VISITORS
at the Taste of the Marianas at American Memorial Park got a pleasant
wave of surprise when several individuals broke into a lively dance near
the stage during a short break in the performances on Saturday night.
Organized
by Our Laolao Campaign, the flash mob stressed the importance of a
litter-free Laolao Bay. Necks craned toward the direction of the flash
mob as more dancers joined the group in an island-style music mix of
Train’s chart topping “Soul Sister,” “Oops!...I Did It Again,” by
Britney Spears, and Katy Perry’s “Firework.”
Grabbing the attention of everyone was
the mob’s star dancer wrapped in garbage from head to toe. In less than
five minutes, the performance was over.
Often appearing out of nowhere, a flash
mob starts with one person, and quickly grows into a crowd of people
dancing a choreographed routine, and within minutes, quickly disperses.
The flash mob on Saturday was the latest
of the string of activities conducted by the Our Laolao campaign to
raise awareness about Laolao Bay’s cultural importance and the need to
keep it litter-free and healthy for future generations.
“The flash mob draws attention to the
Our Laolao campaign in a fun way and hopefully gets people to stop and
think about the places that make Saipan special,” said Emanuel Borja, an
environmental engineer with the Division of Environmental Quality and
in-house choreographer for the campaign.
“We hear so many environmental messages
about protecting the land and seas that sometimes we forget that what we
are really trying to preserve is our way of life,” Borja added in his
statement.
The flash mob was a result of a week of
rehearsals and involved 30 community members from local high schools,
government agencies and organizations.
The Our Laolao campaign emphasizes the
shared responsibility of protecting Saipan’s precious environmental
resources. It also centers on the community stories about Laolao, which
are featured on the campaign website, highlighted through outreach
activities and local advertising in the media.
The Our Laolao campaign is a
collaborative effort between local government agencies and organizations
on Saipan led by DEQ, Coastal Resources Management, the Division of
Fish and Wildlife, the Mariana Islands Nature Alliance, the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Coral Reef Conservation Program,
and SeaWeb.
For more information, visit the campaign
website, OurLaolao.com to learn why Saipan residents are stepping up to
protect the bay and to find out how to join the movement.
First published HERE
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