The recent Fetes de Bayonne attracted a “flashmob” estimated to be a crowd of over 2,000 people who danced to the song “I Gotta Feeling.” Today (Aug. 13), in Biarritz, France, another flashmob dance event, advertised on Facebook was scheduled to take place in front of the Biarritz casino, and organizers were hoping to get an even larger crowd.

On July 31, 2010, during the annual Fetes de Bayonne, hundreds of people
gathered to dance to “I Gotta Feeling.”

The gathering in Bayonne on July 31 may have been the second largest flashmob doing the dance to the Black Eyed Peas’ song, according to an EITB report. The first “I Gotta Feeling” flashmob danced to the Black Eyed Peas singing the song live in Chicago last year. Bayonne participants mostly showed up in the traditional San Fermin outfit of white with a red scarf, creating an impressive expanse of dancing red and white.

A flashmob is a new trend in which people are notified at the last minute, usually via a Facebook event, to join at a certain place and time, often wearing a special outfit, for a special gathering. Many of the events are political.

Many in the flashmob that gathered in Bayonne on July 31 prepared via weekly rehearsals of the dance in one of Bayonne’s main plazas. The steps to the dance were also available on Youtube. The event was part of the Basque port city’s annual festival, which attracts thousands to the cultural gathering of food, music and dancing.

A French news report on the Bayonne flashmob

The original flashmob doing this dance in Chicago last year.

An earlier flashmob was organized in Biarritz on June 8 for World Ocean Day but rain dampened spirits and organizers didn’t attract the crowd they hoped for.

June 8 flashmob dance in Biarritz

Flashmob website: See if there’s a flashmob event near you.