MAAS staff member Jim Fishwick breaks out some moves in the Museum’s zero gravity lab space. Source: Powerhouse Museum
Tilly Boleyn, The Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences has the moves! April 17, 2015
When you think of a museum employee you might imagine them wearing a tweed jacket, horn rimmed glasses and white gloves while they talk at you in dry monotone. In reality, that couldn’t be further from the truth (except for the horn-rimmed glasses. They’re great).
If you want proof, check out our entry for the Museum Dance Off competition. We need your help to win the People’s Choice Trophy. The first round of voting is on 29 April so mark it in your diary!
Museum Dance Off started last year when the woman behind the popular Tumblr “When you work at a museum” decided to do her bit to show that museum workers are actually a pretty sparkly bunch. Inspired by Indiana State Museum’s viral rendition of Pharrell Williams’ song ‘Happy’, the Museum Dance off showed that…
“…museums aren’t dusty, dingy hallways full of creaky old nerds in orthopaedic shoes and bowties. They are vibrant, lively places full of talented, creative people who love what they do.”
The 2014 Dance Off motivated 22 museums from four continents to put together a short clip dancing to popular tunes giving a ‘behind the scenes’ look into the weird and wonderful people who make up the museum sector.
In 2015, the dance off is back as Museum Dance Off 2: Electric Boogaloo. This year the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences wanted to get in on the action and over two weeks of filming, employees from all over the museum came together to shake a tail feather and share their inner go-go dancer.
There are 28 museums in this year’s Museum Dance Off who will battle it out over three rounds to take out the People’s Choice Trophy and have bragging rights over their fellow cultural institutions. MAAS is scheduled to duke it out against the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 of Halifax, Nova Scotia and the National Museum of American History in Washington, DC.
Our voting round opens at 10pm on the 28th April and closes at 10pm on the 29th April thanks to our location relative to the Eastern Daylight Time Zone. You can vote as many times as you like during that 24 hour period, all you have to do is go to the blog When You Work at a Museum and cast your vote.
Spread the word via social media using the hashtag #museumdanceoff2 and help ensure that the flashing, sparkly fabulousness of your favourite museum takes the top spot.
CAMD wishes the Powerhouse Museum crew and the Otago Museum dancers best of luck in the upcoming dance-off!
