UMaine “Flash Mob” Delights Lunchtime Patrons
Contact: Joe Carr at 581-3571
Note: a photo is available upon request.
ORONO — A group of 56 UMaine students, joined by Bananas the Bear, UMaine Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students Robert Dana and Senior Associate Dean of Students Kenda Scheele, brightened an otherwise-dreary afternoon by staging a Friday “flash mob” in Memorial Union’s Maine Marketplace dining facility.
At 12 noon, music erupted from the building’s sound system and groups of students began choreographed dance routines in various locations on both levels of the Union. Hundreds of onlookers, most of whom were enjoying lunch, reacted with surprise and delight as the dancers performed all around them. Dana and Scheele descended the open stairway, dancing to the strains of the Isley Brothers’ “Shout!,” leading to a finale featuring all the dancers in the atrium outside the UMaine Bookstore.
“This was a lot of fun, and a great representation of UMaine spirit,” Dana says.
Lauri Sidelko from the UMaine Division of Student Affairs, assisted by Tutor Program assistant coordinator Jessica Bishop and graduate student Molly Schenck, organized the dancers, who practiced for the past several nights after the Union had closed for the evening.
A video depicting part of the event is on the Mobile Maine News Web site at http://mobilemainenews.com/?p=7441.
Editing is underway on a more elaborate video presentation, featuring five camera angles. When completed, that video will be posted on UMaine’s YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/theuniversityofmaine.