Hurrah, a mission report that’s on time, and has a bunch of photos and videos! 
Snap Battle
The idea for this mission has been kicking around the minds of Rogue Improv Calgary agents almost since the Calgary IE Global group started. This is the original text of the post that Agent Scott made to suggest it:
“Something to consider, a massive group finger snap. Something like a Mall on a Saturday, and everyone stops walking and starts snapping their fingers in sync… could really freak people out”
Soon enough, this idea was elaborated into a West Side Story sort of mold – have two groups of people face off against each other, with snapping (and possibly spirited dancing) their main means of “fighting.” It later crystallized into one short statement: West Side Story crossed with You Got Served.
After doing the bananaphone and freeze missions to help Rogue Improv Calgary get its bearings, the group felt it was ready to take on this popular idea. Brainstorming aplenty was had on Facebook, and a meeting was held at a Second Cup to bash out the final details. It was ultimately decided that the “battle” would be between red shirts and blue shirts so as to make the Reality Shift stand out more to onlookers (and to keep anyone from worrying that a real fight was going to break out). Agent Angie was selected as the Blue Team captain, and Agent Alliy was selected as the Red Team captain. Agent Sanford, who was not present at the meeting, was assigned to being the whistle blower who breaks up the fight (in accordance with what happens in the West Side Story prologue).
Stephen Avenue Walk in downtown Calgary was chosen as the location, due to the fact that it is closed off to vehicles during the day. We originally wanted to try Devonian Gardens, but due to a few problems (*cough* such as rudeness on their part), we scrapped that idea. Millennium Park was also an option, and it may indeed be the location used if we ever re-do this Shift in the future.
On the day of the event, the weather was absolutely gorgeous, and there were people wandering all around Stephen Ave. Perfect! Our group met for debriefing at the Famous Five monument in Olympic Plaza. Unfortunately, our turnout was much lower than expected – 40 people on the guest list marked as “attending”, and 12 people showed up (not including myself). If fewer people had shown up, we were prepared to do a quick Moebius event instead. Thankfully, 12 was just enough to have two teams and one whistle-blower.
While waiting for stragglers, our team captains took the agents aside to practice a bit of rough choreography. Though we are Rogue Improv Calgary, this is the sort of event where at least some choreography is necessary. We did not end up planning out a sequence for the whole dance, only individual dance moves to be picked and used as the team leaders deemed fit. Thus, the argument you see in the video and the entire fight is mostly improvised (if you want to use the term that way).
Also while waiting, we took great amusement in looking at a nearby group of people doing some sort of laughing exercises. I kid you not, it was yoga with a focus on laughing really loudly. Glad to know we weren’t the only group in Calgary doing strange, fun things that day.
Finally, when all agents were ready, everyone fanned out and headed for the Stephen Avenue “trees,” which we had deemed the most suitable area of the street to use. Not familiar with the, ahem, “trees”?
Yeah.
In any case, I wandered around pretending to be snapping photos of Stephen Avenue and the “trees” themselves. Yeah, I know, it’s kind of a lousy cover for filming the event, but I couldn’t find an easy way to both conceal and use my point-and-shoot camera at the same time. …I got some pretty good photos of Stephen Ave out of doing this, but that’s neither here nor there.
Can you spot Agent Sanford in this picture?
A member of Team Red camping out, waiting for the fun to start.
Eventually, while I was sitting on a bench sorting my pictures, Agent Angie stood up from a bench further away, crumpled the newspaper she had been reading, and tossed it over her shoulder. This didn’t go unnoticed for long, as Agent Alliy stepped forward and loudly confronted her about it. The two argued for a few minutes, and I tried to film without looking like I was filming. I failed pretty miserably at that; see the Snap Battle Uncut video to see what I mean.
Snap Battle – Uncut!
Agent Angie told me later that she had seen a little old lady further away who looked like she wanted to move in and break up the argument. Thankfully, the captains started snapping and circling each other before she could make a move. Once that started, all the other agents began to join in, some pulling off hoodies that they had been hiding their team colours underneath.
The battle itself looked wonderful throughout, but there was one setback. Before the argument had started, there were a significant number of people around our area. Just as the argument began, however, a bunch of people left, and the street was much emptier than we thought it would be. A few people walked by looking weirded out, but not many. On the brighter side, at least, I was told later that some agents caught glimpses of people inside nearby stores and restaurants looking and frantically calling others over to look with them.
After the battle was over, I tried to film a few reaction shots, but the people I approached weren’t that willing to talk. The last group I approached seemed wise to my ways, telling me directly in a cheeky manner, “You guys are putting on a play and now you’re trying to get reactions.” I asked him why on earth he would think that, and as he started to respond, I pulled one side of my hoodie over my face all Snidely Whiplash-style and ran away. Curses! Note to self: do whatever it takes to find a way to conceal that damn digital camera and still be able to operate it.
In any case, all agents met up back at Olympic Plaza for pats on the back, group photos, agent interviews, and make-up hugs.
Snap Battle – Behind the Scenes
Hopefully, we’ll be able to re-do this event in the future with more agents and more cameras. It was a blast to do, and I would love to see it one-up itself.
Until next Reality Shift!
