Zombie Alert: Chesapeake to host Thriller dance event
Published 10:34 am Thursday, October 22, 2009
CHESAPEAKE — It’s a chance to break a world record that would make the gloved one smile.
That’s the motivation for the worldwide event where participants get to show they can make all the Moonwalkin’ down and dirty moves to the “Thriller” dance worthy of M.J. himself.
Locally, Kristin Miller, Chesapeake High School English teacher, has organized a Thriller event for 8:30 p.m. Saturday at the high school parking lot.
“My goal is to have 100 people,” Miller said. “Everybody is welcome.”
But they have to learn the dance. The official choreography is on the Thrill the World Website at www.thrilltheworld.come and given in stages that are easy to pick up, she said.
“There are 40 videos at the Website that break down each of the steps,” Miller said. “There are a couple of the combinations that are tricky but the video breaks it down. The premise is to say the steps so you will remember them. You keep repeating the same combination.”
The Thrill the World event, which is promoted this year as a tribute to Michael Jackson, started in the fall of 2006, with Jackson fans dancing on the same night to the main cut on the Thriller album, the largest selling album in musical history. Currently more than 100 million copies have been sold.
Last year, Thrill the World set a new world record with 4,179 from 10 countries performing the Thriller dance. This time Miller expects another record.
“They will bypass that by far because of Michael Jackson’s death,” she said.
After the six and a half minute mass dance, an email will be sent on how many were at Chesapeake.
Sign in is at 7:30 p.m. with the dance starting an hour later. This will also be the kickoff for the school’s canned food drive that supports the Chesapeake Community Center food pantry. Participants are asked to bring a canned good, however, this is not mandatory.
Also Miller expects some dancers will add spice to the evening with their dress.
“Some people will dress up like zombies,” she said.
And hopefully they won’t stop until they get enough.