Flash Mob dance troupes are showing up everywhere, all over the world, even Malaysia as seen by a commercial for a telco provider at Kuala Lumpur’s KLCC late last year. Notable performances include the intricate dance to Sound of Music’s “Do Re Mi” at Central Station in Belgium and a Swedish dance troupe has been performing their Michael Jackson tribute to “Beat It” at various times and places. 

Those who are not familiar with this worldwide phenomena, a Flash Mob dance is where a group of performers meet at a pre-planned location and break into their routine, to the surprise of an unsuspecting crowd. It can create quite a compelling scene, with large numbers of people dancing in unison to music. 

For the first time ever, in Kuching, Limkokwing Borneo’s staff and students will attempt to leave a mark in the Malaysian Book of Records as the biggest flash mob dance group performance in the country. 

“The Flash Mob Dance might make its way into the Malaysia Book of Records,” said Assistant Minister of Social Development and Urbanisation (Youth Affairs and Training) Larry Sng in a press conference recently. 

YB Larry Sng, who is closely monitoring the progress of the Flash Mob Dance by Limkokwing recently made a surprise visit to Limkoking during rehearsals and joined in some of the dance sequences. 

Pre-publicity performances will be held at various centers around Kuching and will culminate on July 24, 2010 in conjunction with the launching of the Sarawak Youth Conference. The pre-publicity flash mob dances, will feature different genres of music ranging from modern hip hop to the traditional joget as well as the ever-popular Indonesian poco-poco and the native African ‘Madan’. 

‘We felt that it was important to include several influences in our choice of music as the Limkokwing Borneo family is a truly global community, as we have international staff and students from several countries such as Africa, Pakistan, India, Korea and Indonesia to name a few,’ said Salleh Mohidin, Computer Science lecturer. 

‘Through this flash mob dance performance, we were able to include the different dances and music of all our members here at Limkokwing, and this serves as one of the best platforms to introduce our international family to everyone. We also wanted to showcase to the youths the activities and goals that they can set for themselves to achieve, as all our students were really excited to become part of history as they target to become the biggest flash mob dance performance in the country,’ he added. 

This feat is truly a joint effort between the staff and students at Limkokwing Borneo, as they worked together in choosing the music and choreographing the dance moves together before coming up with a routine that was simple enough for everyone to follow yet impressive and eye-catching to everyone watching the performance. 

‘Our international staff and students taught us the moves for the Indonesian poco-poco and the African Madan while our local students taught us how to joget,’ said Angel Yu, a Taiwanese Graphic Design student at Limkokwing. 

‘Despite being completely clumsy at it in the beginning, we had a lot of fun while practicing the dance moves and finally got the hang of it after several tries. It’s really good fun and exercise as well, and everyone just gets into the mood and relaxes after a long day of work and class,’ she added. 

Architecture student Tobi Olumuyiwa is also one of the participants in the synchronized dance, but he’s far from what you’d call a pro.

“I don’t consider myself a professional dancer,” he said. “However, what we are doing at Limkokwing is really easy and fun, and it looks really good with the entire group.” 

“The cool thing is, there were students from all over the world and the entire staff population, from the wardens to our ‘mak cik” who runs the canteen joining in the fun,” added Tobi.

Limkokwing Borneo is also working closely with the Ministry of Social Development and Urbanisation in producing a 20-minute musical styled after the hit TV programme ‘Glee’. This musical tells the story of Sarawak Chief Minister YAB Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud and his late wife, Datuk Amar Puan Sri Dr. Hajah Laila Taib. 

‘The Belia programme aims at bringing more youths into the limelight and we are hoping to uncover more local talents in Sarawak and give them the opportunity to showcase themselves to the public,’ said Vernon Kedit. 

‘There are so many talented youths out there who are just waiting for a chance, and hopefully this is will be a break of a lifetime for them,’ he added. 

Auditions for the musical are open to the public within the age ranges of 18-25 years old at the Limkokwing Borneo campus at Jalan Nanas on the 23rd of April 2010 from 2.30 p.m. onwards.