Hundreds of Canberrans took time in their lunch break on Friday, 2 June, last year to join a flashmob-style ‘Nutbush’ dance in the middle of Civic.

Well, it’s officially becoming an annual event.

Canberra Museum and Gallery (CMAG), based in Civic Square, organised the original event as homage to US rock legend Tina Turner, who died 24 May, 2023, aged 83.

Days later, an event listing on social media called for “people with the grooves, moves and a great sense of fun” to don their best 1980s hairstyle and gather outside the Canberra Theatre Centre.

The music was pumped out through speakers on the building’s front steps, while members of the centre’s Cultural Facilities Corporation led the way.

Tina Turner and then-husband Ike released ‘Nutbush City Limits’ in 1973 as an ode to her home town of Nutbush, a cotton-growing community in the US state of Tennessee.

But the dance moves we know – clapping and spinning and kicking one leg up in the air – aren’t hers.

The story goes that in the late ’70s, NSW schools were looking at ways to incorporate dance into physical education classes when someone put Tina’s music to a back-and-forth line dance called ‘Madison’.

Schools in other states soon picked it up, and the result has become an unofficial national anthem and almost a requirement for weddings and other jovial events across Australia.

Colourful wigs and other 1980s hairstyles were encouraged. Photo: James Coleman.

A flashmob in outback Queensland in 2023 broke the world record for the most people performing the ‘Nutbush’, with 5838 attending the Birdsville Big Red Bash, only for NSW to break it a month later with 6594 people taking part in the Mundi Mundi Bash.

Director of Museums and Galleries for ACT Galleries Anna Wong says while Canberra might not be attempting a similar ‘Nutbush’ record, they’re hoping to create an “institution of the local dance scene” by holding it again for 2024.

“We got a lot of really positive feedback last year – people saying, ‘we hope you do this again, it was so much fun’,” she says.

“It was a very spontaneous idea that we had, and we were surprised by how successful it was.”

This year’s dance, to be held Tuesday, 25 June, will be led by none other than the cast from a Tina Turner tribute concert, taking place in the Canberra Theatre Centre that evening.

“We’ve lined it up for the same day because the cast has said they’d love to lead,” Anna says.

“It’s really easy, so everyone can join in.”

It might not be a flashmob in the strictest sense of the word, in that Canberrans are being given advance notice on social media, but the spirit is there.

This’ll warm you up. Photo: James Coleman.

“There’s definitely a great deal of affection for Tina Turner – generally because of what she represents and her music and connection to Australia – but I also think people just love the opportunity to join a flashmob.”

It also brought people to CMAG who would otherwise have not known it existed.

“The whole premise and design of Civic Square is really about being part of the community, and this represents a lot of what we’re about.”

Does this mean it’s coming back every year?

“I mean, as long as people have fun and ask for it, we would love to continue to build it,” Anna says.

“I think we appreciate that we can’t break world records in the first attempt.”