Bay Area Flash Mob: The Man Behind the Moves

While there's a renegade posse of San Franciscans who hate musicals -- elusive as the Yetti, but rumored to be true -- who spout the "too contrived" argument, I think we can all agree that Flash Mobs are fairly awesome. They take the best part of musicals and forgo the rest, infusing a random street corner with the kind of ebullient surprise usually reserved for stripper-grams and liquor-stuffed pinatas. 



Julien Rey -- Frenchman and Janet Jackson devotee -- is one of the forces behind the San Francisco's own Bay Area Flash Mob, serving as one of five co-founders and the prime choreographer/dance instructor. Rey, who moonlights as a software engineer, came to our humble city by way of Osaka where he honed his skills as a backup dancer for a drag queen.



"I was going to a gay bar frequently for karaoke -- I kind of like to show off sometimes -- and this queen said, "hey would you like to be a backup dancer? I said, 'hell yes!' He really taught me how to be break down dance steps."