On March 28th, San Francisco’s Union Square was host to what seemed at first to be an impromptu “dance battle” between two young kids, a boy and a girl. As a resident of SF, I can tell you that alone, that in itself wouldn’t necessarily be considered anything unusual. As the beginning of this video shows, it’s common to find enterprising young performers on the corners and sidewalks of this city, entertaining passers-by, both locals and tourists alike, with their impressive skills.
On that day, however, witnesses were treated to something special. The two kids were joined by four more. Then another four entered the space. By that time, it became clear that this was no random event. San Francisco seems like the perfect place to hold a flash mob — a sudden gathering of people who perform an organized act, usually premeditated and organized. There’s something about this city that engenders the prankish spirit.
In this case, H&M, the Swedish clothing company, created this dance-off to promote its H&M Kids line of clothing; presumably all the children in the mob sported fashions that are purchasable from the company, though it didn’t look as though any official spokesperson showed up at the end to talk about it. This might have been a straight-to-YouTube effort, hoping for viral video-hood. If so, congratulations, H&M: it worked!
Aside from all that, did it seem that any of the dance moves were a little too racy for kids to be performing? Was it all simply good, clean fun?
