Ovuwa Cultural Ensemble flash mob in the Merensky 2 Library

Mid March the Marketing Office was approached by Esther Maphanga of the UP Ovuwa Cultural Ensemble with the following request: “We would like to request permission to do a flash mob within the library as part of our marketing strategy for our upcoming concerts. We have a Lunch Hour Concert, Dzivamisoko Concert as well as Africa Day concert, all in April.”

Thus the wheels were set in motion and the organizing of the flash mob started in all earnest. The flash mob took place on Thursday 19 April 2018 at 12:30 and lasted just 5 minutes. The students were caught by surprise with the singing and dancing on level 3 of the Merensky 2 Library, but they loved the short period of excitement and stormed to the floor to watch the action firsthand. 

The organizer would like to thank Andre du Plessis and Steph Pond of the Department of Education Innovation who produced the video for us. The flash mob video can be viewed on the UP Library’s YouTube channel at https://youtu.be/pWk727fhFJQ

On 25 May 2018 – Africa Day – the University of Pretoria‘s social media pages,Twitter and Facebook, shared the flash mob which reached 45 199 people on Facebook (totalling 13,884 views, 452 reactions, 245 shares) and 4 866 Twitter impressions!

These are some of the student responses:

“This really was fantastic.” - Dagnachew B. Wakene

“Awesome stuff!. Please come to medical campus next time. I enjoyed it.” - Phineas Mabula

“...Ah, bona I missed it!! Nooh” - Marcia T Mabuya Thobekarh

Our two previous flash mobs can also be viewed on YouTube:

• Our collaboration with the University of Pretoria’s Symphony Orchestra:  https://youtu.be/RrGA_j9ux34 (4812 views)
• Our collaboration with Tuks Camerata: https://youtu.be/R_hdjTbmMsc (51 577 views)