westcoastprairiegirl

Did you know that Armando and I participated in a Paris Flashmob?

While in Paris, one of Armando’s MBA classmates, Ryan, proposed to his girlfriend, Lynn, while there.  That evening they made their way to Trocadéro Square, in front of the Eiffel Tower.

What was suppose to happen:  ESSEC Business School students and friends had a choreographed flashmob dance ready to perform to Bruno Mars’ “Marry You“.  Everyone would be wearing white shirts to look uniform.  Paris street dancers were hired to perform during the instrumental section of the song.  They were also providing the sound system.  Ryan was going to show up with Lynn at Trocadéro Square, right at midnight where we would flashmob them and timed for when the Eiffel Tower would do it’s midnight “sparkle lights” behind us.  Perfect plan.

What actually happened: We all gathered at our apartment that night for one last practice and to share some cheap France wine.  Hyped up as we made our way to catch the metro, we entertained everyone at our metro station with our superb singing and dancing. We were ready.  Next stop, Trocadéro.

Unfortunately, Paris rains a lot and that night was no exception.  So the white shirt effect was kind of lost under jackets.  We waited for the dancers and sound system to arrive.  But then we got the news just before midnight.  They would not be able to make it.  That also meant no sound system.  What were we going to do?

We contacted Ryan to tell him to delay his arrival as we tried to figure things out.  After exhausting all ideas we were left with one:  when they arrive we would give Lynn headphones attached to an iPhone so she could hear the song.  As for us, we would try to all sing the song from memory, hopefully in sync to the music Lynn would be listening to.

What were we going to do for the instrumental sections with no street dancers?  A couple of the girls volunteered to dance the first section and then Armando and I were asked to dance in the second.

So did it all come together?  Well, it wasn’t what we had initially envisioned and it was a bit of a gong-show with the lack of music for us to dance to and lack of people due to the rainy weather and one hour delay. But to be a part of a group of people from all over the world having fun in the pouring rain in celebration, in Paris, it was priceless.  And although midnight was supposed to be the last of the Eiffel Tower’s sparkly lights for the night, it sparkled on cue just as we sang our last note shortly after 1am.  What a perfect ending!

Take a look at the below video of our Paris Flashmob.  Keep in mind that there was no music playing and we were just singing the song…the music that was supposed to be playing is dubbed into this video to spare you having to listen to us butcher, er, sing the song. Oh, and pay attention to the ground…it will give you an idea of just how rainy it was that night!

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