Thrill The World!

"All over the world at this moment, crazy people just like us are laying in streets." (said by the hippie lady next to us)



Yesterday I had the opportunity to Thrill The World along with people in 250 cities across 33 other countries around the world. "Thrill The World" is a global attempt to break a Guinness World Record for simultaneously performing the routine from Michael Jackson’s video for “Thriller.” (In California, we performed the dance at 5:30 pm)

I heard about it because the dance studio where I take my hip hop class was a sponsor. For the past couple weeks we spent the last 15 minutes of class learning the Thriller dance. We were told that anyone could do the dance - kids, teens, adults, 80 year olds. It didn't matter. Let's unite around the world with an iconic dance! Yessss...

This was the third year "Thrill The World" has happened. They are trying to beat last year's record of 4,179 people from 10 nations (Australia, Canada, England, Germany, Ireland, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, New Zealand, Scotland, United States of America, and Wales). When I find out the actual figure from this year, I will let you all know.

Yesterday I showed up at my dance studio where everyone was wearing zombie clothes and putting on zombie make-up. We ran through the dance a couple times all together and then walked over to the street downtown they had blocked off for us. Tons of other zombies were already there. There were so many people. Onlookers, photographers, our local paper, people videotaping us, I saw friends who had showed up, etc. I met up with one of my old students, Jessie, her sister, and a couple friends. Here are some pictures before the dance began...










At 5:28, someone got on a microphone and said, "All zombies on the ground! 2 minute countdown!" All 263 of us zombies screamed with excitement and sprawled out on the street and waited. (This is when the hippie lady laying next to us said the opening quote) And she was right! It was such a cool feeling, knowing that people all around the world were laying on the ground, waiting for the music to start. Different races, cultures, languages...it didn't matter. We were in this together.

With 15 seconds left to go, we all counted down backwards. Here is a video that Jessie took with her camera of us getting up and starting the zombie march:



It was so much FUN! We all had a blast!








A couple other students came to watch, so I gave them my camera so they could tape the dance. You can't see me (I'm towards the back) but this is what we looked like.



What a wonderful experience. I can't wait to do it again next year! (P.S. check the "Thrill The World" website and see where the closest one is near you. They are happening all over the US. You should do it next year!)