Line dancers step out for flash mob

The line dance flash mob at the Gisborne Farmers’ Market on Saturday. They joined line dancers the world over performing a routine to Run, by Storm and Stone. Picture by Paul Rickard

Shoppers at the Gisborne Farmers Market got a surprise on Saturday when a line dancing “flash mob” provided an impromptu display.

The Gisborne community of line dancers came together to perform for the International Line Dance Flashmob event, scheduled for the first Saturday of May every year.

This year’s dance was to the song Run by Australian folk/pop/country band Storm and Stone.

“The dance is co-choreographed by Maddison Glover and Simon Ward and it was the winner of 2023 Crystal Boots Award Dance of the Year,” said Janine Hamilton-Kells, founder of the Rhythm ‘n’ Lines club and organiser of the flashmob event.

“We already dance to this song in our Improver, Advanced and Performance groups. I ran workshops to teach the dance to those who hadn’t yet learned it.  It is an Improver level dance but many of our beginner dancers worked hard to learn the steps so they could participate in the flashmob.

“We wanted to share our love of dancing with the Gisborne community and be part of showcasing what modern line dancing is all about — it’s social, it’s challenging and you get such a sense of accomplishment from learning and performing new dances.

“I advertised the event on our socials to attract participants and invited other Gisborne line dancing groups to join us in the flashmob performance, as the event is all about community involvement.”

Since 2020, the international line dance flashmob event has taken place across the globe on the first Saturday in May.

A requirement for participation is to upload a video of the event to their website to share with line dancing communities around the world.

For some of the line dancers, it was their first time performing in public, including Rhythm ‘n’ Lines youngest dancer, 10-year-old Aston Lawton.

Aston has been line dancing for just over one year, after his mother Grace Davidson signed him up for a class without telling him about it.

It was a punt that paid off, as Aston soon showed his natural abilities as a dancer which has earned him a spot in the Advanced class.

“It’s quite fun,” Aston said.  “I dance once a week and in the weekends when there is something on. I am also choreographing my first dance.”

Stephen Priestley enjoys the Turanganui kaumatua line dancing run through Te Wananga o Aotearoa.  He also dances at Rhythm ‘n’ Lines events, Gisborne Line Dancing and It’s Friday, Lets Dance (a group which meets once a month at the RSA).

Stephen suffered a stroke in 2019 and he knew that continuing to line dance would help prevent falls. “Line dancing has helped me to strengthen my trunk area as well as coordinating brain and body movements to music. It is also about the community connection, socialising and fun.”