Flashmob: unexpected performance
It was an ordinary Tuesday morning in Peking University on March 26th. At 12 o’clock, the bell rang, signifying the end of classes. A large number of people hustled out of the classrooms, heading to the dining hall for lunch. It seemed that everything proceeded just as usual.
Then suddenly, music began to play in front of No. 2 Classroom Building. Before passers-by figured out what was happening, 11 students, who were dressed in unified clothes and scattered among the passers-by, walked out from the crowd, quickly gathered together and began to perform in sign language.
Attracted by the unexpected performance, many students stopped and formed a circle around the performers to enjoy their show. With the change of rhythms and themes of the songs, the group formation of the performance was changed accordingly. When the third song Our Choices Those Years began to play, three more students joined the performers, roller-skating according to the theme and plot of the song, pushing the atmosphere to a new high. Their wonderful performance won bursts of applause from the audience. Many students took out their phones and cameras and took pictures of their performance. After ten minutes when the forth song ended, music stopped and the performers quickly dispersed, leaving a big crowd applauding behind.
Organizer: to make sign language attractive
The unexpected flashmob was organized by the Loving Heart Society of Peking University. Founded in 1993, the association is the first student association providing community service in China. Members of the association promote the concept of equality and civil rights, provide assistance to the disabled and the handicapped, and volunteer in the countryside to help the poor. In order to raise people’s awareness towards the deaf, the Sign Language sector of the Loving Heart Society organized Sign Language Culture Festival from March 21st to 25th, and the flashmob was among the various activities Loving Heart Society held on campus.
Zhang Xue, a sophomore from the School of Economics, PKU, was in charge of the flashmob activity as well as the Sign Language Culture Festival. “For many people in PKU, sign language is a little bit far away from their life. Therefore, we want to make sign language closer to them by holding a series of activities related to sign language on campus and encouraging them to explore sign language around them, thus arousing their attention to sign language and the deaf.”
Speaking of the idea of organizing a sign language flashmob activity, Zhang Xue remarked, “Much emphasis has been placed on the publicity of this year’s Sign Language Festival. However, usual means of publicity were not attractive enough, so we introduced the sign language flashmob activity in addition to sign language lecture, sign language evening party and other activities to stimulate people’s interest.” In order to make the flashmob activity more fascinating, Zhang Xue also invited three students from the Roller Skating Association of Peking University to join the performance. “They showed great interest in this activity and even embedded a story in their performance according to the lyrics of the song we intended to play,” Zhang Xue said with a big smile on her face.
More than ten minutes
Although the sign language flashmob only lasted ten minutes, members of the Loving Heart Society spent almost three weeks to practice, with rehearsals conducted 3 times a week, one to two hours every time.
Zhao Chuanrong, a student from School of Basic Medical Sciences, PKU, is one of the performers. “This flashmob performance has a very high requirement on uniformity and we want to move perfectly together, so we have to rehearse again and again to achieve the goal.”
During the rehearsals, she practiced more than 30 times for each song. Since there are four songs, she practiced more than 100 times altogether. “Although it was painstaking, it was worthwhile if more and more people can pay attention to sign language and the deaf,” said Zhao Chuanrong.
Judging from the reaction of the audience, this activity was very successful and the hard work of the performers paid off. “It is my first time to watch a sign language performance. It’s so interesting. I now want to get more knowledge about sign language,” said one student who watched the performance.
By Xiong Min
Updated: April 14th,2014
