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CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A hundred or more people -- families with small kids, businesspeople, retirees -- gathered Wednesday evening to train for what might be Charleston's first flash mob.

The group will make its debut Thursday afternoon at the Capitol, performing a dance to "Take Me Home, Country Roads."

"I hope you have your dancing shoes on," Amy Weintraub said as she greeted folks in the parking lot of Covenant House, the nonprofit group she directs.

Weintraub organized the flash mob, and decided to aim its first performances at people from the Westboro Baptist Church, a fringe group known for its anti-gay protests at schools, churches, soldiers' funerals and other events. The group has said it is coming to Charleston this week.

"Many of you understand it was important to offer a counterpoint to some of the hate that will be coming to the Kanawha Valley," Weintraub said. Others worried that offering an alternative would raise attention to the church group's efforts.

Once Charleston found out how many people might join the flash mob performance, they refused to issue a permit to stage a counter-protest, Weintraub said. "Police were very concerned about any direct contact. They said there is no way you can contain your group to a city sidewalk."

Instead, police issued permits to the flash mob at the same times, but at different locations, as the church group, she said. "Every time the hate group will be gathered, we will be doing something. It just won't be right beside them."

Jeff Johnson, a choreographer and Covenant House board member, taught the simple steps to the dance. "If you can do the electric slide, you can do this," he said.

And within a half-hour, they were: Four steps to the left, four to the right. Arms to the front, up, higher, overhead, hands to shoulders, overhead, out to the sides and down. Repeat. Then a second 16-beat sequence.

A flash mob is an event in which a large group of people emerges, seemingly at random, from a crowd to do some sort of pre-rehearsed performance art. Wikipedia defines it as "a large group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual and pointless act for a brief time, then quickly disperse."

Participants typically spread the word on when and where to gather by new media -- Facebook pages, Web sites, text messages -- shortly before performances.

The term "flash mob" is not generally used for events organized by public relations firms or for protests, "So this is atypical," Weintraub said. "In the future this will be used for spontaneous fun."

That, in fact, was her original plan. "I had planned to do it on West Virginia Day. But then I heard about this hate group coming to Charleston. I thought it would be a good opportunity."

To test the interest, Weintraub posted a notice of a flash mob practice on he personal Facebook page last week.

"I hoped I would get about 30 people. By the next day I had 75." By Wednesday afternoon she had 300 confirmed guests and another 300 who might attend.

"It shows how willing people are to step out as a voice of diversity and inclusiveness and tolerance." Many who signed up are strangers, she said, but others are familiar names.

"I see many Covenant House supporters and people who support our mission of social justice, people of many socio-economic levels and racial and ethnic backgrounds. I see lots of students and I see adults of all ages, including senior citizens. I know one guy who's 74."

After several run-throughs, Weintraub had the trainees take a break. She went over the performance plans for latecomers. The first performance is Thursday on the interstate (north) side of the Capitol, she said.

"We will be the beautiful people, as opposed the other group," she said.

Reach Jim Balow at ba...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5102.