Flash mob in a flashpoint town: On Friday in Beit Shemesh, a city that has been a the center of the battle over exclusion of women from the public sphere and rising tensions between Israel's secular and Orthodox communities, about 100 women and girls burst into a seemingly spontaneous, and defiantly public, dance. The women, both religious and secular, were milling about in a central square as if they didn't know each other, when they all of a sudden they broke into a carefully choreographed and synchronized dance to the tune of Queen's "Don't Stop me Now." The practice where seeming strangers burst into coordinated activity in public is popularly known as a "flash mob" and has been seen in various incarnations across the globe. "We wanted to show the world a different side of Beit Shemesh. We wanted to protest in a unique way against segregation against women and the extremism and violence of a bunch of hooligans who succeeded in rattling the rest of the city," said Beit Shemesh resident Miri Shalem, one of the organizers of the flash mob.
(Credit: YouTube)
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Flash mobs have been used in past years to bring attention to various causes and movements. In June a flash mob wowed tourists walking around Jerusalem's Mamila pedestrian mall, with participants performing a professional dance routine in the middle of the mall and then seamlessly dispersing back into the crowd.
