Audience
wave
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Stadium audience performing "the
wave" at the Confederations Cup 2005 in FrankfurtThe "audience
wave" (also called a Mexican
wave, or simply "the
wave") is a phenomenon that commonly occurs in the audiences of sporting events, and sometimes in other large crowds. A
wave is a coordinated sequence of actions taken by the audience members in which a group of spectators lying along a radial line extending outward from the sport field all stand up and raise their arms, then return to a normal seated posture again as the neighboring group of spectators takes their turn to stand up.
The result is a "
wave" of standing audience members that travels rapidly through the audience, even though individual audience members never move from their seats (thus, the
wave could be said to be a transverse
wave). In many large arenas the audience is seated in a circular arrangement all the way around the sport field, and so the
wave is able to travel continuously around the arena; in non-circular seating arrangements, the
wave can instead reflect back and forth through the audience. When the gap in seating is narrow, the
wave can sometimes pass through it. Usually only one
wave crest will be present at any given time in an arena. Simultaneous, counter-rotating waves have been produced.
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Weasel
Bookmarks