West Roxbury Men Get Engaged in Surprise Flashmob Proposal

Not long before the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage, a West Roxbury couple got engaged in a truly unforgettable manner.

Jason Prokowiew assembled a flashmob, made up of family and friends, as a surprise before proposing to his boyfriend, David Sirois, on May 15, 2015.

The planning for the special day began about a year and a half in advance of the proposal. Jason arranged everything as a way of honoring he and David’s five-year anniversary.

Jason began by obtaining a blessing from those most close to him before asking his niece Chelsea Hamill to choreograph the 10-person dance routine. Carefully choosing each dancer was of the utmost importance. Jason selected his sister Pam, nieces Chelsea and Amanda, nephew Morgan, David’s brother Mike, and friends Tonya, Anna, Jay and Louann, to all partake.

“I then individually asked each dancer to participate, and swore them to secrecy. I chose my dancers because I knew Dave would feel comfortable with each one of them being witness to a personal moment,” Prokowiew said.

The group began meeting in secret in July of 2014 and rehearsed once each month. In January, they upped their meetings to twice per month, with Jason often meeting dancers individually to further go over the routine. In total, Jason and all of his dancers met 20 times.

Jason was forced to craft several excuses in order to ensure David would never find out about the frequent rehearsals, but he admitted to working his way out of several close calls.

“We had a couple of close calls over the year, one in particular when Tonya started talking about rehearsals right in front of Dave. My glare of death stopped her mid-sentence,” Prokowiew said.

So why the idea of a flashmob for the proposal? Jason was inspired by a pair of emotionally moving videos that he had seen on online. From that point on, Jason was not going to settle for anything short of spectacular.

“I thought, wow, the time and energy that went into that. The visible love not only of the couple, but of the people in their lives is what I wanted to give Dave, Prokowiew said of the videos. “I didn’t think my love could be contained in something smaller than what we created in this dance and moment. I love dancing and I have a showman inside of me that Dave respects and appreciates, so I figured it was a proposal that was true to both of us.”

Jason chose the song Treasure for the proposal, admitting he really wanted to dance it out in front of David.

On the day of the proposal, Jason spent the morning and afternoon ironing out several last minute details, eagerly awaiting David’s arrival. Jason phoned David at work, informing him he needed to be home at 3:30 p.m. exact. David was not a minute late.

As for the finale, Jason says David was shocked, thrilled and beyond happy.

“I came home to a super-surprise this afternoon. My love, Jason, organized a flashmob to accompany his proposal to me. I said “Yes”, and am blown away to be engaged to such a wonderful man,” Sirois posted on Facebook following the engagement.

Despite Tonya’s near slip earlier in the year, David afterward explained he had not a clue as to what was going to take place that day until Jason’s phone call at work.

“He admitted he even thought after my phone call that he was coming home not only to a proposal, but an actual wedding--wow, that would have been a surprise! I don’t think he had any clue that it would be a dance proposal comprised of some of our favorite people,” Prokowiew said.

Jason and David were able to break away from the after-party to reflect on the proposal. Jason says he broke down into tears, expressing how grateful he was to his dancers, friends and family, for being so generous and energetic with all the time it took to prepare.

“Dave still watches the video with disbelief, and says he can’t believe we pulled this off. He has thanked me many times since, and said he looks forward to doing something equally big and romantic for our first dance at our wedding,” Prokowiew said.