Videos & Comments About South African High School "Flashes" (spelling with blazers during sport war cries performances)

PinPro Media,  Feb 15, 2020

Theme: Game On (Runners-up) Flashes are performed by not more than 650 learners and not to exceed 5:30min. (This is the same view the judges had.) © PinPro Media

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Edited by Azizi Powell Latest Update - Nov. 24, 2022 This is Part II of this pancocojams series on South African high schools' war caries. This post showcases videos of and comments about South African high school students performing "flashes" ("blazer spellings") while chanting war cries at their sport events. This post also presents an excerpt from a Wikipedia article about South African high school flashes ("blazer spelling"). The Addendum to this post is divided into two sections: An online excerpt about the unequal South African educational system is included in Pancocojams Editor Note #1. My Pancocojams Editor Note #2 presents my opinions about how American based vlog discussion threads provide more information about South African culture than discussion threads for South African based vlogs. I included these same editorial notes in Part I of this pancocojams series. Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2022/11/south-africans-share-information-about.html for Part I of this pancocojams post. That post showcases two YouTube videos of South African high school war cries, and provides selected comments from those videos' discussion thread. An online excerpt about the unequal South African educational system is included in Pancocojams Editor Note #1. My Pancocojams Editor Note #2 presents my opinions about how American based vlog discussion threads provide more information about South African culture than discussion threads for South African based vlogs. Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2022/11/south-africa-high-school-war-cry.html for Part III of this pancocojams series. That post showcases videos and comments from several YouTube discussion threads about South African high school war cries that were inspired by the African American Hip Hop artist Future's 2017 Hip Hop record "Mask Off". For comparison's sake, the Addendum to that post showcases a YouTube video of an African American marching band performing "Mask Off" at a United States university sports event. The content of this post is presented for socio-cultural, recreational, and educational purposes. All copyrights remain with their owners. Thanks to all those who are featured in these showcased videos and thanks to the publishers of these videos on YouTube. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post. -snip- Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2022/11/south-africans-explaining-game-of-rugby.html for the related pancocojams post entitled "South Africans Explaining The Game Of Rugby to People From The United States". **** SHOWCASE VIDEO #2: Michaelhouse Spell 2018 HomeThomas Witherspoon, May 7, 2018
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SHOWCASE VIDEO #3: South Africa! These MTBS Flashes are lit!!

That Fire LA, Sept. 10, 2020
****INFORMATION ABOUT SOUTH AFRICA'S MTBS FLASHES
from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MTBS#:~:text=MTBS%20is%20an%20annual%20interschools,and%20includes%20cheerleading%20and%20flashes.
"MTBS is an annual interschools athletics competition (the largest in South Africa) held between four high schools located in Bellville, Western Cape. The competition is mainly an athletics meeting and includes cheerleading and flashes.[1] These schools are: D.F. Malan High School, Tygerberg High School, Bellville High School and Stellenberg High School. [2] The name is a derived acronym from the names of the schools in that order. The first MTBS took place in 1994. This was the brain child of the late Frans du Toit, a retired teacher from JG Meiring High School in Goodwood and a part time sports journalist.[3]

The flashes consist of each school showing theirs images while sitting on the pavilion. [4] This performance (named flashes) consists of a medley of songs during which the pupils create a "human LCD screen" on the pavilion. This is achieved by them opening and closing their school blazer at unique pre-determined moments, with each student effectively functioning as a pixel and thus allowing images and animations to be displayed. Other parts of the school uniform (such as dresses and socks) may also be used, but no other props (such as cards) are allowed. Each school' adheres to a specific theme that has been chosen by that particular school. The annual attendance is an estimated 12,000 spectators. The athletics and flashes are attended by the whole community. It receives coverage by South African newspapers Die Burger, Tygerburger and Rapport. It has also been broadcast on national television channel SABC 2.[1] Similar events exist: most notably in South Korea. Different athletics items take place throughout the day; including short distance sprints, long distance running, hurdles shot put, javelin, long jump, discus, high jump, triple jump and relay races. Two athletes from each school take part in an event, adding up to 8 athletes in each event.

[…]

From 1994 until 2016, there were only 2 categories (Athletics and Flashes) in the competition. (excl. 2004, 2005, 2015, 2016)[5] The Athletics cup is awarded to the school with the highest total score, according to the scoring system. The Flashes and Best Spirit is independently judge. If a school won both it is called "double gold". In 2017 the Best spirit category was added. If a school won all three it is called “triple gold”.[6] [7]”…
-snip-
Here's a YouTube comment exchange that explains how these "flashes" are performed. The comments are from; e from a 2019 video of DF Malan's flashes performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2LjTaZDOOo South African High School Cheer - Is this the best Cheerleaing ever?, published by Bit Media24, August 1, 2019

Dillan Botha,2020
"its a competition between 4 schools in Cape Town's northern suburbs called the MTBS. Bellville, Tygerberg, Stellenberg and DF Malan high Schools participate every year. Give MTBS 2017, 2018, 2019 a search and check the rest. They use excel spreadsheets to create the images. Then each child gets a card with 200 or so "flashes" on, and they learn when the sould open or close their blazers on the music, rythm and cheerleaders in front."
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Reply
The Real Big Floppa, 2020
"They design it on an app and then print the 'flashes' with each seat having their named flashes, which is either bold and marked with a '(X)' for closed/blue or just normal font for open/white. They then just learn you the queues and keywords. Back in the day before this they'd learn you it by telling each person what they are, but that took ages."

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SELECTED COMMENTS FROM A YOUTUBE DISCUSSION THREAD ABOUT SOUTH AFRICAN HIGH SCHOOL "FLASHES"
from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6A5hrtH18Q [This is the discussion thread for the video given as Showcase Video #3. The vlogger That Fire LA is an African American. Most of his vlog postings are reaction videos of South African contemporary music, dance, and other cultural aspects of South Africa.

A "reaction video" is when the vlogger showcases a video that they have seen for the first time and gives their reaction about that video while encouraging the vlog's visitors to share their comments about that video and/or their reaction to what the vlogger said.]

Numbers are given for referencing purposes only. 
2020

1.Terri Lourens
"MTBS is an acronym for the four High Schools that participate: (DF) Malan, Tygerberg, Bellville and my school Stellenberg High (the green dresses). My first year was 2009 when Stellenberg started a 5 year long singing cup winning streak! Ocean Fever was our theme as we only has one noticeable mistake. MTBS's that predate 2014 are the best as the event (at least the singing part of it) went on a 4 year break so it's a lot smaller and there are 4 years worth of kids doing it for the first time and the rest who only did it once.

Dude we would train for MONTHS to pull this off! We trained harder than the athletes!😂😂 We would SWEAT in those uniforms ALL DAY IN THE SUN. These were honestly some of the best memories of my school career. AND WHEN WE WON! WHEN WE WON! Tears man. Tears everywhere."

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2. Heather van Os
"I'm from South Africa. These blazer flashes were a big highlight of the year for me! They create such a sense of unity and achievement, having to get several hundred people to all cooperate"

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3. cherry cub
"this took about 3 weeks if I remember right. we were practicing almost every day for hours. we worked so hard. this is one of the biggest events in our school. we worked so hard, practicing in school time for 2 hours and then practicing together at school at night too. we even had some days where we practiced for the entire day, 8 hours of hard core practice. that's how much we put into this so I'm sooo happy to see that you like it ✨"
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4. Lauryn Miya
"Bruh these are the interhighs, normally when school kids compete with other schools in athletics the rest of the kids in the different schools compete amongst each other, not sure if it makes sense but while athletes run and compete, the rest of the kids don't just sit and watch, we compete in MTBS with rival schools so its kinda like a double competition. I dont know how to explain it but hope you get the idea.Its just standard, it normally happens in the early start of the year, we practice everyday for months leading upto the competition/athletics day, come hell or sunshine that practice is done, you mess up in the routine, you basically die lol. Everyone in the school has to participate, its actually a big deal, its part of our school culture. The front kids are the seniors and cheerleaders. Its actually fun. Our highschool experience is so fun. So wish I could go back in time."
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5. Ryan -McBain
"Yo watch Michaelhouse  or Hilton spelling, not on the same level but its before school rugby matches and its lit"

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6. Carl Behm
"BRO I am in stellenberg the ones who did the first flashes"

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7. Chamu Chamurorwa
"This is fantastic. I recommend you search these mass displays performed by North Koreans."

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8. Ashleigh Deyzel
"3:31 Green is the colour of the girls dresses (school uniform)"

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9. We_love_Brooklyn
"If you look carefully they doing it mostly just with there school jackets that’s it"

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10. Lize-May Gade
"Yup! They are only allowed to use the uniform - so shirts, blasers and the jade school dress"

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11.ATHENKOSI RUBELA
"It takes us 3 weeks to learn the flashes. Check out Stellenberg 2011 and 2012 flashes. They lit"
-snip-
"It's lit" is That Fire LA's catch phrase. Consequently, a lot of his commenters use that phrase. It's lit means "It's really great"("Lit" is an expansion of  the slang use of "fire", "smoking","hot". "the bomb" etc to mean that something is really done well.)

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12, Xander Groenewald
"WATCH DF MALAN THEY WON 2020 MTBS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

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13. Vicky Augustus
"Go watch the smaller version of flashes with 350 people like Schools like Nico Malan mtbs is pretty much just a name for an annual sports event"

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14. Manqona Masidale
"Am South African never seen such thing wow"

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15. Vesh N
"Schools like Hilton, DHS ect. also do this for rugby games just not as good as this."

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16. KHOTSO KHANYAPA
"These are usually done at rugby games,we used to do them to compete with other schools,we called it "The Big Brag",which school is better,we'd flex etc"

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17.Thabi Anzeel
"In S.A. Sports tournaments is taken very seriously AT schools..We go all out in different ways 🇿🇦🇿🇦"

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18. Busi Mathe
"What province is this done in??? I'm gonna guess and say western cape  because that province is literally it own country 😂😂😂"

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19. kindra's korner
"It takes months of preparation and practice. Long tiring hours but after you do it you feel this sensation. There are multiple years of this, Stellenbergs 2018 and 2013 ones are my favorites"

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20. Hilke Minnie
"Heyyy from South Africa. I am one of the 8 cheerleaders who created and help with the flashes. The rest of us would love to answer all the questions you have regarding the MTBS flashes or even more🤩"

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Reply

21. Hilke Minnie
"Ooh and I am in Stellenberg High school, the school you reacted to. Thank you sooo much for the feedback💚💚"

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22. Betty Ndaba
"Hey @Hilke Minnie how long does it take to get the choreographer right?"

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23. bronwyn leah
"Betty Ndaba Hi! fellow Stellenberg High School student, also participated in the MTBS, it takes MONTHS, out first 3 months of school is basically dedicated to this, we practice about 5 days a week, 3/5 hours during school time and 3/4 hours a day after school!"

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24. Frank, the girl.
"I remember practicing for these flashes at high school. It was the best time ever"

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25. Sifiso Dimmock
"I'm South African and I've never seen such in my entire life......Wow"

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26. DJ Nasion
"haha private school things"

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27.Somisa Mhangwana
"@DJ Nasion  we also go to private schools but this is one of those 10k per month schools👀"

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28. ChristiaanDB1
"Somisa Mhangwana this is actually a government school 😂 completely public"

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29. Lize-May Gade
"DJ Nasion not at all! All 4 schools are government schools in Cape Town Northern Suburbs!"

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30. Lize-May Gade
"Somisa Mhangwana nope! Government schools!"

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31. Amunition Manyaga
"Damn...

I ddnt even know there were public schools for white folks lol. Thought it was a kasi thing."
-snip-
"Kasi" is a South African slang word meaning "hood" / "ghetto".

["Kasi" doesn't appear to be a negative referent.] 

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32. Michael Parfitt
"I go to one of the school in this , bro its amazing"

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33. Edrian Luyt
"I think It's mostly done by schools around Cape Town. And only for Interschool Athletics. Not Rugby matches. I might be wrong about only Cpt Schools, but I also n have not seen it outside Western Cape. (And it's normal public schools)"

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34. Abakwe Ramafi
"Somisa Mhangwana nah fam my school is almost 10k a month and I can guarantee you we don’t do this at aaaaaallll"

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35.  Corné Verster
"@Amunition Manyaga  lmao al 4 schools here that took part are public schools mixed genders and races

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36. Bonga Percival
"Where are from if you have never seen this"

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37.  Corné Verster
"@Bonga Percival  Ikr when these things happen its on the news , tv shows and newspapers 📰"

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38. Nelly T
"Me too...I've never experienced nor seen this before....This is AMAZING....WOW this country is full of great talent...WOW WOW WOW!!!!"

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39.  Jojo Masipa
"Have you never been to a Inter schools athletic meet. They have a cup for the supporters also. It is stunning to watch - every school work so hard!!"

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60. Alne Barnard
"@Amunition Manyaga  Hahaha no some private schools are way to expensive. There's hundreds of public schools where you can find any colour person."

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61. Alne Barnard
" @Edrian Luyt  Having to move around a lot and going to  4 different high schools all in different provinces( Limpopo, Gauteng, Mpumalanga and Western Cape) I can say that  it is only the Western Cape Schools that does this. The other provinces does have interschools for athletics but they don't do the flashes like WC does."

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62. • B L O O P •
"There were quite a lot of memes of Bellville and Tygerberg coping each other bc their endings were the same😂😂"

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2021
63. Tiisetso Shakwane
"I'm from SA my first time seeing this. Gotta say it's Lit 🙂"

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64. CJ Yung
"Damn that’s littty who else enjoying this"

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65. Kolour Gen
"✨🥲This has me bawling my eyes out! To think of how much time and camaraderie our children in South Africa missed this year! My boys are at an all boys’ school and the inter-house singing competition is an annual event which they obviously missed in 2020. Every boy MUST sing and the team spirit is next level! ✨"
-snip-
This comment refers to in-school learning halted and/or sports activities prohibited because of Covi-19.

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2022

Megan Church
"This takes me back 20 years! I took part in MTBS 1999 - 2003. Every year at the start of the school year, January for us, we would be at school after hours every night from say 5pm-8pm practicing, and every period at school during the day we didn't have class we would be practicing these moves and songs. I was in Malan, we were much smaller than the school featured (Stellies) - I will never forget how bone-chilling their cries were on the pavilion- they always sang lounger and with more force! Loved their songs! One year we stuck thumtags to the bottom of our shoes and did riverdancing- it was so much fun. A great way to participate"...

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ADDENDUM

PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTE #1: SOUTH AFRICA'S UNEQUAL SCHOOLS  The South African high schools that are shown in numerous YouTube video compilations performing war cries at sports events is just one small glimpse of South African high schools.

The information that I've gleaned from reading various YouTube discussion threads for South African high school war cries indicates that only a small number of those high schools perform "flashes"/ blazer spellings. Many South African commenters wrote that they had never seen or heard of that custom before watching YouTube videos of it.

It's also important to recognize that many South African high schools aren't like those that are showcased in YouTube videos of war cries/flash performances. Here's an excerpt about the unequal quality of education in South Africa: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2020/02/south-africa-broken-and-unequal-education-perpetuating-poverty-and-inequality/ February 11, 2020 " South Africa: Broken and unequal education perpetuating poverty and inequality". "The South African education system, characterised by crumbling infrastructure, overcrowded classrooms and relatively poor educational outcomes, is perpetuating inequality and as a result failing too many of its children, with the poor hardest hit according to a new report published by Amnesty International today.

Broken and Unequal: The State of Education in South Africa calls on the government to urgently address a number of endemic failings in the system in order to guarantee the right to a decent education for every child in South Africa.

[…]

The report details how the education system continues to be dogged by stark inequalities and chronic underperformance that have deep roots in the legacy of apartheid, but which are also not being effectively tackled by the current government.

For example, it brings to the fore that many schools and the communities they serve continue to live with the consequences of the political and economic decisions made during the apartheid era where people were segregated according to their skin colour, with schools serving white communities properly resourced. The result of this modern-day South Africa is that a child’s experience of education still very much depends on where they are born, how wealthy they are, and the colour of their skin.

[…]

South Africa has one of the most unequal school systems in the world. Children in the top 200 schools achieve more distinctions in mathematics than children in the next 6,600 schools combined. The playing field must be levelled. 
Amnesty International visited numerous schools that had insufficient resources to meet the requirements for a decent education and this is borne out by the Department of Basic Education’s own statistics.

According to the Department’s own statistics for 2018, out of 23,471 public schools, 20,071 have no laboratory. Furthermore, 18,019 have no library, while 16,897 have no internet.

Almost 1,000 schools have no sports facilities, while 4,358 have only illegal plain pit latrines for sanitation; 1,027 have no perimeter fencing, essential for teacher and pupil safety, while 239 have no electricity, and 37 have no sanitation facilities at all.”…

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PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTE #2: LEARNING ABOUT SOUTH AFRICA FROM SOUTH AFRICANS COMMENTING ON AMERICAN BASED MUSIC VLOGS I've found that discussion threads for American based vlogger reaction videos about South African music are usually far more informative than the discussion threads published by South Africans.*  For example, the music reaction videos by That Fire LA, and by Mansa Mayne (who also mostly focused/focuses on South African culture and also moved to South Africa in 2022) provide much more information about South African culture because the South African commenters don't take for granted that their readers know what they are watching and writing about. The South African commenters respond to genuine questions that these American based vloggers ask and/or also correct innocent misstatements that those vloggers (and other people who aren't from Southern Africa). As such, these South African commenters understand their role as "cultural ambassadors". 

It also should be noted that these reaction vlog discussion threads also provide opportunities for South Africans and others to share information and explanations about their country with people from their home nation and other people throughout the world. These conversations are also learning experiences for people who aren't actively participating in the discussion threads, but are merely "listening in". Furthermore, these discussion threads provide historical and sociological information and therefore are worthy of archiving, sharing, and studying.  

Thanks to all South African commenters and others for taking the opportunities that YouTube discussion threads provide to share this cultural information that isn't readily found elsewhere online. 
-snip-
*Most South African based YouTube videos of South African high school war cries and/or flashes that I've come across have no comments , very few comments, or comments aren't allowed. Usually, the few comments that are posted to those discussion threads read praise the school and/or the war cry or flash that is showcased, and/or brags about their school being the best. One discussion thread that is an exception to this description is
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZ9UY-bLlTY "MASK OFF challenge Hilton College" published by Lethu Duncan on May 11, 2017.  This is one of the videos that is featured in Part III of this pancocojams series.
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This concludes Part II of this pancocojams series..

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