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January 18, 2016 by Jeff Moriarty Leave a Comment

No Pants 2016 Recap: We All Hate Pants

No Pants 2016Close to 400 people shed their modesty and their pants at the 8th annual No Pants Light Rail Ride!

On Sunday, January 10, 2016, our pantsless group boarded the light rail at four main locations throughout the valley. Lucky for us, it was the same weekend as the festivities for the national college football championships. This meant we had an influx of out-of-town guests who were shocked by how we roll in Phoenix. One person remarked, “This is almost as cool as Vegas”.

Valley Metro did a great job of crowd management by adding extra cars to the trains and providing security that helped our group spread out throughout the cars. The Phoenix Police were on hand near the downtown area, checking the cars for dubious characters, sweeping for radiation, and even brought a bomb dog through the cars. One of the officers asked us, “Aren’t you freezing your asses off?”

Our group converged on Angels Trumpet Ale House for a beverage and a bite and to share stories from our adventures. It was definitely a family affair this year – pantsless people of all ages and walks of life. One of our captains did the ride with her mom in tow. There was one particularly adorable couple on this year’s No Pants Light Rail Ride – an older duo who did the ride as part of their first date! The gentleman of the pair said, “Now we have a story to tell the grandkids. On our first date, we walked around town not wearing pants.” (We assume they already have their respective grandkids and were not planning to start popping out two more generations after meeting today.)

The No Pants Light Rail Ride is always a spectacle. Our favorite shirt of the day said, “I hate everyone (and pants).” We were so happy to see that our friends who wear animal heads, paws, and tails joined us again – sans pants of course. Their ability to play cornhole at Angels Trumpet, while wearing their giant heads was impressive.

Thank you to everyone who came out for the No Pants Light Rail Ride, and a huge thank you to Angels Trumpet for hosting us. The owners and servers did an incredible job taking care of everyone.

Be sure to check out the photos from this year’s ride on Flickr.

Make sure you’re on our mailing list to stay in the loop on our next flash mob and all our shenanigans.

The No Pants Light Rail Ride is part of global No Pants Subway Ride, founded by Improv Everywhere.

Filed Under: reports Tagged With: light rail, No Pants Subway Ride, nopantsaz

January 13, 2014 by Jeff Moriarty 1 Comment

Who needs pants? We definitely don’t!

Courtesy Devon Christopher Adams
Courtesy Devon Christopher Adams

On a gorgeous and warm Sunday, January 12, 2014 over 500 people rode the Phoenix area light rail for the 6th Annual No Pants Light Rail Ride. We started at light rail stops all over the valley with a shared destination of Central Avenue and Roosevelt Street. From there, the group walked to Angel’s Trumpet Ale House to have a beverage, share stories from their respective legs of the ride, and take photos.

https://secure.flickr.com/photos/nooccar/11923680546/lightbox/
Courtesy Devon Christopher Adams

The West Side ride started with a hiccup when a light rail security guard tried to tell the photographers in the group that they could not take pictures on the light rail. Thankfully we had a few legal eagles in our group who were able to explain the law to him that photography is permitted as long as it does not disrupt the light rail itself, which was confirmed by his supervisor.

Our group filled multiple trains.  Some panted passengers joyfully joined in our fun. Others looked at our bare legs with shock and confusion. One couple boarded the light rail at the airport stop and was so engrossed in their conversation and their phones that it took them two stops to realize that the majority of people around them were in their underwear. On another train, a family was traveling with small children. When the father saw the pantless group board the train, he sternly told his kids to close their eyes.  At one of the platforms, a German tourist requested pictures with several pantless riders and asked if public pantlessness was normal given Arizona’s conservative reputation.

https://secure.flickr.com/photos/nooccar/11923976956/sizes/c/in/photostream/
Courtesy Devon Christopher Adams

Of course the media showed up. The cool ones took their pants off and joined in the fun. Some of our organizers tried to shame the photographers from the Arizona Republic into taking their pants, but to no avail. One of our organizers and one of our photographers were interviewed by Fox 10 prior to the ride and made it on the local news.

https://secure.flickr.com/photos/nooccar/11924123266/sizes/z/in/photostream/
Courtesy Devon Christopher Adams

This event was started by Improv Everywhere in New York in 2002 and it has since become a global phenomenon. People in 60 cities and 25 countries participated in this year’s event, including Phoenix. You can see some of the photos from the No Pants Rides in other cities on Mashable.

Thank you to everyone who came out and joined us for this year’s No Pants Light Rail Ride, and thank you to Angel’s Trumpet Ale House for hosting us. Please share your photos on the event page. Our photographers have started posting their photos from the event on Flickr and will continue to add more as they process all their footage.

Filed Under: flash mob, reports Tagged With: light rail, no pants, nopantsaz, NoPantsPhx

April 17, 2013 by Jeff Moriarty Leave a Comment

Flashdance Flash Mob rocks the Fashion Center food court

image (cc) sheiladeeismeImprov AZ teamed up with ASU Gammage to do a flash mob inspired by Flashdance – The Musical. About 30 dancers, some amateur and some pro, kicked it up in front of a confused lunch crowd at Chandler Fashion Center to a song instantly familiar to anyone who lived through the 1980s.

This was one of our most work-intensive flash mobs to date, with three rehearsals and a practice video to get everyone up to speed on the moves. Many in the group donned their 1980’s best, with side ponytails and cut up shirts. Gammage hooked everyone up with pink Flashdance leg warmers and shirts to complete the ensemble.

Oh, What a Feeling!

We cut loose next to the food court at the beginning of the lunch rush on Saturday, April 13th. Things got off to a promising start, but as sometimes happens in flash mob, things didn’t go as planned.

Check out our video to see what happened, and how our intrepid flash mobbers (and the audience) responded:

We had one spectator try to join in in the middle of the song. She jumped right into the center of our group and did her best to follow the moves. She was awesome, and huge props to her, whoever she is. We also had a small boy get his groove on right after we dispersed, proving that good music will get your feet moving at any age.

You can check out some great Flashdance flash mob pictures on Flickr, and a big thanks to Chandler Fashion Center mall and ASU Gammage for making this happen!

If you want to make sure you don’t miss any other flash mobs, join our email newsletter!

Photography: Sheila Dee / Patrick McLeod
Video: Evo Terra / Debbie Walker / Alex Quitugua
Editing: Jeff Moriarty
Choreography: Weezy

Filed Under: flash mob, reports Tagged With: Chandler Fashion Center, dance, Flashdance, musical

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