Thrilled about the worldwide dance of ‘Thriller'
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Three seconds after the synthesized horns played, everyone knew what to do: snap their fingers and walk like zombies.
Moments later, the song, Michael Jackson's "Thriller," stopped playing and the group of more than 40 children and adults burst into laughter as a young girl belted out the next line: "And you're paralyzed!"
The free Friday night class was the first offered at Joe's Movement Emporium in Mount Rainier to prepare hopeful participants of "Thrill the World," a worldwide simultaneous dancing of Jackson's iconic dance that is slated for Oct. 24.
"It's amazing when people can all come together and do an activity simultaneously, whether it's praying or dancing or protesting," said Brooke Kidd, the executive director of Joe's Movement Emporium. "We really thought it would be 10 or 15 of us. It's delightful to see so many folks involved."
The worldwide dance of "Thriller" began in 2006. This year participants are hoping to break the world record for the largest simultaneous dance. That honor is held by the 197,569 elementary school students from Canada who simultaneously danced "The Hokey-Pokey" in April 2002, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.
Those who wish to participate in the upcoming record-breaking attempt of "Thriller" can register their local events with Thrill the World, which is working with Guinness to ensure guidelines for the record are met. The goal is to have at least 270,000 people participate in this year's dance, which will take place at 8:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.
Many participants in the Friday night class spoke about Jackson's legacy and his impact on their lives. Some said they had been Jackson fans for years, while younger dancers said they had only discovered Jackson's music after his death. Jackson, 50, died June 25 from cardiac arrest.
Jackson's 14-minute music video was released in 1983. The dance moves in "Thriller" —which depicts zombies rising from the grave to ghoulishly dance — are generally easy to learn but once the dance is sped up to the pace of the song, some of the nuances can be difficult for dancing novices to master, Kidd said.
Johnna Schmidtt of Hyattsville came to the class with her 10-year-old son, Billy Brophy, who said he was excited about potentially being part of a world record-setting event.
"The arts have a tremendous community-building power," Schmidtt added. "It's mainly [through] the power of YouTube that so many people now have seen the video."
Shawn Cassatt of Brentwood and her friends practice a yearly tradition of dancing "Thriller" on Halloween night. Although she is expected to be in labor during the worldwide dance — she's seven months pregnant — she and her friends still came to Friday's class hoping to perfect their steps.
"‘Thriller' was one of the first albums I had," Cassatt said. "Once Michael Jackson died, you saw people mourning everywhere... [His music] is something that has kind of transcended it all."
Brendan Toussaint, 17, came from Gaithersburg with his family to learn the dance. Although he was born after Jackson's career reached its pinnacle in the 1980s, he has been a die-hard fan since he heard "Billie Jean," he said.
"I feel like Michael Jackson was for everyone," Toussaint said.
Upper Marlboro resident Rhonda Pitts wore a T-shirt that read, "Michael Jackson, King of Pop" as she watched her 17-year-old daughter, Maya, learn "Thriller."
Jackson's music "transcended every race, every genre of music and dance and every age," Pitts said.
Although she didn't join the dancing, she watched the group as they roared, shook and moved like zombies.
"It's a wonderful tribute," Pitt said. "I think if he was looking down, he would be so happy."
Joe's Movement Emporium will host other free classes for "Thriller" hopefuls. The next will be at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 7.
E-mail Elahe Izadi at eizadi@gazette.net.
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