"Initially, I thought it was a protest. I saw a huge crowd undulating, but it was quiet. I was really confused," Levy said.
Levy, who lives in Carlyle Court residence hall on Union Square, left his dorm to get a closer look at what was going on.
"Then, I noticed that everyone had an iPod and was grooving to their own beat," he said.
Levy wasn't the only one drawn in - last weekend's "Silent Rave" attracted an estimated 1,000 people. At exactly 6:17 p.m. Friday evening, without permission from the city, participants congregated in the park and started dancing to the rhythm in their own ears.
The crowd ranged from high school students to career professionals to a naked woman with red dye in her hair and elaborate body paint. Despite the occasional push and shove from the conga line, everyone remained unharmed and in high spirits.
Friday's "Silent Rave" is part of a trend that is surfacing all over the world. People are using the internet and other forms of digital communication to organize large, apparently purposeless social gatherings. Through Facebook, MySpace or text messaging, these groups convene in a public space and perform a predetermined action, confusing passersby and creating their own source of entertainment.
Popular activities include pillow fights, such as the one held in Union Square in March, subway parties and large games of capture the flag. The group Improv Everywhere organizes "missions" that gather interested individuals together to create what they call "organized fun." For example, last February, members of the group stood frozen in place on Grand Central's main concourse. YouTube users have uploaded videos of similar groups in London, Beirut, Edinburgh, Shanghai, Toronto and many other cities.
Why are so many people attracted to these events? CAS social psychology professor Jim Uleman said performing an action as part of a large crowd is a freeing experience.
"There is a certain energy and arousal that occurs" when participating in these groups, where the "anonymity opens up all kinds of possibilities," he said.
This most recent event was organized through Facebook by Jonnie Wesson, an 18-year-old exchange student from England studying at Packer Collegiate Institute in Brooklyn. Although he attributes the idea of a silent rave to two college students in England, he used the concept as a way to "repay New York" for being so good to him.
"I'm self-conscious," Wesson said. "But being able to [dance] in public with thousands of people is honestly one of the most liberating experiences."
In an article published April 20, The New York Times called the silent rave a "flash mob." Flash mobs have traditionally been defined as an impromptu gathering, but, as Wesson noted, the rave was "planned a month in advance." However, both Wesson and Uleman acknowledged that while Friday's event does not quite fit the Times' idea of a flash mob, it does follow the spirit of one.
"Flash mob" has not worked its way into the Oxford English Dictionary, but Urbandictionary.com already has several definitions. After conducting several searches on PsychInfo, professor Uleman was unable to find any research on the phenomena of flash mobs. Although the news media attempts to label it as a peculiar teenage fad, the developing nature of the "flash mob" leaves its definition open to debate.
Flash mobs are part of the larger movement to reclaim urban spaces. The website Newmindspace.com explains that what they call the "Urban Playground Movement" aims to promote "interactive public art, creative cultural interventions and urban bliss dissemination."
Whatever the definition of the phenomenon, an important characteristic that links all of these groups together is the lack of violence or political intent.
CAS freshman Mary Li attended a pillow fight in Boston's Copley Square. She said these events are strictly for "entertainment purposes."
"Not everything has to have an underlying message. Why can't things just be for the fun of it?" Li asked.
Improv Everywhere specifically refuses to organize events that draw attention to a cause.
"We are focused on creating comedy for comedy's sake and staging events that purposefully have no explicit reason behind them, other than the goal of spreading chaos and joy throughout the world," the group's website stated.
Noah Steiner, who works for MTV and participated in the Union Square silent rave, said he was excited to witness counterculture. He wanted to be part of an "optimistic activity" where people were gathering "not to cause any conflict."
The events are also linked by their dependence on new technology. Levy doesn't think these events would be possible without these newer forms of communication.
"With the advent of the internet, information can travel quickly to a select group of people. ... It adds another dimension to how we interact," Levy said.
NYU law student Marco Benator heard about the Silent Rave through Facebook. He raised the point that the purpose of Friday's event seemed to contradict itself.
"It's supposed to be a social event. But everyone is dancing to something only they can hear," Benator said.
Benator said the way the silent rave was conducted - everyone together, but separated by individual listening experiences - represents the present generation's relationship to technology in that no matter how connected we are by technology, we are still isolated, sitting at our computers or plugged into our iPods. In this sense, the random, spontaneous grouping can be taken seriously; though entertaining, it is truly reflective of our time, he said.
"Part of the purpose is that it has no purpose," Levy said.
Source: Washington Square News
Tags: Beirut, Comedy, Flash Mob, Improv, New York
