On Saturday, more than 200 jazzercise instructors and students from the Eastside, Seattle and the greater Puget Sound area stopped traffic in Redmond Town Center during a six and a half minute flash mob routine.

A flash mob is a coordinated dance event where people gather to perform at a venue without prior knowledge by the venue’s managers and customers.

Shannon Fisher of Redmond Ridge Jazzercise organized the flash mob and said there was a fair amount of finessing and negotiating with the town center’s security to hold the event.

“I don’t think they knew what to do with 200 plus women — and a few men — dancing in the street,” Fisher said.

She added that a number of bystanders joined in on the dance, following along with the people in front of them. Fisher said one of the goals of the flash mob was to change the perception of jazzercise being a dated form of exercise. Using hip-hop, Latin and other forms of music, jazzercise can be current and good for all ages, shapes, sizes and abilities, Fisher said.

“It’s not your mother’s jazzercise,” Fisher said.

To watch a video of the flash mob, click here.