are already at the mall to trick-or-treat, and it is good entertainment.
“A flash mob has never been done like this in St. George and I’d like to see it happen every year,” Stokes said. “It would be a really cool tradition to start and look forward to. It’s pretty exciting.”
