What does the bobcat say?

If you’ve ever wondered, you’re in luck. A video by some students at Bates College in Lewiston now answers that question. And Bates students should know, because the bobcat is their beloved and official mascot.

Additional Photos

In this screen capture from a video produced by Bates College, members of the Bates Modern Dancers follow a bobcat, the school mascot, through the Lewiston campus. The school’s communications office says it made the video, “to showcase the fun spirit and talent” of Bates students. The video answers the question, “What does the bobcat say?”
In this screen capture from a video produced by Bates College, members of the Bates Modern Dancers follow a bobcat, the school mascot, through the Lewiston campus. The school’s communications office says it made the video, “to showcase the fun spirit and talent” of Bates students. The video answers the question, “What does the bobcat say?” Courtesy Bates College

Members of the Bates College Crosstones a cappella singing group and the Bates Dance Company can be seen performing a song that poses the musical question “What does the bobcat say?” on vimeo.com. The video was posted Wednesday and will likely go viral.

The Bates video is a parody of the viral video “The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?)” by Norwegian comedy duo Ylvis, which had 177 million views on YouTube over the last two months.

The Bates version features lyrics about the sounds made by mascots of rival colleges – the Bowdoin Polar Bears, the Tufts Jumbos and the Colby Mules. Then in answering the question of what the Bates Bobcat says, the singers break out in a frenzy of dance-friendly scat singing, including phrases like “ring-ding-ding” and “wa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pow,” as in the Ylvis version. The dancers, wearing bobcat masks, are seen dancing around the campus with the bobcat mascot.

The video idea was conceived by members of the Bates Communications Office, said Victoria Stanton, a member of that office who served as director of the video. Stanton said staffers and about 16 students collaborated on the video, including the lyrics. It was shot over the past month or so.

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“We just wanted to showcase the fun spirit and talent of our students. They work hard, but they know how to have fun,” said Stanton. “We basically asked them ‘Can you do this?’ But we had no idea how far they would take it.”

Staff Writer Ray Routhier can be contacted at 791-6454 or at:

rrouthier@pressherald.com

Twitter: RayRouthier

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