Flash mob adds spice to Clayton's Halloween festivities

CLAYTON — There are movies where, all of a sudden, the main character has a revelation and starts dancing. The music rises and total strangers join in, dancing in an oddly choreographed way.

It's called a flash mob, and it's not exactly a common occurrence in everyday life.

But Halloween is a day when strange things happen, a time when normal finds its definition stretched a bit more than usual.

If you were standing in Downtown Clayton on Halloween last year, you witnessed a prime example.

Tony Johnson, who's an architect for the other 364 days in a year, was pulling a wagon down Main Street while dressed in a zombie costume.

He stopped periodically to dance, joined by his employees and a few other enthusiastic dancers, in an honest-to-goodness flash mob.

And they're doing it again this year.“It's amazing the number of parents and kids who are out there,” Johnson said. “We're talking two or three thousand. When we moved our office downtown a couple of years ago, we decided that we wanted to do something. Originally, the idea was that we were just going to put a table up and serve candy. I got to thinking about it and said, 'that's just not exciting enough.'”

So, inspired in part by Jennifer Garner's Thriller Dance in “13 Going on 30,” the idea for the Thriller Flash Mob was born.

A former staffer with a background in dance came up with some choreography, and the plan was set in motion.

“We all learned the Thriller dance,” he said. “It took us about a month — well, it took me about a month. It took everyone else a few days to kind of learn it. It was just four us that did it (the first year).”Last year was the second time Johnson and his group performed.

“We did it as a true flash mob,” he said. “People were in the crowd, and I was just coming down Main Street pulling the wagon that had our music and stuff in it. We would cue up the music and start into our routine. People would come in out of the crowd and we'd do our dance. At the end, we'd scatter back into the crowd again.

“We were really well received. I thought it was a lot of fun. We had some people literally follow us all the way up the street to watch it.”

This year's mob will gather on Thursday, Oct. 31 at 2 p.m. And Johnson is expecting the biggest mob yet.

The Clayton Rotary Club and other businesses have gotten on board, and the Clayton Woman's Club has donated the space for the group to practice.

“We're kind of opening it up to anybody that wants to be a part of it,” Johnson said. “Have some fun, learn a dance and just kind of celebrate Halloween in a unique way.”

While some dance experience might help you pick up the steps a bit quicker, it is not a requirement.

“There's a preconceived notion that you have to have some ability to dance and you don't,” he said. “I am literally the person in the world that has the least amount of rhythm or dance ability. Anybody can do it. It's fun, and it's relatively easy in the grand scheme of things.”

Want to get in on the fun? Email Jessie Brown at jessie@ tonyjohnsonarchitect.com for more information.