Spontaneity for Hire: Flash Mobs Go Corporate

Companies Hire Dancers to Break Out in Public;

Shimmying for Shoes, Chicken

By LINDA FREUND

May 9, 2013

Trade-show goers roaming the floor at a natural-products expo in Anaheim, Calif., this spring suddenly faced dancers who materialized out of nowhere and erupted in a gyrating routine. Attendees glanced up from their swag bags to see dozens of shaking behinds rendering the Electric Slide to Kool & the Gang's "Celebration."

It seemed like just another "flash mob," one of those sudden gatherings of people in public places made popular a decade ago by participants who often coordinated the events via email. Hewing to flash-mob convention, the mob erupted unexpectedly, and participants later slapped videos of it on YouTube to spread through social media.

There was one difference: This mob was paid for.

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