I was talking with an educator last week about enlisting students to help create a healthy, thriving, and fun school climate, and specifically brought up the idea of flash mobs and lip-dubs. Many of our students have talents and abilities which we should really tap in order to help us promote positive attitudes and behaviors across our campus. Unfortunately, we don’t do this often enough, even though student voice is such a powerful thing and can make way more of an impact than the efforts of well-meaning adults.
A flash mob is a large group of people who suddenly break into synchronized song or choreographed dance — sometimes both – in a public place for the purposes of entertainment, artistic expression, or to bring attention to a cause. A lip-dub is a music video where a group of individuals are recorded lip-syncing a song, after which the original audio of the song is dubbed over the video in post-editing. Many students (including myself!) have grown up in dance – whether it’s hip-hop, jazz, ballet, tap, or a similar style – and have be inspired to create flash mobs or performed at their school or other locations. And many students (including myself!) absolutely LOVE music of all kinds – so many songs become the soundtrack of our lives as we grow up – and are highly skilled at video recording and editing.
So, it makes perfect sense to marshal the interests, aptitudes, and creativity of students at your school to share an uplifting message that can then be used as a springboard for conversation and intentional efforts to accomplish certain major goals: more kindness and less bullying, more acceptance and less prejudice, more inclusion and less exclusion. Heck, many times the news channels want to know about it so they can have cameras at the ready – and it will bring some positive attention to your school and community to counter the negative stories that typically make headlines.
The best part about flash mobs and lip-dubs at your school is witnessing the pure JOY in the faces of students who participate. I mean, just look at the students involved in the videos below! They are having a blast, and it is something they will remember for the rest of their lives. These are the moments we want to create at our school. These are the moments that matter when it comes to connecting and bonding students together, improving morale, fostering cooperation and teamwork, inspiring positive thinking, and promoting school spirit.
Here are some of my favorite flash mobs involving students:
Here are some of my favorite lip dubs involving students:
Finally, the educator I was chatting with wanted to know my favorite songs that would be ideal for a flash mob or lip-dub. Apart from the songs in the videos above, I recommend these:
Panic at the Disco – High Hopes
Katy Perry – Firework
Sia – Never Give Up
Sara Bareilles – Brave
Journey – Don’t Stop Believing
Andy Grammer – Keep Your Head Up
Alessia Cara – Scars to Your Beautiful
Rachel Platten – Fight Song
Christina Aguilera – You’re Beautiful
Kelly Clarkson – Stronger
Natasha Bedingfield – Unwritten
Demi Lovato – Skyscraper
Hope this helps! Find just one student on your campus who absolutely adores dance and/or music, and talk to them about they might be able to do with their friends. It’s very likely that you’ll be blown away by what they come up with!
Image source: https://bit.ly/2X6Dcl3
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