Students' rendition of world dance craze reaches 78,000 YouTube hits in three days

It's the danze craze that has swept the globe and now UEA students have joined in by holding a Gangnam Style flashmob.

The video shows students of the university and of INTO, the language preparation course for international students, performing in the UEA square. The actual flashmob took place on Tuesday.

More than 50 students learned the dance during five practices.

Rachel Watkins, marketing co-ordinator at INTO UEA and flashmob organiser, said: 'Everyone really bonded throughout the rehearsals and I think that helped us to perform like rock stars on the day.

'Studying at INTO is not all about work - we have such a diverse range of people from all around the world, who form strong friendships during their time with us. We wanted to celebrate those friendships and the fun spirit of INTO by doing this flashmob - I think that we succeeded!'

The YouTube video had received 78,840 hits by 4.30pm on Friday.

Caio Biasoli, student at INTO UEA and lead dancer, said: 'Studying at INTO has been proving as a surprisingly great experience. When I first got here, even though I already expected INTO to be just as well structured as it is, I never thought there would be so many social activities.

'The Gagnam Style flashmob, as an example, was an exciting way of meeting new people and, gradually, becoming more integrated in a new social life. During a little bit more than a month, we had weekly training sessions in which we had a choreography teacher's companion and lots of fun between our 'multi-national dance crew'.

'The flashmob itself, despite the weather, was striking and had an incredible response - perhaps because it represented quite well the friendly environment that students find in the University of East Anglia. The flashmob can be seen as a quite fair tip of what the upcoming students are about to be experiencing here at INTO.'

Gangnam Style is a single by the South Korean pop artist PSY and has made its way into the consciousness of David Cameron and Barack Obama. The dance has been performed by the West Indies cricket team, on winning the World Twenty20 competition this year, and has also been parodied by numerous clubs and groups across the world.

* The YouTube video with nearly 80,000 hits is a student video. The one we've embedded is INTO's produced video.