It was International Line Dance Flash Mob Day on Saturday, and Burlington Centre hosted a line-dancing flash mob for the second year, organized by local dance teacher Tammy Wyatt.
Wyatt, of Bronte Boots N’ Spurs Line Dancing, said that this year’s flash mob was even bigger than last year’s, with “around 100 people.”
People came from as far away as Toronto and North York to participate in the Burlington flash mob, all for the two dances that the group performed together.
This year, the group danced to “Stand By Me” (the Ivan Jack remix), and “When You’re Drunk” by Olly Murs, the songs chosen by the International Line Dance Flash Mob Day (ILFD) organizers, Ben Murphy and Sascha Wolf, who are based in Germany.
The choreography is also decided upon by the organizers, explains Wyatt. Video tutorials are provided on the ILFD website for individuals to learn — or for teachers like Wyatt to teach to their classes.
International Line Dance Flash Mob Day happens on the first Saturday of May, and the rules are simple: learn the dance, find some other people to dance with, find a public place to dance (ensuring all necessary permits are in place, notes the ILFD website), and go do it! (And post about it on social media later so that your line-dancing brothers and sisters across the world can share in that good energy, too.)
As for Wyatt, she has been teaching line dancing for 31 years now. She’s been all over the world with this job, including teaching on cruise ships. “I love it, I don’t think I ever will retire,” Wyatt enthuses.
The music she plays when she teaches isn’t just country, either. “You’d be surprised, we dance to everything!” Wyatt says, pointing out that the 2024 flash mob songs were not country music songs.
“We dance to Adele, all kinds of music.”
Wyatt loves that line dancing is something that anyone can do, whether you’ve never danced before or you’ve got years of experience. “There’s something for everyone,” she notes. “From little kids to seniors.”
She describes Donna, a student who danced with her for her entire line-dancing teaching career, who recently passed away at the age of 90.
“She danced right up to a month before she passed,” Wyatt says. “She was an inspiration to people.”
Donna loved line dancing so much that her granddaughter has asked Wyatt and a small group to dance at Donna’s celebration of life.
“There is more to it than a lot of people think,” Wyatt explains. It’s dancing, of course (“You don’t even need a partner, how great is that?” Wyatt adds), but also a social experience, a place to have fun and make friends.
It can even be empowering, especially when the dancers take part in events like the flash mob.
“I’m always looking for something fun and the dancers love the out-of-the-box things. …They’ll say to me, ‘I can’t believe I did that in front of such a large group!’” Wyatt says.
Wyatt offers classes every Monday and Thursday at Burlington Legion and is also hosting a Line Dance Party there on May 17, from 6:30 p.m. to 11 p.m., at $15 per person. Head to her Facebook page (click here) for more information about her classes, call 905-691-5959 or email brontebootsnspurs@gmail.com.
