Badminton community to unite for worldwide charity flashmob

September 29^th, 2012 will enter the history books  when people from over 110 cities perform the world’s largest flashmob to celebrate the second annual Solibad Day, and support the foundation Solibad – Badminton without Borders.

From remote islands in the Pacific Ocean to megapolises including London, Paris, Tokyo, Los Angeles and Singapore, the badminton community across 110 cities will perform a choreographed flashmob to Norwegian Recyclings’s mash-up Miracles in a demonstration of sporting solidarity, and to raise funds for Solibad’s projects around the world.

The second edition of Solibad Day, September 29^th 2012, promises break last year’s record for the world’s biggest flashmob in terms of the number of cities involved. Badminton’s biggest stars, straight from their Olympic campaigns, will lead the choreography for a unique moment of sport and solidarity, and to promote the actions of Solibad.

Danish legend Peter Gade, France’s badminton jewel Pi Hongyan, England’s renowned Nathan Robertson and many other top shuttlers – including some last minute surprises from the far east –  will be leading their respective flashmobs all around the world, one year after the first Solibad Day which featured 65 cities from 43 different countries.

“To put it in the simplest way…This is a great day, a great event and a great cause. Be a part of unique moment together and join us,” said Peter Gade (photo), Solibad’s Special Ambassador and a participant in the inaugural flashmob held on June 5^th 2011.

This year, Manila’s biggest mall will host one of the two flashmobs held in that city, while badminton addicts will dance in front of the famous Hollywood sign, the Louvre Museum, the Sydney Opera, in an Israeli kibbutz as well as in Pakistan, combining local traditions with the  hope that Solibad’s projects bring to children in different parts of the world.

The children of Solibad’s projects will also be joining the rest of the badminton community performing that same dance in their orphanages in Bali (Indonesia) in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), and Gravata (Brazil), and saying thank you.

“This time, the event will be even bigger with almost twice as many cities participating, including newcomers from very remote places in Oceania such as Saipan, Northern Mariana Island and big cities like New York City or Mexico City. This will also be an opportunity for all the flashmob organizers around the world to raise funds to help some of our new projects – one of which is a badminton academy in Brazil that aims to take children out of their violent environment,” said Raphael Sachetat, founder and president of Solibad.

Amongst the most notable cities hosting the flashmobs are Los Angeles, Auckland, Paris, London, Tel Aviv, Tokyo, Fiji, Sydney, Rio de Janeiro, Singapore, Hong Kong and Manila. Many other cities – big and small – will be part of this unique event, with Timisoara, Romania being the 100^th city to join and new cities announcing their involvement every day. Solibad’s latest flashmob in June 2011 broke the world record of the most flashmobs held on the same day. This edition promises to be an even bigger success.

Official Website:
http://www.solibad.net/flashmob

List of participating cities:

http://www.solibad.net/flashmob/index.php/villes

2011 Flashmob:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgY9jxFh8RU

Definition

Wikipedia defines a flashmob as “a group of people who suddenly gather in a public place to perform an unusual and seemingly pointless act for a brief time, and then disperse, often for the purposes of entertainment, satire and artistic expression. Flashmobs are organized via telecommunications, social media, or emails”.